This April, China launched the "Skynet" initiative to hunt down corruption suspects that have fled overseas. At the same time the U.S. authorities have been raiding the homes of Chinese immigrants and detaining some that were convicted of felonies decades ago. While these two things seem not to be linked, working out how to deport these people in the absence of extradition treaties has become a crucial issue for both nations.
For Daniel Maher, a resident of Berkeley, California, the last two months have been filled with anxiety. For years, this fear has been in the back of his mind. He has been careful, quiet and diligent, but still occasionally haunted by nightmares.
But his past finally hunted him down. On June 2, he was arrested by six armed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
A crime he committed 20 years ago had caught up with him once again.
Maher was born in Macao. He was only 3 years old when his parents took him to America from the then Portuguese colony. Macao was reunited with the Chinese mainland in 1999.
In December 1994, he was convicted by a U.S. court of kidnapping, second-degree robbery and possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 11 years and four months behind bars.
But his conviction lost him his right to stay in the U.S. In 2000, a judge ordered his deportation. In 2001, deportation officers wrote a report and stated that Maher was "bright and seems committed to living a legitimate and law-abiding life if released."
Maher was set free in August 2001 based on his good performance in prison and community service. He was given a supervision order which meant he had to report regularly to a deportation officer or face being kicked out of the country.
Since his release, he has been working for a local nonprofit ecological center in Berkeley.
Earlier this year, U.S. and Chinese law enforcement officials held talks in Washington DC. U.S. news reports said both Skynet - a Chinese campaign to catch corrupt officials who have fled abroad - and illegal immigration issues were raised during the talks.
China has asked the U.S. to extradite Chinese nationals suspected of corruption despite the absence of an extradition treaty. Experts said in exchange for the extraditions, the United States wants to send back thousands of Chinese citizens to their homeland. The issue of immigrants has been a tricky problem for both sides for decades.
"There are mainly three types of illegal situations with these immigrants; the first type are those that have problems with their documents such as Chinese holding other nations' passports; the second type, Chinese citizens that have U.S. residency but have committed crimes; the third type, Chinese nationals that destroy their passports and ID documents. After that, they go to local UN high commissions and claim that they are refugees and apply for refugee status. They became 'stateless' people. Maher belongs to the second type. It is the third type - the 'stateless' type - that are the most thorny issue," Zha Daojiong, professor of international relations at Peking University said.
A U.S. State Department report claims there are more than 30,000 "stateless" Chinese citizens in the U.S. that Washington want China to accept.
However, the Chinese authorities will not allow these people to be repatriated as they are undocumented.
Maher is lucky. His honesty and community work paid off.
In the 60 days after his arrest, the Asian Law Caucus, a local NGO, set up a Facebook page to urge residents to call the ICE to plea for Maher's release. They argued that Maher has dedicated his life to improving the environment and his community.
On August 8, Mahler was set free by the ICE.
"The U.S. government should reconsider the way in which it detains and deports people. The Chinese government has not agreed to a repatriation agreement with the United States. People like Daniel Maher who has lived in the United States since he was 3 years old has few ties to China and only speaks English. China should exercise discretion in when to issue travel documents for deportation if the Untied States government does not," wrote Anoop Prasad, Maher's lawyer in an email response to the Global Times.
According to Department of Homeland Security records, as of early July, 527 Chinese citizens were in ICE detention.
"In history, these people are like balls kicked back and forth by various nations diplomatically. Illegal immigrants sneak in a vacuum of international law," said Zha.
