Chinese Found at Mall Part of a Larger Group : Smuggling: The 26 men arrested in Huntington Beach were among 100 illegal immigrants bound for New York, INS officials say. They had boarded a freighter in China.

HUNTINGTON BEACH — A group of Chinese men arrested near a shopping center here had been in the country about four days and were part of a larger group of illegal immigrants bound for New York City, immigration officials said Monday.

Authorities said the 26 men were among about 100 people who boarded a freighter in China for a monthlong trip across the Pacific. The men said they were ferried ashore several days ago and were taken to a house, where they stayed until Sunday, said Jim Hayes, INS assistant director for anti-smuggling operations.

The men were dropped off and abandoned Sunday near the intersection of Magnolia Street and Garfield Avenue, where they were arrested. The men, who were in good health, were unable to describe where they came ashore or where they had been staying, Hayes said.

Officials did not hold out much hope of finding the driver of the van or the freighter.

“The police department didn’t get a good van description or license plate,” Hayes said. “We passed on our information about the boat to the Coast Guard in Long Beach, but we don’t have a description of the mother ship at this stage. It’s a search for a needle in a haystack.”

Officials said the group was part of a growing wave of illegal immigrants from China.

The number of illegal Chinese immigrants trying to enter the United States by boat has soared in the last year, jumping from 20 people caught in 1991 to more than 1,600 captured in the first five months of this year, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. In the most recent case, a freighter carrying hundreds of illegal Chinese immigrants ran aground off New York City on Monday.

The men picked up in Huntington Beach had few personal belongings and carried no identification papers, police said. They were turned over to officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles, where they were interviewed before being transferred to a federal detention center in San Pedro.

Within the next 10 days, the men will appear before an immigration judge, who will set bond, likely to be about $5,000 each, said Rico Cabrera, an INS spokesman in Los Angeles.

Authorities were baffled as to why the men were dropped off in broad daylight.

The men told officials that they had been crammed into a tan van and driven around for about an hour. Then the driver ordered them to get out and run.

“Somehow the arrangements broke down, or maybe they were spooked,” said John Brechtel, the INS assistant district director for the Los Angeles area.

“At this point, we’re unsure why they were dumped out there. That’s a very valuable load and you don’t just dump (them) in the parking lot, so we’re trying to determine what happened,” Brechtel said. “It’s certainly an unusual way to leave a group of newly arrived aliens. It’s right out in the open and you’re calling attention to the fact you’re dumping. An organized ring doesn’t want to call attention to itself.”

INS authorities said they believe police arrested all the men who were in the van. Authorities originally said as many as 10 men may have fled the scene.

Orange County is not considered a destination for illegal Chinese immigrants, though some arrests have been made here over the years, INS spokesman Ron Rogers said.

“The whole idea of bringing in Chinese illegal labor is on the increase,” Rogers said.

So far in 1993, the Border Patrol has arrested 984 Chinese trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at San Ysidro, compared to only 34 in all of 1991.

Smugglers from China may charge as much as $30,000 to bring a person into the United States, often demanding half the money up front, authorities said.

Some illegal immigrants then become almost indentured servants while they pay off the other half, Hayes said.