Amid the tightened U.S. border security in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 34 South Koreans were caught smuggling themselves into the state of Washington Wednesday, according to the South Korean Consulate-General in Seattle Thursday.
The Washington State border security police found a group of 34 South Koreans, including three teenagers and four children, crossing the border illegally at 4:00 a.m. and caught them all without a U.S. entry visa.
They, excluding the teenagers, the four children and their two mothers, were immediately transported to a Federal penitentiary in Seattle.
The teenagers were sent to a prison in Spokane and the two mothers and their four children were placed in police custody at a hotel in Seattle.
The mothers and their children had bail set at $30,000 for release, but their lawyer is seeking to lower that amount.
The three teenagers and the remaining 25 adults, including 10 women, will stand trial in court next week and will probably be deported back to South Korea.
Arriving in Vancouver several days before, they met a Korean immigration broker, identified only by his family name of Nam, and gave him $300 each in down payment with a commitment to pay the remaining $3,500 to $5,000 should they successfully enter the United States.