Caught by a Treacherous Tide

It's when something goes wrong that Europeans become aware of the illegal immigrants trying to scratch a living in their midst. On a dank night in February 2004, anonymous calls to emergency services in Lancashire, England, gave the first hint of something that would expose the harsh life, and deaths, of a group of Chinese illegals. The calls warned that cockle pickers had been caught by the tide on England's northwestern seaboard, at Morecambe Bay. Last Friday, one caller, later identified as Lin Liang Ren, from Fuzhou city, China, was convicted of the manslaughter of 21 Chinese men and women. (Authorities...