Five of them have disappeared. The rest of them are awaiting a hearing. One estimate is that only 10 of them will be allowed into Canada as legitimate refugees. In contrast, in the period 1995 to 1998 there were 829,000 immigrants and 103,000 refugees accepted into Canada. Of course many times that number applied.
People are terribly worried about the costs of processing illegitimate boat people refugees.
The media's zoom lenses are making a mountain out of a molehill. The costs of processing those boat people represent only a drop in the bucket compared with the costs of processing the applications of everyone who legitimately applied for immigration. Racists want to send the boat people back to China without a trial. They resent the burden to the taxpayers of the hearing. These fools are willing to toss away the right to due process for a few pennies.