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Britain's Black Economy Draws Vietnamese Migrants

Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON - The deaths of 39 migrants in the back of a refrigerated truck
   near London last week has focused a spotlight on the lives of those who
   risk everything to earn a better living in Britain.

   Many of the victims are believed to have traveled from Vietnam. Tamsin
   Barber, an expert on the Vietnamese diaspora in Britain at Oxford
   Brookes University, says many migrants are willing to take huge risks.

   "They're doing that because they know that when they get to the UK, the
   likelihood is that they're going to be able to find work in the
   cannabis industry, where they might be able to earn large amounts of
   money in a short period of time, paying back their debts, the debts to
   the smugglers, and then eventually being able to pay send remittances
   back to their family," Barber said.

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