The program consists of nine-time Emmy Award winning journalist Jon Alpert traveling to China's Fujian province, where people agree to pay more than $30,000 to smugglers, or 'snakeheads,' who will sneak them into the United States. Once in the US many of these immigrants face long stays in INS detention, an inability to find work, except in sweatshops, illegally low pay and horrid living conditions. Includes an interview with refugee expert, Arthur Helton and award-winning journalist, Ying Chan, about the issue.