Michael Hanson, the colony's refugee coordinator, said last month that he hoped the program would be "in place by the end of this year."

Tim Latifi, the agency's refugee coordinator, and an interpreter, greets the refugees when they arrive, usually at John F. Kennedy Airport.

She said another student attacked her son unprovoked and she wanted Mr. Latifi, the refugee coordinator, to go and beat up the offending student.

Clinton Leeks, the colony's refugee coordinator, said later that the first phase of the effort had been "a success."

But she appears to have led a productive life since 1991, when she came to Oslo, where she works as a refugee coordinator for the city.

Clinton Leeks, the colonial Government's refugee coordinator, said the operation had been "handled as sensitively and carefully as possible."

Amnesty International's refugee coordinator and an immigration official who grilled him for two hours were among those who found him believable.

"We should have explicitly taken no position on his asylum claim," said Nicholas J. Rizza, Amnesty's refugee coordinator.

"There is no future for the people in the camps," says Brian J. Bresnihan, refugee coordinator for the Hong Kong government.

Clinton Leeks, Hong Kong's refugee coordinator, said that an agreement covering all boat people deemed not to be refugees "is still being discussed."