Police from China and the United States joined hands for the first time to repatriate 119 illegal Chinese immigrants by a chartered flight recently, a source from the Ministry of Public Security said Saturday.

An official with the Ministry of Public Security said US officials submitted a 288-person list of illegal immigrants and asked Chinese police to confirm their IDs, prior to the visit of Michael Chertoff, the newly appointed US secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in early April.

During Michael Chertoff's visit in Beijing, China and the United States reached agreement on repatriation of illegal immigrants.

On June 26, a panel, consisting of a Chinese police liaison officer and diplomats from the Chinese Embassy and General Consulate in Houston, Texas reached El Paso, Texas to check preparation and safety measures for the repatriation.

On June 28, the chartered plane left the United States for Changle International Airport in east China's Fujian Province, marking the first success in Sino-U.S. cooperation in repatriating illegal immigrants via chartered flight, the officialsaid.