in deciding whether to repatriate have never been made public and neither has the number of illegal immigrants who have been allowed to stay. However, in broad terms, illegal immigrants are allowed to remain if there are strong compassionate grounds, or if the immigrants' safety would be jeopardized by returning him or her to China. The great majority of would-be immigrants are attracted by the higher standard of living in Hong Kong. They cannot, therefore, correctly be described as refugees, since they do not claim to be fleeing from persecution in their own country.
7. The Hong Kong Government's belief is that it is in every- body's interest that cases should be dealt with as quickly as possible normally within 48 hours. They do not, therefore, favour allowing detainees an automatic right to legal representa- tion (though they do not prevent it, if it is arranged by relatives or friends already in Hong Kong), nor do they draw attention to the fact that illegal immigrants have a right of appeal to the
Governor.