If the return of immigrants were decided on in principle, a decision not to tackle both evaders and overstayers at the same time might be taken as a sign of weakness on the Government's part and reduce the deterrent effect. On the other hahd it would be much more practicable to tackle the problem in two stages by dealing first with one of the two groups and, later, in the light of events, deciding whether, and if so when, to move against the other. This would have the important advantage of concentrating all resources on the initial operation, and of providing valuable experience for any second stage. Given a two-stage operation, it would be better to tackle the evaders first, since there would be less criticism on humanitarian grounds (the group largely consisting of single young men without close relatives here) and they are less likely to have become firmly established. The principle of retuning illegal immigrants those who are caught on arrival - has been accepted by the Chinese since 1974. For these reasons, the proposal at this stage is to return evaders only and the remainder of this paper considers this course alone. If the new policy proved successful but the situation still required further action, additional proposals to try to deal with overstayers would be put to Members.
Nature of Measures to be Adopted
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Given a decision to return all evaders, the question arises as to the length to which the Administration should go. There is a range of possible courses of action.
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At one end of the spectrum would be a relatively passive policy of doing nothing more than at present other than ceasing to issue identity cards and arresting and returning only those who happen to come to official notice. Illegal immigrants would not be sought out (though road blocks and stop and search operations would continue at their present limited level) and identity cards would not have to be carried or used any F more widely than at prescut (see Annex F). This would still mean that
any evader applying for an identity card would be returned, but applications by evaders would very quickly cease. Even though the identity card has already been used extensively in dealings the public have with Government, it would still be possible for the illegal immigrant, provided he behaved himself, to lead a tolerable existence without one. Many illegal immi- grants, from Macau, Taiwan and elsewhere, apparently live in this way, as have several thousands of evaders from China who have never applied for identity cards. In general, they do not resort to crime or other anti-social activities.
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