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Motivation
5.
The motivation for illegal immigrants is purely
economic. An illegal immigrant can earn as much in one day
on a building site in Hong Kong as he can in a month on a
farm in southern China.
Countermeasures
6.
The main means of preventing illegal immigration
lie in our security measures at the border. The border
fence and its associated obstacles are manned at all times
by a battalion of 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade with a further company in reserve. A range of technical surveillance aids
is in use. The vast majority of illegals attempt to cross
the land border. Sea approaches are patrolled by Marine
Police launches (especially in Deep Bay and Mirs Bay) and Royal Navy patrol craft. Evaders are discovered by Police identity card checks and raids on places where illegals are likely to find work. There is legislation against the employment of illegals.
Ex-China Vietnamese Illegal Immigrants (ECVIIS)
7.
There has long been a problem of former Vietnamese
refugees who have been resettled in China coming into Hong
Kong illegally, hoping to be resettled elsewhere as genuine Vietnamese refugees. At the beginning of July 1987, ECVIIS
from the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces began to arrive by boat in large numbers: over 7,000 have arrived to date.
Although they are regarded as illegal immigrants from China,
the need to establish that they had been resettled in China
and to make arrangements with the Chinese for their
repatriation has meant that they could not be sent back
immediately.
8.
Consultations have now been held with the
Guangdong and Guangxi authorities and repatriation of the
ECVIIS began on 22 August.
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