Government announcement on ECVIIs
A Government spokesman announced today (Tuesday) that 14 ex-China Vietnamese illegal immigrants (ECVIIs) plus two Vietnamese migrant spouses (five families eight men, four women, three boys and one girl) had been released from detention on their own recognizance.
"This particular group of ECVIIs have been detained since 1991 for the purpose of repatriation to China. The Chinese Government confirmed last week that they would not accept them back," the spokesman said.
"While it was clear that they had spent a number of years in China, the Chinese authorities were unable to verify their legal status there.
"In the light of this development and bearing in mind that there is no immediate prospect of being able to remove them from the territory, their continued detention would have been unlawful," he explained.
The spokesman said the Government would now seek to repatriate these ECVIIs to Vietnam. "In the meantime they will be offered accommodation at Pillar Point. They will have no legal status in Hong Kong either as visitors or residents; they remain illegal immigrants," he said.
The spokesman added that 2,000 ECVIIs had been repatriated to China since September last year. Only 473 currently remain in Hong Kong.
"Nine of them are scheduled to be repatriated to China on Thursday (December 15). A further 147 are expected to be returned in early January," he said. "The Government expects to receive clearance to repatriate the remaining ECVIIS in the near future."
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"The overwhelming majority of Vietnamese migrants have of course reached Hong Kong from Vietnam," the spokesman added.
"Of them, almost 45,000 have been repatriated since 1989 and the programme of voluntary and orderly returns to Vietnam continues. Two further flights will take place this week, returning 450 migrants to Vietnam."
"However, despite the limited nature of this release, both the Hong Kong and British Governments share the community's concern about the problems posed by the release of even a small number of Vietnamese illegal immigrants into the community pending further discussions with the Vietnamese authorities," the spokesman said.