XN000022-1996-07-03 — Page 53

A

(b)

(©)

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We do not have a breakdown on the number of minors, and adult males and females among the TWP overstayers.

In our enforcement action against illegal employment, we have found TWP holders working in Hong Kong, but not all of those found working were overstayers. The number of TWP illegal workers arrested are:

No of arrested TWP Illegal Workers

Year

1994

1995

1996

1,855

2,883

944

(d)

(Jan - May)

As we only started to keep separate statistics for TWP illegal workers in 1994, the arrest figure for 1993 is not available. We have not kept separate records specifically on the types of work TWP illegal workers engaged in. Our observation is that most of them take up jobs which require little or no skills, and the common places of work are restaurants, factories, and construction sites.

It is clear from the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law that entry of Chinese residents in the mainland to Hong Kong after 30 June 1997 will continue to be regulated by the existing arrangements. There is no question whatsoever of an amnesty in 1997. We have not so far seen any evidence of large scale overstaying or illegal immigration into Hong Kong for the purpose of waiting for an "amnesty" in 1997. In fact, the number of TWP overstayers in the first five months of this year has decreased when compared to that in the same period last year (14,801 TWP overstayers during the period Jan - May 1995, as compared to 11,760 TWP overstayers during Jan - May 1996).

Enforcement action against overstayers, particularly those who seek to work illegally in Hong Kong, have been stepped up. The size of the Immigration Task Force has been doubled in October 1995. The number of raids and prosecution actions have also been increased, as evidenced by the following statistics: