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Our ref: HKK 341/7/1
Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG KCVO Governor and Commander-in-Chief Government House
HONG KONG
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
1.
10 January 1978
Akk 3+1 |!
RELEVLO
INDES
12 JANDIS
No 1 46
Since your return you will no doubt have had brought to your notice reports in the Hong Kong press, particularly the "South China Morning Post", that Lord Goronwy-Roberts had given an assurance to Mr Roper MP and Colonel Montgomery of the Anti-Slavery Society, that illegal immigrants will automatically be granted legal assistance before being repatriated.
2. You will have seen from our telno 952 of 8 December that the reports are not accurate. They are based on information given by Colonel Montgomery and we have made it clear to him that his recollection of what was said does not, on this point, agree with the Minister's. Lord Goronwy-Roberts did however give an under- taking to raise this question with you but no opportunity presented itself during your meeting on 20 December. At Lord Goronwy-Roberts' request therefore I am writing to seek your views.
3. We fully appreciate that, particularly in view of the decision by a Hong Kong court that no writ of habeas corpus can be given in such cases since the person is not legally in Hong Kong, advice on purely legal matters is not likely to be particularly relevant. But this was not really what Mr Roper and Colonel Montgomery had in mind. They were thinking more in terms of a "friend in court" someone who would be familiar with the procedures and who would be able to ensure that the case of a would-be immigrant (who presumably must often be very bemused and find it difficult to understand what is going on) does not simply go by default.
4.
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I can immediately see the difficulties of such a procedure, the most obvious being to decide who could take on such a rôle and who would pay them for doing so. It would also be important to avoid introducing new procedures that would make it difficult to complete the screening process within the 48 hours prescribed
/in the
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