TNAG-1632-FCO40-2248-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong--including-visit-1987 — Page 190

G.F. 326

CONFIDENTIAL # #

Illegal Immigration

Background

Illegal immigration from China has been a serious problem for many years. Prior to October 1980, immigrants entering Hong Kong from China illegally were allowed to stay if they reached the urban area without being captured by the security forces. In 1980 alone, 64,000 illegal immigrants

entered Hong Kong under this "reached based" policy; a

further 82,000 were caught in the New Territories and sent

back to China. On 23 October 1980 the reached base policy

was discontinued. From then on, all illegal immigrants who

were discovered by the security forces were sent back.

1982, nearly 8,700 were captured at the border and 2,500

elsewhere. By 1983, the number caught on entry had fallen to

just under 4,100 and a further 3,000 evaders (those not

caught at or near the border) were arrested or surrendered.

In

Recent Trend

The figures for 1984, 1985, 1986 and the first

2.

half of 1987 are

-

1987

Arrested on entry

1984

9,635

1985

12,616

1986

16,802

-

(1.1 30.6)

10,668

Evaders arrested

3,090

3,394

3,725

1,973

or surrendered

3.

There are regular seasonal variations in the flow

of illegal immigrants into Hong Kong. The peak period is around October after the harvest is gathered in neighbouring provinces in China.

4.

The figures show a steep increase in attempted

illegal immigration so far in 1987. However, the evader

rate has remained reasonably stable as a proportion of total arrest. This indicates that the vast majority are being caught and sent back quickly.

/cont'd.

CONFIDENTIAL # 3