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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Wong Yuk-man in the Legislative Council today (October 28):
Question:
Will the Government provide the following statistics in table form:
(a) the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and directly repatriated to their places of origin without being prosecuted in each of the past five years because they were involved in taking up employment during their stay in Hong Kong and thus violated the Immigration Ordinance (Cap.115); and
(b) among those who were prosecuted in (a), the respective numbers of persons convicted, acquitted and against whom the prosecution had offered no evidence; and a breakdown of the number of persons convicted by the industry of the employment they took up (list out using the table below)?
Industry Number of persons
convicted
------- ------------------
cleansing
security
catering
retail
decoration and construction
transportation and logistics
sex work
domestic helper
others
Reply:
President,
(a) The Immigration Regulations (Chapter 115A, Laws of Hong Kong) stipulates that persons entering Hong Kong as a visitor shall not take up any employment. Visitors who are suspected to have taken up illegal employment while in Hong Kong may be arrested. Where there is sufficient evidence, they will be prosecuted for breaching the condition of stay.
Statistics on persons arrested and prosecuted for taking up illegal employment while in Hong Kong, therefore contravening the Immigration Ordinance, from 2005 to present are tabulated as follows:
Year Number of persons Number of persons
arrested prosecuted
2005 12 468 9 071
2006 10 325 6 893
2007 6 399 3 811
2008 6 141 3 682
2009 (January
to September) 4 359 2 538
We do not maintain statistics on persons arrested but directly repatriated to their places of origin without prosecution. In fact, persons who are arrested but end up not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence etc. may choose to remain in Hong Kong if their approved limit of stay has not expired. We will arrange to repatriate those whose limit of stay has expired and those who are illegal immigrants.
(b) Among those who were prosecuted in (a), we do not have the breakdown by conviction, acquittal or against whom the prosecution had offered no evidence. Nonetheless, statistics on illegal workers convicted from 2005 to present are set out as follows:
Year Number of persons Works involved
convicted
Sex works Others
2005 8 716 4 890 3 826
2006 6 020 3 042 2 978
2007 3 283 1 419 1 864
2008 3 272 1 438 1 834
2009 2 284 993 1 291
(January to
September)
In general, other than those involved in sex works, illegal workers arrested mainly involved in cleansing, decoration, catering, retailing, recycling, etc.
Ends/Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Issued at HKT 12:20
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