After the nation’s 32nd case of COVID-19 was last week revealed to be a female Indonesian caregiver working illegally after overstaying her visa, there has been much discussion regarding illegal migrant workers and what the government should do.
There are nearly 50,000 illegal migrant workers in Taiwan, many becoming so only after having fled abusive working conditions, which non-governmental organizations have been highlighting for many years.
Many live in constant fear of being caught, but are in debt due to the various fees they were charged to come to Taiwan, and because they have families to feed back home.
The caregiver’s diagnosis has sparked fear that illegal migrants could create a weak spot in the nation’s epidemic prevention system, and there have been calls for the government to crack down on them.
The situation will undoubtedly affect people’s attitudes toward the 700,000-strong migrant worker community, who are already often subject to discrimination and abuse.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Sunday reiterated his opposition to launching a crackdown on illegal migrant workers, saying that it would “only create an acute shortage of people to look after patients and place more strain on healthcare professionals.”
It might further disrupt prevention efforts, as increased scrutiny would only make illegals more afraid to seek medical help if they show symptoms. Instead of their legal status, the focus should be on making sure preventive measures have reached these workers and that those who frequent hospitals know and follow proper safety protocols.
Even more worrying is that government agencies have been issuing contradictory responses.
The New Taipei City Government turned down the Ministry of Labor’s order to investigate the Indonesian caregiver by saying that “prevention is more important,” while the Taipei City Government yesterday said that it was only following the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s directives to check the information of all foreign caregivers in hospitals and report any illegals to the National Immigration Agency.
Chen has said that he would investigate the matter.
Illegal migrants are more ubiquitous than people seem to realize, often taking on tough jobs such as farm labor or caring for severely ill patients. There is an endless supply of work for them to do, which highlights Taiwan’s labor shortage issues.
When the police took away nine illegal construction workers in June last year, their Taiwanese colleagues said: “If you keep arresting them, we will not be able to build any houses.”
Even in the long term, catching all illegal migrants and deporting them is not the solution — if such a feat is even possible. They are products of a broken system and the entire issue regarding the plight of migrant workers — legal or not — needs to be carefully and systematically reviewed, otherwise more will just replace those who are taken away.
Hopefully the issue does not get swept under the rug after the outbreak is over, as it needs to be taken care of, just not in a rash and knee-jerk manner.
People are largely able to ignore illegal migrants, occasionally seeing reports of them being arrested on the news. However, now that they have been thrust into the spotlight due to the virus, instead of pointing fingers and calling for an immediate witch hunt, efforts should be made to educate people about the circumstances that led to their situation.
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