A crowd of immigrant rights activists protested outside the Executive Yuan yesterday, demanding the resignation of National Immigration Agency (NIA) Director Wu Chen-chi (吳振吉) and sweeping changes to the way the government treats immigrants.
Calling themselves the "Alliance for Amending the Human Rights Protection Law," 30 or so officials from local charities that help immigrants and immigrant spouses descended on the Cabinet to deliver a petition calling on Wu to step down.
They cited authorities' allegedly warrant-less searches of immigrants' homes nationwide and what they said was the government's unwillingness to draft an amendment to the Immigration Law (入出國及移民法) guaranteeing basic rights to immigrants.
Agency Secretary-General He Jung-tsun (何榮村) appeared at the protest to accept the petition. He left shortly after receiving it.
response
"If no positive response [to our petition] comes soon we'll organize an even bigger protest," threatened Taiwan Association for Human Rights vice-secretary Wu Chia-pei (吳佳珮).
Wu Chia-pei led the alliance yesterday in calling for the NIA director's resignation, saying that none of the agency's service centers nationwide are running properly since they opened on Jan. 2. They lack a budget to offer language and personal counseling services to immigrants, she said.
With 65 percent of agency staff having formerly served in law enforcement agencies, they lack the cultural awareness and international experience to effectively deal with immigrants, she added.
Activists yesterday also cited a string of scandals involving corrupt immigration officials that have rocked the new agency.
The alliance also seeks to introduce a draft amendment to the Immigration Law that would protect immigrants against random police searches and other violations of their rights.
statement
In response to the protest, the agency issued a statement later yesterday, saying that it would enhance counseling services for immigrants and push for changes to the Immigration Law to appease critics.
The challenges of coordinating so many human resources and different tasks so soon after the bureaucracy was established four months ago, were many, it added.
Currently, agency staff are undergoing intensive training as the agency continues to adjust to its new duties, the statement said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai