A Taiwanese woman who was identified by the pseudonym “Isabel” in a CNN Freedom Project report on human slavery in November last year arrived in Taiwan on a flight from Los Angeles yesterday evening for a family reunion.
The woman, who was later confirmed to be Ho Hsiao-feng (何曉鳳), originally from Taitung, was accompanied by two of her friends on her way home. Taipei-based China Airlines reportedly gave the trio business-class tickets for the trip to Taiwan.
Ho, wearing a blue wool hat and scarf and holding a newly issued Republic of China passport, tried to maintain a low profile as she made her way through Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, declining to answer any questions. She was fast-tracked through immigration.
Photo: Chen Hsien-yi, Taipei Times
CNN reported in November that “Isabel” was abused by her adoptive parents after she was taken to the US and that she managed to flee the family with the help of her friends. She has since received assistance from a US social welfare organization.
The CNN report drew attention in both Taiwan and the US.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) met with Ho late last year during a transit stop in Los Angeles on his way to El Salvador. Afterward, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Los Angeles helped Ho obtain a Republic of China passport to facilitate her trip home.
TECO officials said that she would attend the wedding of her younger sister, Ho Hsiao-ying (何曉英), and return to Los Angeles after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Ho Hsiao-feng was adopted by a family in Taipei 26 years ago when she was seven years old. She returned to her hometown, Tawu township (大武), once in July 1994 for a brief stay when her father died. She then emigrated to the US along with her adopted family in 2002.
In related news, police in Greater Kaohsiung on Tuesday asked the media to help find the parents of a woman who was abandoned by her mother on a Kaohsiung street about 30 years ago and was eventually brought up in the US.
Hung Hsiao-mei (洪筱梅), who has a stable job and a secure life in the US, was abandoned by her mother in 1982 or 1983 when she was less than two years old, police said.
A woman who was asked by Hung’s mother to mind the child for a short time took the baby girl to a Red Cross Nursery Center after realizing that the mother would not return for the girl, police said.
Hung stayed at the nursery center for more than a year, before -being adopted by a US couple who took her to a new life the US, police said.
However, she always dreamed of finding her roots in Taiwan and has kept in close contact with Chan Ssu-tsung and Hung Chiung-hua, the superintendent and director of the nursery center, in the hope that one day she would be able to track down her parents.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths
RSS