Students at National Taiwan University (NTU) protested yesterday after personnel of the National Immigration Agency (NIA) allegedly disrupted the campus during a search for illegal migrant workers.
According to a statement from the NTU Student Association, the incident occurred at noon on Thursday, when several people in plain clothes stopped a cyclist outside a student cafeteria on the university’s main Taipei campus.
The people, who said they were NIA officials, but reportedly failed to present any identification, demanded the cyclist’s ID number and scanned the person’s face without consent, the statement said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
After confirming the cyclist was a Taiwanese national, the people reportedly offered no explanation for their actions and turned their attention to a stall in the nearby cafeteria, eventually escorting a kitchen worker off campus.
The student association accused the officials of not notifying the university in advance or being accompanied by campus staff during the search.
The actions taken were not an isolated incident, but reflected systemic flaws in the agency’s enforcement procedures and infringed on fundamental rights, the association said.
The officials had not informed the university beforehand, as no students were directly involved, NTU said.
However, campus police and staff from the university’s Student Safety Center did respond after receiving complaints from students, it said.
The university said it would coordinate with the NIA to ensure that officials report to the university in advance before conducting future operations on campus.
The NIA later issued an apology for disturbing the campus and said that the person taken into custody was a 31-year-old Vietnamese woman.
The search was carried out jointly with the Taipei Foreign and Disabled Labor Office in response to a public complaint, the agency said, adding that one NIA officer and three labor office personnel were dispatched.
The cyclist in question was the son of a food stall owner and attempted to leave the area upon noticing the search, the agency said, adding that no students were involved in the operation.
The arrested worker would be handed over to the authorities for further processing, according to the NIA.
The Taipei Foreign and Disabled Labor Office said that such searches are usually not disclosed in advance. It expressed regret over the disruption caused to the university and pledged to strengthen training to prevent similar incidents.
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