Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) yesterday visited the Hsinchu shelter for illegal Chinese immigrants while the inmates were permitted to make telephone calls to their families in China.
The phone service, which each inmate could use for a couple of minutes, is provided only during three major annual holidays: the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival. Inmates are also permitted to send letters home on these three occasions.
The shelter permitted its inmates to call home as the Mid-Autumn Festival, traditionally an occasion for family reunions, is approaching. The festival this year falls on Sept. 11.
"Through calling or writing home, the inmates can tell their families they are safe here and relieve a bit of homesickness," a council spokesman said.
"On the other hand, the inmates can also inform related agencies in China of their situation in Taiwan so as to accelerate the repatriation process," the spokesman said.
Life in the shelter is disciplined and inmates are heavily guarded by around 200 policemen stationed there.
Apart from several baby boys, all the inmates were female, a shelter manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
While one of the shelter's rooms is large enough for 100 inmates to sleep in, other rooms are less spacious but can accommodate 40 to 50 people.
"Our inmates usually get up at 6:30am and eat their breakfast at 7:30am. After breakfast, they have religious or counseling sessions until 11:30am," the manager said.
Supper is served at 5:30pm. After that, the inmates can watch TV or participate in leisure activities. They go to bed at 10:30pm.
Apart from covering the inmates' daily expenses, the shelter has to pay when inmates go into labor and for any funerals.
"When we find women pregnant when they arrive here, we admit them to nearby hospitals for check-ups. After they have delivered their babies, we provide them with the traditional month-long maternity care," the manager said.
Illegal Chinese immigrants started to sneak into Taiwan after the government terminated martial law in 1987, according to a council report yesterday.
The first illegal immigrants were mostly job-seeking males, while a considerable proportion of the recent immigrants were women who often worked as prostitutes after entering Taiwan, the report said.
According to the report, the greatest number of illegal Chinese immigrants arrived between 1980 and 1993.
During this period, about 5,000 Chinese people entered Taiwan illegally every year.
Before 1999, only 7 percent of the illegal immigrants were female. The female proportion climbed considerably to 84 percent this year.
By 1999, 96 percent of illegal immigrants came from Fujian Province in China. Since 2000, the immigrants from Fujian dropped to 37 percent and those from Sichuan Province grew to 17 percent.
The report revealed that 64 percent of the immigrants entered Taiwan in the northern part of the island and 22 percent in the southern region.
Apart from the Hsinchu shelter, there are two accommodation centers for illegal Chinese immigrants set up by the National Police Administration in Ilan and Matzu. The three together can provide shelter to 2,089 people.
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