Hong Kong lawmaker Elizabeth Quat – who is presumably aware that Europe is facing the worst refugee crisis since World War Two – quizzed the government yesterday as to how much asylum seekers cost and how much crime they’ve committed.
Specifically, Quat wanted to find out how much public money had been spent on legal aid, health services, and prosecutions against asylum seekers suspected of having committed crimes.
The considerate lawmaker emphasised that the figures for public expenditure on the handling of asylum seekers and related work did not yet include this “relevant” information.
She also pointed out that public expenditure on the handling of these claims has increased in recent years, from HKD287 million from 2010 to 2011 to an estimated HKD644 million from 2015 to 2016.
Looking ahead (but obviously not at the world around her), Quat then demanded to know the estimated expenditure in 2016-2017 for handling asylum seekers.
Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok issued a written reply.
Having noted that there has been an increase in asylum seekers since 2014, when the government instituted a new streamlined protocol to screen claimants, Lai wrote:
“Their abuse of our screening system and the worsening crime situation have caused considerable public concerns over the social and public order issues brought about by the prolonged presence of a large and growing number of claimants in Hong Kong.”
Let’s hope the EU don’t turn to these guys for advice…
His verdict was that the situation cannot be contained or reversed by “injecting further resources” alone.
Lai advised the government to “launch a comprehensive review of the strategy of handling” asylum seeker claims to combat the problem of illegal immigration and overstaying. He suggested that the government target four areas: pre-arrival control, screening procedures, detention, and removal and enforcement.
The Secretary for Security proceeded to quote the relevant statistics.
According to the Legal Aid Department’s records, over HKD11 million was spent on legal aid granted to torture or non-refoulement claimants, compared to HKD270,000 from 2009 to 2010.
According to the Hospital Authority’s record, the total amount spent last year on fee waivers for asylum seeker outpatient cases and inpatient attendances in public hospitals was HKD43 million. This compares to HKD5.4 million in 2008.
According to the police’s records, 1,113 “non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants” who were recognised as asylum seekers were arrested for criminal offences, rising from 493 in 2009.
In addition, the number of illegal immigrants and “persons who are subject to removal or deportation” who were found to have taken up illegal employment last year was 232.
The estimated expenditure for 2016-17 was not given.
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