Tag: illegal immigration

It looks like South Korean lawmakers may be opening the door to having anchor babies in South Korea:

Lawmakers have proposed a bill requiring medical institutions to register the births of non-Korean babies in the government system, in a bipartisan bid to reduce the number of undocumented children and better protect their rights.

Last week, 11 lawmakers from both the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) jointly proposed a bill requiring hospitals and other medical institutions to report the births of children born to foreign nationals in the country, including undocumented residents. (………)

However, this policy has not extended to children born to non-citizens. As a result, some children born to undocumented foreign nationals in Korea remain unregistered, as their parents fearing deportation choose not to report the births. The exact number of such minors living in the country remains unclear. According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, at least 4,025 babies went unregistered between 2015 and 2022.

This is why the bill also seeks to ensure that government officials involved in birth registration are prohibited from reporting undocumented residents to the immigration office, providing a measure of protection for these families.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if a bank robber shows up at the hospital to have a baby do they get immunity from being arrested as well?

How can the KCTU claim to represent the best interests of Korean workers if they are advocating for foreign illegal immigrants who broke the law to take jobs from Koreans?:

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country’s two major umbrella labor unions with more than 1 million members, is moving to embrace undocumented foreigners here in an attempt to broaden its coalition, labor officials said.

During an event hosted by the KCTU at its headquarters in Seoul on July 25, senior officials discussed ways to strengthen the rights of “all migrant workers.” They said there should be a fundamental reform of the government system of handling the migrant laborers who work here without valid visas. Abolishing the deportation policy targeting such people and giving them the right to stay were among the ideas suggested and advocated at the event.

Korea Times

Here is twisted logic on this from the KCTU:

The spokesman’s comment comes after Udaya Rai, head of a migrant workers’ union under the KCTU, said at the KCTU event that the government should abandon its policy of cracking down on undocumented migrant workers.

“The policy of cracking down on and deporting undocumented immigrants begets countless of human rights violations and stirs up anxiety and fear,” he said. “Exploitation and violence are justified just because they are undocumented. There should be a policy to give them the right to stay in order to end this vicious circle.”

You can read more at the link, but should authorities not arrest bank robbers because it stirs “anxiety and fear” in these criminals as well? If you commit criminal activity you should be arrested and illegal immigration is a crime. If the KCTU doesn’t like the fact it is a crime then change the law to have open borders where anyone can come in and take Korean jobs. Good luck with getting the Korean public to support that.

Here is an unexpected benefit of the coronavirus, the self deportation of illegal immigrant inside of South Korea:

An exodus of undocumented foreigners here has begun as the coronavirus epidemic continues. Hundreds of illegal sojourners come to the immigration office on Jeju Island each day asking for quick deportation, according to Yonhap News Agency. 

On Tuesday alone, nearly 200 people gave themselves up to Jeju Immigration Office ― nearly as many as the 230 who surrendered throughout last month. Most were Chinese.

“The virus is spreading so fast,” Yonhap quoted an undocumented Chinese working at a restaurant on Jeju as saying. “My family in China worries about me so much, so I decided to return home.” 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how vigorously this crackdown is enforced:

Police and the justice ministry have launched a rare joint crackdown on undocumented foreign workers and their Korean employers. 

The crackdown will last for one month during which officials will scrutinize workplaces known for having many illegal foreign workers. Primary targets include construction sites, massage parlors, bars and other night entertainment facilities. 

Illegal foreign workers will be subject to deportation and banned from entering Korea for 10 years. Employers caught hiring them will be prosecuted. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t see any angle on how this rise of illegal immigration into South Korea during the Moon administration gives him any political advantage, unlike in the US.  Does anyone have any ideas why the Moon administration is allowing a rise in illegal immigration?:

The number of foreign nationals staying in South Korea illegally increased by nearly 100,000 on-year to surpass 330,000 this year, government data showed Sunday.

According to the data by the Ministry of Justice, 330,005 foreigners were staying in the country without a valid visa as of July, up 97,834 from 232,171 logged July of last year.

The data — which showed the number of illegal aliens over the past 10 years — was submitted to the National Assembly.

The annual average number of reported crimes committed by foreigners came to 43,635 over the past five years, the data showed.

The number came to 34,460 in 2013 and steadily increased to peak at 53,151 in 2016 and slightly down to 45,671 in 2017.  [Yonhap]

I would not be surprised if there is more to this story then what is being reported:

The U.S. government deported a Mexican woman on Friday who had lived in the country illegally for nearly two decades despite efforts by lawmakers to keep her in Florida with her husband, a Marine Corps veteran, and her two American children.

Alejandra Juarez, 38, was joined by her family and her congressman, Darren Soto, at Orlando International Airport for tearful farewells before her flight back to Mexico.

Juarez sought to illegally enter the United States in 1998 and was ordered to be removed, precluding her future chances at getting a visa or becoming a citizen, according to Soto and media interviews Juarez has given.

She illegally re-entered the country in 2000, the same year she married Temo Juarez, a Mexico native who went on to serve in the war in Iraq with the U.S. Marines and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen.

After being discovered in the country during a 2013 traffic stop, she had been required to check in every six months with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.  [Reuters]

You can read the rest at the link if you want to read all the anti-Trump stuff even though her deportation process began under the Obama administration.

I feel bad for the kids, but their parents had nearly 20 years to work on her immigration status which leads me to believe there is more to this story.  With that said should illegal immigrant wives of US military servicemembers receive special immigration status?  That is basically the argument being made here.

Here is the latest crackdown by the ROK government on illegal immigrant workers in South Korea:

The Korean government is cracking down on undocumented migrant workers across the country.

The Ministry of Justice said Friday its main target is foreigners who work here illegally after entering the country through visa-waiver programs ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

According to the ministry, the number of undocumented migrant workers surged to 312,346 in May from 251,041 in December 2017.

More than 14,600 undocumented migrant workers have been caught this year, up 7.3 percent from the same period last year; many were Thai women who took advantage of the visa-waiver programs to work at massage parlors and bars here.

Illegal immigrants, if caught, are deported immediately and their employers could face a maximum of three years in prison or a fine of 20 million won ($18,000).

The ministry said the crackdown will continue throughout the year.  [Korea Times]

ROK Heads may remember that South Korea launched an immigration reform measure two years ago that caused many illegal immigrants to self deport, but it appears the need for more prostitutes prior to the Winter Olympics caused a surge in illegal immigration again.

Here is yet another example of why President Trump calls them the “fake news” media:

Donald Trump threatened Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe he would ship 25 million Mexicans to his country, one of a series of bizarre missives that jarred fellow leaders at last week’s acrimonious G7 meet, according to a report on Friday.

The Group of Seven summit gathering of top industrialized democracies finished in disarray after the US president abruptly rejected its consensus statement and bitterly attacked Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Behind the scenes, Trump’s counterparts were dismayed by verbal jabs on topics ranging from trade to terrorism and migration, The Wall Street Journal said, quoting European officials who were present.

At one point he described migration as a big problem for Europe then said to Abe: “Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” creating a sense of irritation in the room, according to an EU official.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but Trump did not “threaten” Shinzo Abe as this article claims.  He was clearly using sarcasm to make a point to the people in the room.  Any journalist publishing articles insinuating that Trump literally meant to round up 25 million illegal immigrants and ship them to Japan are clearly dishonest and part of the fake news problem.