The department takes an active role in combating illegal migration and human smuggling and contributes to controlling and preventing the spread of illegal migration as well as preventing Hong Kong from being used as a springboard for human smuggling activities. The Special Investigation Section is specialised in the investigation of organised immigration offences, including human smuggling activities, occurring in or involving Hong Kong. It works closely with other law enforcement agencies in Hong Kong, the Mainland and overseas with the mutual aim of combating organised human smuggling activities.

Smuggling via the Mainland was one of the main ways of arrival of non-refoulement claimants to Hong Kong. Among them, the majority originated from countries not enjoying visa-free access to Hong Kong, including Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The department is very concerned about the situation, and has been maintaining close liaison and intelligence exchange with the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) and the Mainland authorities for joint efforts in combating these illicit activities at source. The Special Investigation Section has conducted special operations with the Mainland and local law enforcement agencies to make sustained efforts to combat illegal immigration activities of non-ethnic Chinese. The effectiveness of the operations has been remarkable. The number of non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants (NECIIs) intercepted has been declining significantly since mid-2016. In 2020, a total of 1,121 NECIIs (a monthly average of 93) were intercepted, a drop of 78 per cent compared with the peak of 1,241 NECIIs (a monthly average of 414) intercepted in the third quarter of 2015. During the same period, the department conducted 10 joint operations with Mainland law enforcement agencies and the HKPF and smashed a number of cross-boundary crime syndicates, resulting in the arrest of 506 involved persons, including 164 core members of smuggling syndicates.

In 2020, the number of Mainland illegal immigrants intercepted was 828.

To deter the smuggling of Mainland illegal immigrants into Hong Kong, an operation codenamed 'Dartshower' was conducted by the department and the HKPF, jointly with the Exit and Entry Administration Bureau of the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, the Guangdong Coast Guard and the Exit and Entry Administration Division of the Zhuhai Municipal Public Security Bureau, in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province respectively in July and August 2020, smashing a syndicate active on the Guangdong-Hong Kong boarder that specialised in arranging for Mainlanders to seek illegal entry into Hong Kong, and a total of 104 persons were arrested. During the operation, the department and the HKPF intercepted a speedboat in Hong Kong waters based on intelligence. A Mainland coxswain and 16 Mainland illegal immigrants on board were arrested. The coxswain was subsequently charged with 'arranging passage to Hong Kong of unauthorized entrants'.

The Anti-Illegal Migration Agency (AIM) was formed to prevent Hong Kong from being used as a springboard for human smuggling activities. Its main charter includes investigations of forgery, human smuggling activities and illegal migration cases intercepted at Hong Kong International Airport and other control points, focused investigations of forgery syndicates involved in the abuse of HKSAR passports, and collection and analysis of the latest modus operandi of forgery syndicates and users.

AIM maintains close liaison with the local, Mainland and overseas authorities and representatives of foreign counterparts in the exchange of relevant intelligence and trends. The Operational Research Section closely monitors the latest trends in illegal migration and the modus operandi adopted by human smuggling syndicates. Frontline officers will be instantly alerted whenever new trends in forged travel documents and illegal migration are observed.

Immigration officers have all along been conducting screening and identification of vulnerable persons who are arrested or who put themselves forward to the authorities under the TIP victim screening mechanism, with a view to ascertaining whether they are TIP victims.

The Foreign Domestic Helpers Special Investigation Section conducts interview with foreign domestic helper in order to facilitate early identification of potential TIP victims and related exploitation, and to conduct investigations when required.

To implement the 'Action Plan to Tackle Trafficking in Persons and to Enhance Protection of Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong' promulgated by the government, the Foreign Domestic Helpers Special Investigation Section (FIS) was set up in December 2019. The key tasks of FIS are to conduct initial screening before vetting visa application from foreign domestic helper (FDH) so as to facilitate early identification of potential TIP victims and exploitation relating to FDHs, and to conduct investigations where necessary.

In 2020, the department conducted a total of 3,504 initial screenings under the TIP victim screening mechanism. Among them, 2,315 were conducted by FIS in respect of FDH visa applicants.

To heighten staff's TIP awareness, the department has included the topic of TIP in the induction training for all officers. In addition, relevant enforcement officers will attend workshops on tackling human trafficking co-organised by the HKSAR government and overseas law enforcement agencies.

As a member of the Inter-departmental Joint Investigation Team, the department will continue to discuss the latest trends of TIP and exchange intelligence with other members, including the HKPF, the Customs and Excise Department and the Labour Department and conduct joint investigations/operations against TIP activities.

To combat offences relating to parallel trading activities, the department has stepped up enforcement action by mounting a series of anti-illegal worker operations codenamed 'Windsand'. As at the end of 2020, a total of 772 operations were conducted with the apprehension of 3,625 Mainland visitors for breaching their conditions of stay by suspected involvement in parallel goods trading, and 20 local employers suspected of employing illegal workers. Among them, 233 Mainland visitors were convicted and sentenced to imprisonment ranging from four weeks to three months. According to the existing mechanism, the department will pass the particulars of those Mainland visitors convicted of illegal employment in Hong Kong to the Mainland authorities for cancellation of their exit endorsements and they are prohibited from visiting Hong Kong for two years. For persons suspected of being involved in parallel goods trading but are not prosecuted, their future arrival will be closely scrutinised. They will be refused entry and repatriated to the Mainland immediately if their purposes of visit are dubious.

Investigators of the department conduct a raid on a black spot of illegal workers to combat illegal employment.

In 2020, the department continued to maintain high vigilance against illegal workers and actively took tough and effective enforcement action against unlawful employment of illegal immigrants, visitors, FDHs and imported workers who were subject to specific employment conditions so as to protect the local labour market. Measures taken included propagation of related government policies and regulations, and frequent surprise checks on factories, restaurants, laundry factories, shops, markets, foot reflexology centres, residential and commercial premises under renovation, construction sites, refuse collection points, and waste materials recycling factories, container depots and warehouses situated in the border and remote areas in the New Territories. In 2020, 1,380 illegal workers, including 555 persons engaged in sex work, were arrested. Most of the illegal workers were prosecuted and fined or imprisoned before repatriation to their places of domicile. Moreover, section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance prohibits illegal immigrants or people who are the subject of a removal order or deportation order from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or from establishing or joining in any business. Since the Ordinance came into effect till the end of 2020, 2,503 persons were arrested on suspicion of breaching the Ordinance. In addition, the government is amending the relevant provision of the Immigration Ordinance so that overstaying visitors who take any employment will also be liable to be prosecuted under that provision and its penalties will be increased to a maximum fine of $50,000 and 3 years' imprisoment.

The department takes vigorous enforcement action against illegal employment.

In order to curb the prevailing trend of unlawful employment and safeguard job opportunities for the local workforce, the Immigration Task Force conducted a number of special operations codenamed 'Breakthrough', 'Champion', 'Contribute', 'Fastrack', 'Flabbergast', 'Greenlane', 'Powerplayer', 'Rally', 'Sahara' and 'Twilight' against illegal workers in various businesses. In 2020, the Task Force conducted 13,110 enforcement operations, including 213 large-scale joint operations with other government departments. A total of 1,407 immigration offenders were arrested.

Employers of illegal workers were also subject to arrest. In 2020, 486 employers were arrested for employing illegal workers. As a deterrent measure, the Court of Appeal (CA) laid down a sentencing guideline reaffirming that employing a person not lawfully employable is a serious offence and the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence even for the first offence. The CA also stated that the presence of other aggravating factors, such as exploitation of illegal workers, employment of multiple illegal workers or repeated offences, will in most cases substantially increase the sentence. In addition, the government is amending the relevant provisions of the Immigration Ordinance to increase the penalties for employing persons who are not lawfully employable.

The department publicises the legal implications of unlawful hiring practices through press conferences, promotional leaflets and talks.

During the investigation of a case in which FDHs were suspected of working in Hong Kong illegally, the General Investigation Section detected that an FDH intermediary had been arranging for foreigners to apply for visas to stay in Hong Kong as FDHs by means of false contracts. As a result, the department launched an enforcement operation codenamed 'Shadowcatcher' in March 2018 and neutralised a syndicate that specialised in arranging Indonesians and Filipinos to work in Hong Kong illegally. Over 30 persons, including 1 Hong Kong resident mastermind, Hong Kong residents employing FDHs illegally and foriegners staying in Hong Kong as FDHs, were apprehended in May 2020, the mastermind was convicted of three counts of conspiracy to defraud and five counts of using false instruments and was sentenced to 43 months' imprisonment, while the other 17 persons involved were convicted of conspiracy to defraud, making false representation to an immigration officer and breach of condition of stay and were sentenced to up to eight months' imprisonment.

The department smashed a syndicate having arranged Indonesian and Filipino to work in Hong Kong illegally by false domestic helper contracts. The mastermind of the syndicate was convicted of conspiracy to defraud and using false instruments and had been sentenced to 43 months' imprisonment. The officers briefed the press on the facts of the case.

The department has produced an Announcement in the Public Interest (API) entitled 'Don't Hire Illegal Workers' to remind employers that employing persons who are not lawfully employable is a serious criminal offence liable to immediate imprisonment. The API has been broadcast on television and uploaded to the ImmD's YouTube channel.

The department encourages members of the public to report immigration offences such as overstaying or employment of illegal workers by mail (address: 5/F, Skyline Tower, 39 Wang Kwong Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon), by calling the department's 24-hour hotline (2824 1551), by fax (2824 1166), by e-mail (anti_crime@immd.gov.hk) or by online reporting (www.gov.hk/orio). The department will continue to combat unlawful employment through various channels and appeals to members of the public not to employ illegal workers.

The department is highly concerned about the use of forged travel documents, either for illegal migration, crimes or terrorism. Such illicit activities pose threat to immigration control and the security of the countries concerned and undermine the probity of the passports being forged. As syndicated forgery activity is a global problem, the department works closely with the local, Mainland and overseas law enforcement agencies to conduct covert investigations into cases of forged documents. Resolute actions are taken to detect the use of forged travel documents by travellers and illegal migrants who are in transit through Hong Kong to other countries. In 2020, the department conducted 18,309 anti-forgery operations. The number of forged documents detected was 98, representing a decrease of 82.9 per cent as compared to 572 in 2019.

Officers of the department takes resolute action in combating crimes related to the use of forged travel documents.

The Operational Research Section is responsible for collecting, analysing and disseminating information relating to matters of interest to the department. It keeps track of the modus operandi of human smuggling and the trends on the use of forged travel documents. The section will also pay attention to the latest travel documents, identification documents and visas issued by various countries, and provide related information for frontline staff's reference on a regular basis.

For more accurate detection of forged documents, the department uses sophisticated equipment to assist in investigations. Such equipment includes the Electronic Documentation of Information System on Networks (EDISON), which is a computerised system keeping a large collection of digitised colour images of genuine travel document specimens. The department is also equipped with Video Spectral Comparators, which are particularly useful in the immediate detection of forged and unlawfully altered documents.

The department also makes use of compact hand-held forensic devices and forged document detectors to facilitate quick examination of doubtful documents on the spot by frontline officers. Its Face Recognition System (FACES) can also enhance the detection of cases of multiple identities effectively.

Officers of the department use Video Spectral Comparators to detect forged and unlawfully altered documents.

Since its issue, the Hong Kong smart identity card has become a target of forgery syndicates. In 2020, a total of 37 forged Hong Kong smart identity cards were seized during various operations conducted by the department. To tackle the problem, the department will continue to conduct various operations, intelligence collation and information exchange with relevant parties.

The department launched a series of arrest operations in December 2019 and smashed a forgery-cum-illegal worker syndicate that specialised in providing Mainlanders with forged Hong Kong identity cards (HKICs) for seeking illegal employment in Hong Kong. In the operation, a total of 27 persons, including 8 Hong Kong residents and 19 Mainland residents were arrested, and 13 forged HKICs were seized. Two of the Mainland residents were core syndicate members, who were convicted in October 2020 of conspiracy to transfer forged HKICs, possessing forged HKICs and breach of condition of stay and were each sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment, while the other 18 convicted persons of the case were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 1 week to 15 months.

According to the sentencing guideline handed down by CA, for an offence of possession of a forged/other person's identity card, even when the offender's presence in Hong Kong is legal, the sentence should be 12 months' imprisonment after a guilty plea. If the forged/other person's identity card had been presented/used to conceal one's status, so as to seek unlawful employment or to further one's illegal stay in Hong Kong, the sentence should be 15 months' imprisonment after a guilty plea.

The Operational Research Section conducts regular workshops on identification of forged travel documents and forged Hong Kong smart identity cards for our in-service officers, and local and overseas enforcement agencies. Moreover, talks on security features of Hong Kong smart identity cards and techniques for identifying forged Hong Kong smart identity cards were delivered to personnel of other government departments, financial institutions and the legal sector who were regularly involved in the handling of identification documents. To reduce the flow of people and social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the workshops and talks were held by video conferencing.

The Operational and Research Section conducts workshops on the identification of forged travel documents and forged Hong Kong smart identity cards by video conference during the pandemic.

The section also maintains an Enforcement Exhibition Gallery, which highlights the diversity of work and various achievements of the Enforcement Division through the display of photographs, reports of enforcement action, seized exhibits and various kinds of enforcement equipment. Moreover, the gallery stores over 37,700 forgery items unearthed by the department. These items include forged documents such as passports, identity cards, certificates and implements fit for forgery such as stamps and dies. Specimens are also displayed for training and exhibition purposes.

The department has grave concerns about non-Hong Kong residents coming for residence in Hong Kong by means of bogus marriages. These people contracted bogus marriages with Hong Kong residents in order to gain entry into Hong Kong and eventually for settlement.

The department actively follows the reports and clues for investigations into suspected bogus marriages, including information on doubtful relationships in processing applications.

To combat bogus marriage cases, the Marriage Registries of our department have stepped up checking on suspected cases, while the Investigation Sub-division has also initiated investigations into suspected bogus marriages. With these measures in place, a number of suspected cases were swiftly detected and the persons involved were convicted of relevant offences.

Our special task force has been aware that some criminal syndicates have continually published messages via newspapers, instant messaging software and social networking mobile applications to induce young people to engage in bogus marriages through promising huge remuneration. In recent years, the department smashed four cross-boundary syndicates in a series of operations against bogus marriages codenamed 'Flashspear', 'Snare' and 'Tracker'.

In 2020, a total of 45 persons were convicted of offences relating to bogus marriages and were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 6 to 16 months.

For persons who have obtained their residence in Hong Kong by fraudulent means, their HKICs and residence status will be invalidated according to the laws of Hong Kong. They will also be subject to removal to their places of origin.

To remind members of the public, including young people, of the serious consequences of participating in bogus marriages, the department has from time to time disseminated information on crackdowns on bogus marriage syndicates and intermediaries as well as the arrest of persons engaging in bogus marriages through various channels including press releases and media interviews. In addition, the department has also produced a short video to remind the public against falling into the trap of bogus marriages, which has been uploaded to the department's YouTube channel. The department will continue to deliver such messages through various effective means so as to remind members of the public not to participate in illegal activities such as bogus marriages.

In the fight against illegal migration, exchange of information and intelligence on global human smuggling activities and forgery trends is of utmost importance. The department has successfully established an effective communication network and a good working relationship with foreign and Mainland counterparts, thereby facilitating the exchange of intelligence and proactive action against illegal migration and terrorist activities. Useful intelligence that may help detecting, disrupting or suppressing illegal migration and terrorist activities will be promptly disseminated through the established mechanism.

The CIC is an immigration detention facility for detaining immigration offenders (18 years old or above) who are awaiting repatriation/removal/deportation in accordance with the Immigration Ordinance. In 2020, there were 3,988 admissions to the CIC. Amongst them, 2,392 were male and 1,596 were female.

Surprise raids in dayrooms and dormitories are conducted by officers of the CIC from time to time for timely detection of potential security threats.

In view of the different nature of work between managing the CIC and other immigration work, members of the Immigration Service responsible for the operation of the CIC have to receive necessary training in relation to the management of a detention centre. The training courses last for three weeks, including a one-week Detention Centre Management Course and a two-week tactical training. The Detention Centre Management Course focuses on the daily operation of a detention centre while the tactical training is concerned with staff's response during riotous situations. As a requisite for the renewal of the exemption permit under the Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance by the Police Licensing Office, members of the Immigration Service are required to undergo refresher training organised by the Correctional Services Department four times annually so that they are qualified to carry and use anti-riot equipment in the centre.

Officers deployed at the CIC are equipped with appropriate equipment and provided with relevant training for handling diversified work.

The MTKDC is an immigration facility for short-term detention of immigration offenders pending inquiry, prosecution, court hearing or transfer to other detention facilities and runs round-the-clock. In 2020, there were 3,893 admissions to the MTKDC. Amongst them, 2,267 were male and 1,626 were female.