Statement | Police Officers Convicted of Unlawful Confinement for Inappropriate Stop-and-Frisk and Abusive Handcuffing of Migrant Worker: Civil Society Organizations Call on Police to End Discriminatory Enforcement Against Migrant Workers

On August 16 of last year (2021), a live-in family caregiver migrant worker in Sanchong, New Taipei City, was randomly stopped and frisked by police officers while taking out the garbage, and was subsequently handcuffed and taken to the police station. Finding no illegal activity, the police abandoned the worker at another location and told them to return home on their own. The incident was exposed by the Domestic Caretakers Union Taoyuan, and the Legal Aid Foundation assigned lawyers to assist the migrant worker in filing criminal charges and seeking civil compensation. The New Taipei District Prosecutors Office concluded its investigation on January 7 of this year (2022), indicting the involved police officers for the offense of unlawful confinement. After the case was transferred to the New Taipei District Court, the involved officers confessed in court, and during a mediation session, reached a settlement with the migrant worker involving civil compensation and a written apology.

The Criminal Division of the New Taipei District Court rendered its judgment on June 7, 2022, holding that the police officers performed their duties based solely on personal subjective suspicion, arbitrarily subjected the migrant worker to a stop-and-frisk, abused their authority by using handcuffs, and deprived the migrant worker of their freedom of movement. This inflicted severe physical and mental trauma on the migrant worker and undermined public trust in state authority. The actions constituted the offense of a public servant intentionally depriving another of personal liberty by abusing the powers of their office. However, considering that the involved officers had reached a settlement with the migrant worker and obtained their forgiveness, they were leniently sentenced to 4 months of imprisonment with a 2-year suspension (Case Number: New Taipei District Court 111th Year Su-Jian Character No. 362 Criminal Judgment).

This case can be described as a landmark case for the protection of migrant workers' human rights in Taiwan. The conviction by judges and prosecutors of police behavior involving inappropriate stop-and-frisk and unlawful restriction of migrant workers' personal liberty is highly commendable. We also thank the media, elected representatives, and the general public for their attention to this case, which has helped realize the law's protection of migrant workers. However, looking across Taiwan's legal system and policies for the protection of migrant workers' human rights, there are still many aspects that can be reviewed and improved. Organizations concerned with migrant workers' rights and judicial justice hereby jointly call for the following:

1. The National Police Agency, in conjunction with the National Immigration Agency, should review the performance incentives for inappropriate stop-and-frisk of migrant workers and abolish discriminatory law enforcement policies.

   The National Police Agency still rejects the resolution of the "2018 National Judicial Reform Conference," refusing to establish a "Police Special Project and Performance Management Committee," and instead merely holds post-hoc review meetings. As a result, the legalization, rationalization, and oversight of police performance remain inadequate. The National Police Agency, in conjunction with the National Immigration Agency, should conduct a comprehensive review of the primary reasons for police officers inappropriately stopping and frisking migrant workers—namely, current law enforcement policies and performance systems—and abolish policies and performance special projects targeting migrant workers to prevent discriminatory and arbitrary law enforcement behaviors driven by improper performance incentives.

2. The National Immigration Agency should invest resources in legal education and strengthen cooperation with legal aid to assist migrant workers facing incidents of improper infringement.

   Being randomly stopped and frisked by police is almost a daily occurrence for migrant workers living in Taiwan. However, cases where workers encounter improper stops and ultimately obtain effective judicial relief, as in this case, are extremely rare. How to preserve evidence, retain lawyers, and seek judicial relief is extremely difficult for migrant workers who are multiply disadvantaged in terms of language and the judicial process. As the competent authority for migrant workers' residency affairs in Taiwan, the National Immigration Agency should strengthen legal education advocacy for migrant workers and assist them in accessing legal aid resources to pursue judicial remedies, thereby fulfilling the basic human rights protections of the right to access courts and due process guaranteed to migrant workers under the Constitution and the two Covenants.

Jointly Stating Organizations

Domestic Caretakers Union Taoyuan
Judicial Reform Foundation
Organization for Migrant Fishers' Rights
Taiwan Association for Human Rights
Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union
Serve the People Association 
Listener-Migrants' Legal and Community Health Platform
Khuôn viên văn hoá Việt Nam
1095 Culture Studio

Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT)
Member Organizations:
– Stella Maris
– PCT. Peace Foundation Labor and Migrant Workers Concern Centre, LCC
– Hsinchu Migrants and Immigrants Service Center, HMISC
– Hope Workers Center, HWC
– Caritas Taiwan
– Taiwan International Workers Association, TIWA

Juridical Association for the development of Women's Right in Pingtung (JADWRP)
Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Immigrants Office, VMWIO
National Domestic Workers' Union
Ganas Community
Migrante Taiwan

Media Contacts

Huang Tzu-Hua / Secretary-General, Domestic Caretakers Union Taoyuan 0910507902
Li Ming-Ju / Staff Lawyer, Judicial Reform Foundation 02-25231178 #17, 0928777201