Documentary | Your Stop-and-Frisk Performance Metrics, My Incomprehensible Ordeal
Last edited: 2026-07-27
On August 16, I went out to take out the trash, and the police grabbed me. They demanded I show my identification to verify whether I was a legal migrant worker, but I could not produce my Alien Resident Certificate at that moment. The police told me not to speak or move. Later, two more police officers arrived, took me into a police car to the station, and handcuffed my hands and feet.
―Hsiao-li (a pseudonym)
Hsiao-li, who has worked in Taiwan for eight years, is currently a family caregiver. One afternoon, as he went out to take out the trash as usual, the police suspected him of being a runaway migrant worker, stopped him, and subsequently handcuffed him and brought him to the police station.
Hsiao-li is not the first migrant worker to face improper police stops and illegal arrest, but he is the first to file criminal and civil lawsuits seeking compensation—and win. Why do police go after runaway and unaccounted-for migrant workers? And where is the reasonableness in these stops?
This article is an AI-generated translation of the original Chinese text. In the event of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.