Parents found selling kids’ identity to trafficking ring

Parents found selling kids’ identity to trafficking ring

CNA
Thursday, October 9, 2008 9:40 am

   

TAIPEI, Taiwan –– The National Immigration Agency (NIA) recently cracked down on a Taiwa

nese human-trafficking ring that was smuggling children from China into the United States on Taiwan passports purchased from Taiwanese parents.
The NIA’s Border Affairs Corps said in a statement Wednesday that information provided by the U.S. showed that the illegal Chinese immigrants who were arrested in the case had U.S. visas in passports supplied by a Taiwanese human trafficking ring, which was headed by a man surnamed Lin. In its investigation, the agency discovered that the crime ring had bought the identity of Taiwanese children from parents who were in financial straits.
Using the Taiwan IDs, the human traffickers acquired Republic of China passports by means of a legal loophole that allows a representative to apply for a Taiwan passport and a U.S. visa for Taiwan citizens under the age of 14.
The statement said that 20 Taiwan citizens, including 10 parents from the greater Kaohsiung area in southern Taiwan, were found to have provided IDs to the human trafficking ring.