In Taiwan, immigrants flee for life -old work on the ocean Immigration news star-news.press/wp

This story was produced in partnership with the Politzer Center.

Tikong City, Taiwan – Bernard maintains a low level.

Heading to work in the streets of Taiwan, the 45 -year -old Filipino immigrant is avoided, and he is often checking his face mask to make sure his appearance is hidden.

To hide his accent, he often speaks near.

Often, he rejects invitations to social occasions from his colleagues from his citizens, worried that “Judah” among them might report to the authorities.

Bernard rented in one of the many electronics factories in Taiwan, and came to the island legally in 2016.

But since June 2024, it has been among the increasing residents of Taiwan from illegal workers. He blames his mediator, and he is a special employment agent who is usually assigned to immigrants, for his current score.

He said that the Bernard’s intermediary tried to confiscate his passport, then tried to persuade him to resign and give up the service payments from the employer.

He said he refused in both cases, causing a crack between them.

“They (brokers) speak to you only when they come to collect payments or when they want to deceive you,” said Bernard, who asked to use a pseudonym for fear of repercussions.

The mediators in Taiwan take a set of wages of their customers and have a great impact on their conditions and work prospects, which makes their relationships vulnerable to abuse.

When Bernard’s contract ended in 2022, he said, and his family, I included it in the blacklist among other employers.

He said that Bernard got rid of his desperate mediator in supporting his daughter’s education in the Philippines.

He said these days, he feels “like a bird in a cage.”

In public places, Bernard did not even pronounce the word “unconfirmed” in any language, which only indicates his hands.

The workforce is not documented in Taiwan rises quickly.

The number of inconsistent immigrants on the island has doubled in the past four years, reaching 90,000 in January, according to the Ministry of Labor.

Despite the image of Taiwan as one of the rare liberal democracies in the region, an increasing number of migrant workers in Southeast Asia live under a constant threat of deportation and without access to social services.

Taiwan founded its mediator in 1992 in an attempt to simplify the recruitment of employment.

The brokers affect each aspect of the life of the immigrant worker, from where they live, to their meals, to the conditions of employment contracts, and even how to reach public services.

It is specifically controlling the rights of migrants that this level of control is the one that drives large numbers of workers to flee their workplaces.

More than a third of all complaints by immigrants to the Ministry of Labor are linked to the mediator, according to official data.

As of January 2025, Vietnamese was the largest share of the unreprenevering in 57,611, followed by the Indonesians in 28363, and the Filipinos in 2750.

Joy Tajonira, the Catholic priest who runs the Ugnaian Center, a migrant shelter in Tikong, said the Taiwanese government pursued a percentage of this issue.

“The regime allows mediators to use the ability to defect migrants,” Tajonira told the island of the island.

“Meanwhile, employers play innocent.”

Mediators usually impose a monthly service fee ranging from 50 to 60 dollars, as well as collecting job transfer fees, hospital insurance, leave, and most documents needed to work in Taiwan.

In some cases, they impose the limits of life for some jobs.

Tajonira said that many undocumented workers can gain more without a mediator, “but then loses all social protection and health insurance. It is not that they want to escape. It is their situation, they cannot take it anymore.”

“Pomented and stupid”

In a statement, the Ministry of Labor in Taiwan said that the increase in uncomfortable immigrants was driven by the disruption related to the deportation.

She has taken various steps to improve the conditions for migrants, including raising the minimum wage, performing regular inspections of employment agencies, providing a new suspension mechanism for high -rate agencies of fleeing workers, and encouraging countries that lack employment to reduce agency fees.

The ministry said: “By going before employment for industrial immigrant workers and the suspended guidance sessions for home care providers, the ministry aims to enhance workers’ awareness of legal requirements, inform them of the risks and consequences of losing them, and ensuring the fulfillment of employers of their administrative responsibilities.”

However, since last year, the Taiwanese government has also increased the maximum fines for migrants who were arrested in exceeding their visas from $ 330 to $ 1657.

Lenon Ying Da Wang, director of the general migrant shelter serving the People’s Association, called on the government’s move to increase the sanctions “rude”.

He told Al -Jazeera: “Instead of addressing the causes of escape, this will prevent people from surrender,” he told Al -Jazeera.

Wang said that the lack of protection, especially for those who work in caring for children and fisheries, is the main reason why many immigrants flee from their workplaces.

None of the industries is subject to the minimum monthly in Taiwan of $ 944, according to the Law of Labor Standards in Taiwan.

Wang said that immigrants in practice often receive half of this amount minus discounts by mediators.

“Immigrants only want a decent salary,” Wang said. “But there is an unannounced rule among some mediators not to employ immigrant workers who ask for help from shelters. This forces them to escape.”

Despite his sympathy, Wang, as director of the state providing state, is not allowed to seize the immigrants who escaped from their employers because they are subject to deportation.

On a quiet road described on the edge of Taipei, located on Harmoni the house, a non -governmental organization for mothers and children not documented.

While women and children who remain in Harmony Home cannot be deported for humanitarian reasons, the state is not obligated to bear the costs of their care or medical needs.

The founder Nicole Yang said that Harmondi Home, who took more than 1,600 children over the past two decades, has recently seen a sharp rise in the palace coming through its doors.

“Last year, we had about 110 new children. By April this year, we already have 140,” Yang told Al -Jazeera.

“We also care about 300 others who live at home while their mother works.”

Lee Chuan Lehuang, employment expert at Chong Cheng National, said that although the mediator will be difficult to “uproot it immediately”, the government can improve supervision by “making employment procedures and the cost structure more transparent.”

In Leshan, a mountainous area of ​​Tikong, selects hundreds of Asians in southeast illegal peaches, pear and cavities for local landowners. The presence of fleeing immigrants, who fled from fishing hunting, not only tolerance, but depends on the harvest.

Liuhuang said she wants to see these immigrants who are allowed to work on farms with appropriate protection for employment, but she believes this will not be easy for the public to accept it.

“The government will have to commit to more efforts for this type of dialogue,” she told Al -Jazeera Island.

Mary, who asked to use a pseudonym, said that she escaped from her job as a child care worker to work illegally on various mountainous farms after she felt frustrated from a gain of less than half of the wage and ignored her complaints.

She sat next to the cabbage area, Mary, 46, said that she always felt anxious about the city’s police.

But in Leshan, the rules differ, because landowners have an unwritten agreement with the authorities on the fugitives.

“There is no way the president does not have relationships with the police. He always knows when they come and tell us not to go out,” she told Al Jazerera.

However, there is no guarantee to avoid abuse in the mountains.

After the harvest, employers sometimes blocked payments, threatening anyone who complains about deportation, Mary said.

“If I complain that the president does not give me the salary, it will be reported. Who will help me?” She said.