Taiwan on Tuesday set up an immigration agency to tackle its influx of illegal immigrants, especially those from China, REPORTED DPA. Premier Su Tseng-chang presided over the launch ceremony of the National Immigration Agency, a bureau of the Interior Ministry, and urged the agency to take care of immigrants' welfare and at the same time prevent illegal immigrants from entering Taiwan. Su also confirmed that Taiwan would introduce an identification system that uses facial scans that, in the initial stage, would be used mainly for mainland Chinese immigrants and visitors. "We respect human rights, but we must also be concerned with national security," Su told reporters. The launch of the Immigration Agency was in response to the influx of foreign brides from South-East Asia and China. Currently, one of every five marriages in Taiwan consists of cross-nation partners and one of every nine newborns is the child of a foreign bride. In the past 10 years, more and more Taiwanese men, especially labourers or middle-aged or older men, have married South-East Asian or mainland women. Some foreign brides are illegal immigrants who paid criminal rings to arrange fake marriage so they could come to work in Taiwan. Because of this, Taiwan has adopted strict procedures to screen foreign brides. Even after the foreign brides have been allowed to enter Taiwan and get married, they must wait 10 to 15 years to get identification cards, without which they cannot work in Taiwan. On Tuesday, hundreds of mainland wives staged a protest outside the immigration agency to protest discrimination against mainland spouses. Waving placards saying, "Stop Discrimination!" and "Give Us ID Card!" the mainland wives demanded Taiwan authorities shorten the waiting time for ID cards. "I have lived in Taiwan for five years, but I am still waiting for my ID card," one protester said. "Without the ID card, I cannot work, and my husband's salary is not enough to support our two children.
