Many people risk their lives to work illegally

(Baonghean) - Without having to pay many fees, without going through rigorous inspection procedures, and with the enticements of brokers, many people still disregard the danger to go abroad to work illegally.

In July, an atmosphere of mourning enveloped the house of Mrs. Tran Thi Tram (47 years old) in Nam Loc commune (Nam Dan). In this poor hamlet along the Lam River, people kept talking about the death of Mr. Luu Xuan Hoang (26 years old, Mrs. Tram's son).

Mr. Hoang was one of four workers from Nghe An who died in an “accident at sea” while trying to cross the Taiwan Strait by sea. Ms. Tram said that 4 years ago, she and her husband borrowed more than 150 million VND for Hoang to go to Taiwan to work, but Hoang’s work in a foreign land was not very favorable. At the end of 2016, Hoang returned home with not much money saved.

At the end of March, Hoang told her parents she was going to the North to visit. However, a few days later, the phone rang. When she picked up, the person on the other end said, "I'm going to China with a group of friends to do business. Don't worry, Mom and Dad..."

The house of Mr. Luu Xuan Hoang (Nam Loc commune, Nam Dan), 1 of 4 Nghe An workers who died on the way to Taiwan illegally. Photo: Tien Hung

That was also Hoang's last call to his family. On April 18, when some bodies with identification papers were floating in Chinese waters, the authorities confirmed that they were illegal workers who had an accident at sea, so they notified their relatives in Vietnam. At this time, some of Hoang's friends in Taiwan called to inform them that Hoang had died on the ship that had an accident on March 31, when crossing the border from China to Taiwan. Tram and her husband then received a notice from the authorities asking them to send blood samples to China to compare DNA with the bodies.

On that fateful train, there were more than 20 Vietnamese people, most of whom had worked in Taiwan but then escaped and were arrested and deported back to their home country. Because they had been blacklisted by Taiwanese authorities for desertion, they could not return to work there legally. Relatives of one of these unfortunate victims said that at the end of February, their child had saved up some money, then asked a person from Bac Giang to take him to China and then found a way to illegally cross the sea to Taiwan at a cost of 40 million VND. Meanwhile, the cost for a worker to come here to work normally costs more than 100 million VND if they go legally.

This is just one of many cases of Vietnamese workers who died while choosing to work illegally. “Currently, the largest number of workers in Nghe An who illegally go to work abroad are China, Taiwan, South Korea and European countries. Going to European countries is much more dangerous. Many people have had to stay in the forest for a whole month to hide from the police. Some people died and their bodies could not be brought back,” said a representative of an office specializing in labor export brokerage in Nghe An.

In mid-July, the Hanoi People's Court brought 8 defendants in the illegal labor trafficking ring to trial, including 2 people residing in Vinh City, Tran The Phuong and Nguyen Trong Tuong. According to the accusation, after contacting people who wanted to go to Korea to work, this group registered tours for customers. Then, they connected with a Vietnamese person living in Korea to take care of the matter, after the group of customers arrived on Jeju Island.

In early 2016, this network successfully transported more than 20 people who wanted to work abroad through Noi Bai International Airport. The cost of going this way was from 100 million VND to more than 200 million VND per person. However, after only a few days of hiding in Korea, the group of "illegal" workers was discovered by the local authorities and deported back to Vietnam. At the time this case was discovered by the police, with the same method as above, this network was still receiving many applications for "illegal" labor export to Korea, including many workers from Nghe An.

For many years, Nghe An has been the leading province in the number of people going abroad to work. Realizing this potential “market”, a series of networks have sent their “henchmen” to localities, especially rural, remote and isolated areas to recruit “illegal” workers. Taking advantage of people’s desire to go abroad soon, many businesses have caused workers to fall into debt.

Two years ago, in a short period of time, Tran Van Trung (residing in Nam Dinh), through tours, also brought nearly 30 people from Nghe An and Ha Tinh to South Korea to work illegally. Recently, Nghe An police also initiated a case and temporarily detained Pham Duy Tuyen (residing in Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province) for organizing illegal labor. Tuyen collected 26,000 USD and more than 1.2 billion VND from a number of workers in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces to organize others to illegally go abroad through tours.

According to the police, the methods of criminals in the field of labor export are very flexible. To gain the trust of workers, the subjects often falsify documents and labor contracts to work abroad with fake stamps and signatures of leaders of many related agencies. The subjects even impersonate officials of reputable labor export enterprises, going to rural areas to recruit people. Some networks send "henchmen" to each locality and then through acquaintances and relatives, near and far, to invite people to work abroad.

The method of recruitment is usually whispering and sweetly enticing that the working environment is very good, the salary is high, the work is easy. Many people want to go abroad to work but lack knowledge and information, so they easily fall into the trap. While some people, due to lack of knowledge, have to go abroad to work illegally, many others take the initiative to go abroad to work in this form.

Because in reality, working illegally often costs little money, the procedures are also very simple, and take little time... However, when leaving the country to the host country, workers without a labor contract must accept living illegally, having to find work on their own, not being taken care of when sick, being arrested, and being deported back to their home country without any protection.

According to the police, the difficulty in dealing with those who illegally send people abroad is that when collecting money from workers, there is no receipt or only a receipt reflecting unclear content, written sketchily, and is only a pretext to prevent future consequences. The investigation agency also encounters many difficulties in collecting evidence and documents with legal value. Therefore, to avoid risks, people who need to export labor should find out complete information through agencies and units that are allowed to recruit; contact directly with the offices of reputable labor export companies that are licensed to recruit.

Tien Hung