Hong Kong on Wednesday passed a new immigration law that includes powers to stop people entering or leaving the city, raising fears Chinese mainland-style exit bans.
Already, Activists, lawyers and some business figures are raising alarm over various provisions within the bill, including one that allows the city’s immigration chief to bar people from boarding planes to and from the city.
The city’s Bar Association (HKBA) warned that the bill would undoubtedly give unrestrained powers to the immigration director as no court order is required and there is no recourse to appeal the law.
. After the bill was passed on Wednesday, labour activists and legal critics said the legislature had ignored concerns about the law’s broad wording and said they feared exit bans could now be employed in Hong Kong.
Speaking to reporters after the bill was passed, barrister Chow Hang-tung, from the pro-democracy Hong Kong Alliance, said when such amounts of power is made available, there is every intention to use it.
There is now no opposition to have challenged the legislation in parliament as Beijing seeks to quash dissent and make the semi-autonomous city more like the authoritarian mainland.
On the other hand, Hong Kong’s government said the immigration bill was needed to address a backlog of non-refoulement claims and to screen illegal immigrants before they depart for the city.
However, the wording of the bill does not limit the power to arriving flights or immigrants and legal experts say it could also be deployed against anyone leaving or arriving in Hong Kong.
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