Hong Kong deports abode-seeker

Many of the migrants and their families are defiant

Hong Kong has started deporting abode-seekers back to China, despite protests from relatives who say families will be split up.

I'll kill myself if they forcibly repatriate me Wong Mei-yin
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The first deportation was reported on Tuesday, after a man who responded to a summons from the immigration department was immediately transported across the border into mainland China.

The BBC's correspondent in Hong Kong, Damian Grammaticas, says the man may now face prosecution by the Chinese authorities for staying in the territory illegally.

He was one of 4,300 Chinese-born people living in Hong Kong who will receive removal letters after a deadline for them to stay ran out on Sunday.

Protest march

Hundreds of abode-seekers marched through the territory on Tuesday in defiance of the government threats to deport them.

About 400 people marched on Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal, where their requests to meet officials were turned down.

A spokesman for the immigration department told the AFP news agency that the man who was deported was among about 50 people who were ordered to report to the office.

But he added that some would be allowed to remain temporarily as they were involved in legal proceedings.

Families split

The abode-seekers, whose parents have the right to stay in Hong Kong, want the government to reconsider because families would be split apart.

The government has so far sent out 300 letters telling people to report to immigration offices for repatriation.

Officials said "routine" and "special" operations would be mounted to find and remove people who did not surrender to the authorities.

Defiance

But several marchers interviewed by journalists said they would not obey the order.

This woman's 16-year-old daughter must leave

Wong Mei-yin, 32, told Reuters news agency: "I'll kill myself if they forcibly repatriate me. At least if I die in Hong Kong, my family can deal with my remains.

"I have no relative on the mainland".

The migrants were born in mainland China and have spent years trying to win the right of abode with their parents in the territory. The deadline for them to leave was set after migrants lost a final legal case earlier this year.

The Hong Kong authorities insist there can be no negotiations.

"If people report voluntarily to the Immigration Department, they will be repatriated," Deputy Security Secretary Michael Wong said.

"If they choose not to do so, then they have absconded."

The only people whose removal would be delayed were those with legal action pending, Mr Wong added.

Our correspondent says some of the people now facing deportation are as young as six years old, though many are teenagers or older.

Among those told to leave are one of a pair of twin girls and a 70-year-old man who lives in Hong Kong caring for his 90-year-old father.

The abode-seekers are particularly bitter because they were initially granted the right to live with their parents three years ago.

But Hong Kong's authorities, with the help of the central government in Beijing, removed those rights, citing the need to limit immigration to the territory.