| Recently, the Legislative Yuan held a hearing to review the possibility of drafting legislation designed to combat human trafficking. It has long been known that foreign nationals and mainland Chinese have been brought into Taiwan to perform difficult or illegal tasks, ranging from menial factory jobs to prostitution. Much of the attention focused on the human trafficking problem is centered on the smuggling of people into Taiwan. However, we believe another important facet of this human rights catastrophe often goes overlooked and needs more attention. It has long been known in law enforcement circles in the West that "snakehead" groups smuggling mainland Chinese into other countries use Taiwan-issued travel documents when bringing their clients into foreign countries on commercial flights. An ROC passport containing a valid U.S. visitor's visa can fetch more than US$20,000 on the black market, as mainland Chinese have the easiest time posing as Taiwanese tourists. In the end, for efforts to be effective, provisions must be drafted to impose stiff punishments for people convicted of smuggling or exploiting illegal immigrants. Budgets for the Coast Guard have to be increased so more traffickers can be interdicted at sea and their human cargoes rescued. And a mechanism must also be set up to protect the dignity and human rights of foreign nationals who help bring their exploiters to justice. | 
