Illegal border crossing is already against the law, and undermining epidemic prevention adds to the offense.
Compiled from: Legal Yantian, Guangdong Release by China News Service
Case review
On February 19, the WeChat public account of "Guangdong Public Security" issued a "Situation Report": Recently, public security organs in Guangdong Province have continued to crack down on illegal and criminal activities related to illegal border crossing in accordance with the law. They have successively solved 7 cases involving illegal border crossing, arrested 18 criminal suspects who organized or transported people across the border illegally, and notified local authorities of all relevant illegal border crossers to implement epidemic prevention management measures. For the above-mentioned persons apprehended in our province, where there are suspected crimes of organizing or transporting others to illegally cross the national border and crimes of impairing the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, the public security organs in the localities concerned have all opened cases for investigation; other illegal border crossing acts have also been investigated and dealt with together.
Subsequently, multiple regions in Guangdong issued notices offering rewards for reporting clues related to anti-smuggling and anti-illegal immigration efforts. For example, the Public Security Bureau of the Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone in Huizhou announced that anyone who reports clues about individuals or vessels involved in or engaged in illegal immigration or smuggling, and the information is verified as true, will receive a maximum reward of RMB 500,000 per clue, depending on the circumstances of the case.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 318
Whoever organizes others to illegally cross the national border (frontier) shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than seven years and shall also be fined; under any of the following circumstances, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than seven years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated:
(1) Being the ringleader of a group that organizes others to illegally cross the national border (frontier);
(2) Repeatedly organizing others to illegally cross the national border (frontier) or organizing a large number of persons to do so;
(3) Causing serious injury or death to the organized persons;
(4) Depriving or restricting the personal freedom of the organized persons;
(5) Resisting inspection by means of violence or threats.
(6) where the amount of illegal gains is huge;
(7) where there are other particularly serious circumstances.
Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 71
(1) exiting or entering the country with forged, altered, or fraudulently obtained exit-entry documents;
(2) exiting or entering the country by using another person's exit-entry documents.
(3) Evading border exit and entry inspections;
(4) Illegally exiting or entering the country by other means.
A fine of not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 5,000 yuan may still be imposed in accordance with the law; if the circumstances are serious, detention of not less than 5 days but not more than 10 days shall be imposed, and a fine of not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan may also be imposed.
[1] The author's perspective
First, based on the above legal provisions, it is clear that individual illegal border crossing is an illegal act but does not necessarily constitute a crime. However, organizing illegal border crossing is a criminal act, where organizing refers to leading, planning, or directing others to illegally cross the border, or under the direction of a principal, engaging in recruiting, enticing, or introducing others to illegally cross the border.
Now, with the pandemic ongoing and the entire population in a state of epidemic prevention, illegal border crossing not only endangers national security but also severely disrupts epidemic prevention and control, and even harms economic development and social stability. As individuals, once we become aware of illegal activities such as smuggling or illegal border crossing, we must promptly report them to the public security authorities and must not conceal or shield them, contributing our part to consolidating the hard-won achievements in epidemic prevention and control.
Finally, the author reminds everyone that the pandemic is not over yet, and we must not let our guard down. We should cooperate with epidemic prevention measures in accordance with the law and ensure personal safety protection.
