Immigration officers were accused last night of being prejudiced and insensitive in a blunder that led to a mentally disabled boy being wrongly sent over the border to Shenzhen.
The desperate search for Yu Man-hon, 15, continued last night in Shenzhen, six days after he was turned out on to the streets alone. The autistic boy, who has a mental age of two, was released unaccompanied on the Chinese side of the border last Thursday. He cannot speak and he has no money.
Anger mounted last night as local parents' groups and human rights activists said it was 'inhumane' for officials to send Man-hon out on his own, apparently unaware the boy could not take care of himself.
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said it had kept in touch with Shenzhen public security officers in the search for Man-hon. The department's Assistance to Hong Kong Residents Unit has contacted the boy's parents to offer help.
The spokesman said: 'The department has commenced an investigation to dig out more facts of the case.'
Chairwoman of the Equal Opportunities Commission Anna Wu Hung-yuk said the immigration officers had shown prejudice against people with disabilities.
'It is discrimination in a sense that it involves assuming this person is difficult, assuming he is an illegal immigrant, while he is in fact a Hong Kong person. Discrimination arose from ignorance regarding the mental condition of the person. There is nothing more important for immigration officers than to safeguard the right of a person to remain in Hong Kong. When you make a wrong assumption it can lead to consequences that are devastating.
