SURVEY: Would you report an overstayer?

[overherebc]

Had a think about it. I did vote no, but if someone was a complete a h le to me and caused me problems I would reserve the option to report them as a last reaort. ????

[thai006]

i say yes respect the Rules only that !

[Trujillo]

There is someone I have been made aware of who came across the border illegally from Laos (local boatman), obviously without a visa of any kind. He's teaching English to children in a small town somewhat east of Bangkok. A few years back, he fathered a child with a Thai girl and does not provide the mother and child with a single satang, but occasionally shows up and wants to see the child. One time he came, unannounced, and picked up the child from her school, without the knowledge of the mother or anyone else. Imagine the mother's fear and then anger at this. 

No one is sure why he wants to be in Thailand and why he just doesn't go through the proper channels, although one could assume that either he can't, or he has something that would prevent him from entering (or something worse, that would land him in custody if discovered). 

 

This is not some senile overstayer old fart sitting on a bar stool on walking street in insert city name, ogling chicks and spending his small pension mostly on Chang beer, although he too is breaking the law. 

 

Why would a person enter illegally and stay under the radar to survive by teaching children? Who knows? But since he is breaking the law, might it be prudent to find out? 

(And by the way, sneaking into the country illegally is the same as someone who entered legally and now is in the country without documentation -- the end result is the same situation.)

 

My point here is that the "none of my business" rationale entails two things: one, you don't have to "get involved" any more than an anonymous phone tip. Two, although some might want to gradate penalties for what they perceive as "lesser crimes," for overstaying it's black and white. There is no grey area, no "sort of" overstaying. 

 

Some took issue with me using an example of saving a drowning man (or choosing not to) as part of the "none of my business "defense.  But isn't turning in a criminal part of one's civic duty and does it not protect the rights of those in the country legally to expel those who are not? Do you see a wanted poster in the post office (US reference) and think, "Oh, if I saw one of these wanted men/women, I would never say anything to the authorities, even anonymously." Because it's not your business? 

 

If you saw someone pick someone's pocket, you'd do nothing? What if the victim was your friend? Would that make the law more actionable? Are laws only applied according to influence?