Discrimination During COVID-19 since it took so long to apply for travel documents due to international border controls, while they could have done so in the past by taking a month’s leave after giving birth. As a result, the demand for short-term temporary care for the children of legal migrant workers increased, but they were unable to access such care or other support.8 10.There was a dramatic increase in the number of undocumented migrant workers.9 The cumulative total of 80,331 at the end of December 2022 marked an increase of more than 20,000 over the cumulative total of 55,805 at the end of December 2021.10 Reasons included border controls in the countries of origin, a failure to repatriate migrant workers whose whereabouts were unknown, and restrictions on the entry of new migrant workers due to COVID-19, resulting in an imbalance between the supply of and demand for foreign workers.11 The government should take a serious view of the phenomenon of undocumented migrant workers and properly address the increase in number and repatriation/ placement of such workers. 8 Minutes of discussion during the NHRC’s visit to a Harmony Home shelter for children (2021, Mar 31). The standards for issuing passports and travel documents varied from country to country. The Vietnamese government imposed strict border controls due to the pandemic, and since it does not issue travel documents to children born out of wedlock, some non9 national children were unable to return to Vietnam and had to rely on intergovernmental coordination. In the past, when a foreigner hired by an employer was unaccounted for, they were called a runaway foreign worker or illegal foreign worker. For those who have freedom of movement, there is no such thing as “runaway” no matter where they go. Labeling migrant workers whose whereabouts are unknown as runaways means that we assume they, like prisoners and soldiers, do not have freedom of movement. The term “illegal” implies a crime, yet such people are not criminals, but merely overstaying in Taiwan with invalid documents. For this reason, these terms were replaced by more neutral ones such as “undocumented migrant workers.” Undocumented migrant workers are those who do not have a legal residence permit or whose permit is invalid, or whose registration does not match their actual status. They may not necessarily have been introduced under the Employment Service Act and then become undocumented; they may have overstayed after entering Taiwan for other reasons such as sightseeing or visiting relatives. This Independent Opinion uses the term “undocumented migrant workers,” as do the statistics compiled by the National Immigration Agency, MOI. 10 Far more agricultural and fishery workers go on to become undocumented than workers in other industries. As of December 2022, a total of 11,250 migrant fishers were employed domestically; 2,731 of these overstayed in Taiwan and their whereabouts were unknown; a total of 2,555 agricultural migrant workers were employed, 341 of whom became undocumented before or after their contract expired. The root cause of this is the poor working environment and 11 conditions in the agriculture and fisheries industry. The MOL’s written reply dated February 24, 2023. 11