A judge who was on the Immigration Appeals Tribunal has strongly criticised the State's failure to crack down effectively on people-trafficking.
Judge Desmond Zaidan spoke out when dealing with the prosecution of a Chinese restaurant worker who tried to flee when gardaí called to check immigration documents.
Ming Zhang dashed out the back door of the kitchen of the Royal Chinese restaurant in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, but was arrested by officers who had covered both front and rear entrances, the judge was told.
Det Sgt Dessie Sheridan told Donegal District Court he was not sure how long Zhang had been working there. His employer was believed to be in Hong Kong.
The judge, a former member of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal, asked: "What's the State doing about employers who illegally employ people like this man? It's rampant."
He compared the issue with drugs cases in which the people who appeared in courts were "small fry" - the so-called mules and addicts. In illegal immigration cases, those who appeared were desperate people whose predicament was well-known to employers.
Insp Ernie White said that the Immigration Office was liaising with gardaí around the country and only recently in the Circuit Court in Dublin a man was convicted of trafficking.
But the judge said: "All we are getting is desperate people who are desperate to make a living. The big people are outside."
Sgt Sheridan said he was not even satisfied he had the right name for the defendant, who was charged with having no documents between January 1st, 2005 and June 6th, 2007. Information was "near impossible" to get from the Chinese authorities and Zhang was "very cautious".
The judge remarked: "Don't mince your words. He is afraid to say something that will point you in the direction of the main players."
He expressed personal sympathy for Zhang's predicament but said he could not allow emotion to cloud his duty to uphold the law. If people were allowed to abuse the immigration regulations, "millions" of other desperate people would follow them.
Zhang, on whom a deportation notice has already been served, was jailed for four months when he admitted having no documentation.