THE greatest fear of migrant workers - being rounded up by police and sent to a detention and expatriation station from which they will be sent back home - will soon be yesterday's nightmare.

　　A governmentsgroupssigned by Premier Wen Jiabao on June 20 has scrapped the 21-year-old "custody and repatriation" regulations.

　　In the eyes of many legal experts, implementation of the old rules had already become "vicious" giving police far-reaching powers and causing many tragedies among poor country folks seeking jobs in the booming cities.

　　The reason given for the repeal, according to a report from Xinhua News Agency, was that the old rules no longer suited China's needs after years of social and economic change.

　　"Although the notorious case of Sun Zhigang was not mentioned in the report, it is no doubt a landmark event which greatly speeds up the repeal," said a high-ranking official with Shanghai Municipal People's Congress who did not want to be identified.

　　Sun, a university graduate working in Guangzhou, was not carrying his temporary residence card proving his right to live in the city, when he was seized by police and thrown into the local detention and repatriation station. Three days later, he was beaten to death in the station.

　　Sun was not the first migrant worker to be killed or injured in a detention station but it was his identity as a university graduate that focused attention on the detention system.

　　"The critique put forward by scholars and many people about Sun's case pushed the central government to give serious consideration to the matter," said Wang Chenguang, dean of the Tsinghua University Law School.

　　New laws covering wanderers and beggars who don't have the means to support themselves in the city come into force on August 1, the same day the old regulations will be phased out. Any official who continues to arrest and repatriate will face punishment under the law.

　　"The news is just too good for me to believe. From now on I needn't carry my temporary residence card every day on me to cope with the police's inspection," said Li Tao, a Henan Province migrant worker in the city, who could hardly believe the good news.

　　A sea change

　　"It is a fundamental change," Ma Huaide, a professor from the China Politics and Law University, was quoted as saying in an interview with China Youth Daily, referring to the rule changes.

　　Under the new laws, even wanderers and beggars cannot be arrested and forced into detention and repatriation stations.

　　The responsibility of the police is only to inform them that there is a detention station which can give them any necessary help and shelter. While in the past, the whole process of "custody and repatriation" involved the police who forcefully enforced its implementation.

　　Anyone seeking help at a detention station can leave anytime they want starting August 1.

　　The new rule also prohibits the stations from beating or maltreating people seeking help, and the stations will not be allowed to charge money from inmates or force them to work for the stations.

　　The funding of the stations will be allocated from government budgets. Local governments are also supposed to improve the training and education of the staff inside the stations.

　　"But, of course, the help they will be able to give to beggars and wanderers will only be temporary," Ma said.

　　The detention stations will not be financially capable of helping anyone in the long term. The answer to that problem resides with the regional government where a homeless person is registered with his or her hukou (permanent residence) or with the relatives of the wanderers.

　　Worries still exist

　　Mixed up with the nation-wide excitement over the government's decision are some worries.

　　Zhu Mang, a professor with East China University of Politics and Law, told the Shanghai Star he would rather wait before voicing any opinion on any benefits from the rule change.

　　"The change is too sudden, and the impact towards the related lower levels of government sectors would be extremely great."

　　The repeal and making of a new regulation was a serious undertaking, Zhu said, and not enough research and forecasts had been done. It was, to some degree, not a healthy way to put forward the new policy in such a short time, Zhu said. "Besides, on the repatriation issue, the problems are actually not the fault of the rules."

　　When in 1982, the "custody and repatriation" rule came out, no one opposed it as the initial intention of the government was good. The system was designed to help the wanderers and beggars.

　　It was the administrative notices issued later which in the name of better enforcing the rule that gradually expanded the number of people at risk of being sent to detention stations, including any migrant worker who could not produce the three documents necessary to prove his or her right to live in a city - Identity Card, working permit and temporary residence card.

　　"The putting out of these notices might not have been anticipated by the rule makers when they put forward the repatriation policy," Zhu said.

　　"That the detainees would later become an important financial resource to the detention stations by charging them the so-called repatriation fee was also something not foreseen in the old rule."

　　Guo Xianli, the former leader of a detention station in Lianyuan in Hunan Province, confessed that in five years, his station made a total of 3.2 million yuan (US,000) from some 10,000 poor farmers they had detained.

　　Based on his working experience within the detention station, Guo insisted that a strict inspection system should be set up to ensure the authorities were abiding by the new rules. Otherwise, he said, there won't be many differences from the past.

　　Zhu said: "We still need a longer time to see clearly the function of this new rule and what real benefits it brings to the poor farmers seeking jobs in the city because the details are not clear yet.

　　"But anyway we have clearly felt that the country is getting more concerned about personal freedom, which is indeed great progress."

　　While many scholars speak out in favour of the new laws, the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, which is in charge of detention and repatriation stations, refused to comment on the new laws saying the State Council had not yet released details of how they would work.

　　It was also unclear when or how those in detention would be freed.