Some of the illegal immigration nabbed during a raid at a construction site in Port Dickson, Malaysia. (Photo: AFP/VNA)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s Immigration Department haspledged to further intensify operations to round up illegal immigrants in thetime ahead.
The department’s director general Mustafar Ali said last week that itwill strengthen ongoing efforts to detain illegal immigration beginning nextmonth.
Employers who hire and harbour illegal foreign workers will also bearrested.
More than 3,000 illegal immigrants have been so far arrested under anationwide operation namely “Op Mega 3” launched on July 1.
A total of 47,092 illegal immigrants, including 885 children under 12years old, were detained throughout 2017, according to the department.
The arrests were made after authorised agencies examined documents of188,884 foreigners in more than 16,000 operations across the country. Of thearrested, there were 33,079 men and 13,128 women.
Many of the children whowere detained had been brought into this country by theirparents while a number of them were born here.
Also in 2017, as many as 1,257employers were caught for hiring and harbouring illegal foreign workers and 80percent of them had been charged whilethe remaining was in the process of being charged.
Malaysia has worked with concernedparties, including non-governmental organisations on appropriate measures tomanage unlawful immigrants and their children at the detention depots. -VNA
VNA
