KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 20,880 enforcement operations were carried out across the country to weed out illegal immigrants from Jan 1, 2022 to Feb 27 this year.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (pix) said about 58,508 undocumented migrant workers and 871 employers were arrested in the enforcement operations for violating the Immigration Act 1959/63.
He added that the states with the highest number of undocumented migrant workers are Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
“This number of raids and arrests is proof of our consistency in dealing with this matter,“ he said in response to a question from V. Ganabatirau (PH-Klang) who raised the matter of undocumented migrant workers in Klang as the numbers are still high, at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.
According to Saifuddin, about 36 raids were conducted in Klang this year, arresting 2,054 illegal immigrants and eight employers.
He said eight locations had been identified as hotspots for undocumented migrant workers in Klang, including Pasar Borong Klang, Pasar Besar Klang, Bandar Sultan Suleiman Industrial Area and Pulau Indah Industrial Area.
In response to a supplementary question from Ganabatirau about possible inefficiencies in law enforcement as there are still many foreigners in certain places despite the operations, Saifuddin Nasution explained that this is because 80 per cent of the foreigners arrested have valid documents.
“For the record, there are 2.1 million legal foreign workers in our country who have a temporary work visit pass. So when we carry out a raid and arrest them, we first check their documents.
“The situations vary; some have no documents, overstay or misuse the passes. From our current records, out of every 100 arrests, about 20 per cent have incomplete documents, overstay or misuse passports,“ he said.
In response to another question from Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng (BN-Tanjung Piai) on whether migrant workers are allowed to do business in the country, Saifuddin Nasution said all parties need to look into this issue, especially the local authorities. –Bernama
