Immigration Department arrests 16,681 foreigners in 4,785 operations from Jan 1 to May 15, says director-general.
PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department arrested 16,681 foreigners on various offences under 4,785 enforcement operations throughout the country from Jan 1 to May 15.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said his department was more aggressive with enforcement operations and checked 69,406 individuals in the period.
“The data shows that the department is uncompromising where misuse, and violations of the Immigration Act and its related regulations are concerned,” he said at a media conference after attending the 2025 Immigration Department’s Excellent Service Awards ceremony officiated by Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail here today.
There are currently 20,575 detainees at Permanent Immigration Depots while 1,470 detainees are behind held at temporary immigration depots while waiting for documentation processes and further legal action, while as of May 14, 19,700 were deported to their respective countries of origins.
The five countries with the highest deportees were Indonesía (7,936 people), Myanmar (4,005), Bangladesh (2,453), the Philippines (1,825) and Thailand (1,008), he added.
On the Migrant Repatriation Programme 2.0, Zakaria said it achieved several significant achievements, including a high number of registrations, consistent voluntary repatriation and an encouraging amount of compound collection.
From May 19, 2025 to May 17, the programme recorded registrations of 257,443 illegal immigrants from 112 countries with a compound collection of RM128,726,940.
“Three countries with the highest registrations are Indonesia sebanyak 111,660 people, Bangladesh (49,481) and Myanmar (33,858),” he said, adding that the programme helped reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the country.
Regarding the awards ceremony, he said 1,212 officers and personnel received awards for their excellent service throughout the last year.
“We (award) those who show excellent service and we hope this will spur them to excellent service with the goal of the department providing the best world-class service,” he added.
