Malaysia deports over 500 Filipinos

MALAYSIA HAS DEPORTED a total of 525 Filipinos following a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the rich eastern state of Sabah.

The deportation of the Filipinos is part of the repatriation process of illegal immigrants to their homeland and continuation of Malaysia’s commitment to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants entering Sabah, according to Sabah National Security Council (NSC) director Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof.

The Filipinos were sent home recently from the Sandakan City.

The government had also taken proactive measures to detect and capture illegal immigrants by launching various integrated operations managed by the NSC, the Immigration Department, the Royal Malaysia Police, the Eastern Sabah Security Command and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Yussof was quoted a saying by the official Bernama News.

“Since 1990, the number of those deported including those who left voluntarily was 581,947. The number of illegal immigrants who had been sent home last year was 13,479,” she said, adding, the number of deportations managed by the Sabah NSC for this year have reached 4,115 as of April 30. She said there were a series of 19 deportations of illegal immigrants that were conducted in Sabah this year.

The NSC reminded the people in Sabah that the responsibility of freeing the state from illegal immigrants should not be the task of the government alone. “It is a serious offence under the Immigration Act 1959/1963 (Amendment 2002) against any party found to protect, employ or allow illegal immigrants in their premises,” she said. (With a report from The Zamboanga Post)

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