ZAMBOANGA CITY – Malaysian authorities have released four Filipino children it held since last month after being taken away from their mothers following a series of raids by immigration agents at an apartment complex, according to Migrante International.
It said the children arrived July 3 in Manila after spending weeks in detention at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Center in Kuala Lumpur. “The four children were clearly gripped by exhaustion as their mothers found themselves brooding spasmodically over the uncertainties that await them. With almost all of their belongings looted by wardens and immigration officers at Bukit Jalil, they only managed to carry with them small shoulder bags,” Migrante told The Zamboanga Post.
Migrante said it first received reports of the children being held in Kuala Lumpur from Tenaganita, a migrant center in Malaysia. “It so happened that the mothers who possessed valid visas were not at home when the undocumented toddlers were seized from their relatives,” Migrante International said.
The children and their mothers were met by members of Migrante and Churches Witnessing With Migrants.
Migrante said the children’s mothers recounted their ordeal at the Bukit Jalil Immigration Detention Center. One woman said she can never forget how frequent routine inspections by detention wardens and “spiteful” immigration officers affected them psychologically and emotionally. She said detainees were also fed with “stale and burnt food good for swine.”
Two other mothers recalled their cells as cramped and filthy. “They were made to lie down on the cold floor surface and nobody was allowed to use any sleeping mats. Even scraps of cardboard which they used to fan themselves and cover the floor get confiscated,” Migrante said as told by the women.
“Immigration detainees had only one set of clothes which they had to wash and wear every other day. We wore the same clothes that we had been wearing on the night we were arrested. Our rights as humans were violated.”
“The female wardens acted as if they are not mothers themselves. They were vile and mean, treated us like animals. All the children always get terrified when they’re around,” one mother told Migrante during a briefing.
They also said that non-married detainees are constantly in handcuffs and any detainee inside the facility that is seen by immigration wardens as misbehaving is dealt with severely. They said a female detainee from Kenya, who has been showing signs of Psychosis, was tied to the wall with both hands and was made to stand the whole day.
“Children are not spared from verbal abuse by growling wardens and immigration officers. Many of the young detainees were in need of medical attention,” Migrante said, quoting one mother as saying.
Migrante said children subjected to these kinds of excruciating ordeal are susceptible to psychological stress and emotional trauma which can lead to life-long behavioral consequences.
The mothers and their children, according to Migrante, returned to their hometowns in Bataan, Bulacan and Laguna provinces in Luzon. (The Zamboanga Post)
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