Nationwide hunt for illegals begins
PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration authorities early this morning launched a large-scale operation to flush out illegal immigrants in the country, following the passing of the deadline to register for the Enforcement Card or E-card.
As of 8am yesterday, a total of 155,680 illegal immigrants working for 26,957 employers had applied for the E-card and 140,746 of the cards were issued. This is only 23 per cent of the 600,000 cards targeted by the Immigration Department.
Director-General of Immigration Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali is not amused. In fact, he is disappointed with the attitude of the employers. The registration exercise was launched on February 15.
“I emphasised many times that the deadline for registration is midnight tonight, and the deadline will not be extended,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
He said that after the deadline passed, the department would arrest illegal immigrants and prosecute their employers under sections 56(1) and 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/1963, including those employing immigrants with student passes.
A check by reporters yesterday found the Immigration Department headquarters crowded with employers and their illegal immigrant workers waiting to register for the E-card at the 11th hour.
“While the deadline for applications is midnight, we expect our officers to be working up to 7 am tomorrow to process all the documents received,” said Mustafar.
He said the applications received after 11.30am had to be kept aside to complete processing those received earlier.
The most number of applicants were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, followed by those from Indonesia, Myanmar and Nepal, he said.
Mustafar also said that immigration authorities had arrested several people who took advantage of the E-card registration to offer their services as agents.
“They were issuing false Ecards,” he said, adding that employers had to apply for the cards without going through middle-men.
Meanwhile, Selangor Immigration Department director Omran Omar said only 41,673 illegal immigrant workers applied for the Enforcement Card (E-Card) in Port Klang from Feb 15 up to on Thursday, which is far below the 100,000 target set.
He said of the total, 40,395 applications were approved while 1,278 applications were rejected after they were found to be in the department’s black list or did not meet the E-Card application requirements.
“The most number of applicants here (Port Klang Immigration Office) were illegal immigrant workers from Bangladesh with 26,874 applicants, followed by Indonesia with 12,812 applicants and Myammar, 658 applicants.
“Those who work in the construction sector form the biggest group of E-Card applicants comprising 18,886 people followed by the manufacturing sector with 9,774 people, service (9,730) plantation (1,681) and agriculture (1,602),” he said at a press conference yesterday.
Omran said the Immigration authorities would launch a massive operation to flush out illegal immigrant workers as soon as the deadline for the E-Card registration expired at midnight yesterday.
“We will not compromise with any illegal immigrants or employers found guilty. The Immigration Department has given employers and illegal immigrant workers nearly five months for them to apply for the E-Cards,” he said.