‘Joint effort needed to tackle illegal immigrant colonies’
Whenever they see these areas (illegal immigrant settlements), the local community will ask Immigration why the local authorities have not taken any action.
SHAH ALAM: Inter- agency collaboration especially involving the local authorities, is necessary to solve the problem of illegal immigrants living in illegal settlements, says Immigration director- general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.
He said the issue would never be effectively resolved for as long as there was no follow-up action from the relevant departments and agencies as the offences committed by illegals were not confined to immigration law violations.
“Whenever they see these areas (illegal immigrant settlements), the local community will ask Immigration why the local authorities have not taken any action.
“The local authorities have the power to demolish the illegal settlements of illegal immigrants and we want these agencies to take follow-up action on the premises raided by the Immigration Department,” he told reporters after leading the Selangor-Putrajaya Immigration Department’s pledged operations at three illegal settlements in the Kampung Baru Subang area, near here.
Mustafar said besides being hide- outs for illegals, these places also posed safety risks as
Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali, Immigration directorgeneral
there were illegal power supply extensions which could endanger the lives of the occupants.
On the raids yesterday, he said 117 of the 360 foreigners checked were found to have been involved in committing various offences.
He said those detained were 97 men and 20 women aged between 18 and 50 years, and were Bangladesh, Indonesia and Myanmar nationals whose offences included owning false passports, false immigration stickers and not possessing valid travel documents.
One person was also detained for misuse of his student visa.
“Most of those detained worked as construction and factory workers in the area,” Mustafar said, adding that action would also be taken against employers who hired and harboured illegals.
On the temporary ‘Enforcement Card’ ( E- kad) for illegal immigrants, he said more than 13,000 illegals had been detained in the Immigration Department’s ‘Op Mega’ conducted since July 1.
He said 312 employers were also detained with more than 100 facing legal action including freezing of their assets and bank accounts.
The E-card was issued between Feb 15 and June 30, this year to enable illegals to obtain a valid work permit through certain procedures set by the Home Ministry. — Bernama