Sabah unable to deport Filipinos due to virus

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia is unable to deport some 5,300 illegal Filipinos as the Philippines is not ready to take back their citizens due to the Covid-19 pandemic, says the National Security Council.

State director Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said they could not carry out the deportation of the Filipinos who were currently being held in the temporary detention centres in the state.

“We expect the repatriation exercise to begin later this month when the country relaxes its lockdown, maybe from June 15 onwards,” she said, adding that no Filipinos had been deported since the movement control order (MCO) was enforced in Malaysia on March 18.

Sharifah said Malaysia hoped all countries would give their full cooperation in the deportation exercise of their citizens.

She said the Indonesian government, through its consulate in Sabah, had assisted in the process of deportation of its citizens during the MCO and conditional MCO period.

“To date, we have deported 322 Indonesians who entered Sabah illegally via Tawau,” she said.

A total of 82 Indonesians were sent back via Tawau port to Indonesia’s Nunukan in Kalimantan yesterday.

Sharifah said the move showed Malaysia’s commitment to ensure illegal immigrants could return home and enjoy their rights to normal life in their country.

So far this year, a total of 3,753 illegal immigrants, including those from Vietnam, China and Pakistan, have been deported.