Saudi Shura member calls to deport illegal foreigners

Fadhel claims three million illegal expatriates have no intention to go home

Amember of the Shura (consultative) Council in Saudi Arabia has called for deporting more than three million foreigners illegally residing in the country.

“We have noted the presence of massive numbers of foreigners, mainly from Africa and Asia, who have settled in Saudi Arabia,” Sadqa Fadhel said. “They have opted for the large cities, especially in the western part of the kingdom and they have no intention to go home because they have come here to settle forever,” he said, quoted by Saudi daily Okaz yesterday.

He added that some estimates put their numbers between three and five million.

“They have multiplied over three generations in some cases, but they are still staying illegally in the country and thus breaking the residency rules and all international norms and laws that ban the unlawful stay of anyone in another country,” he said.