‘Deportation of illegal immigrants to begin June 6’
PUTRAJAYA: The first phase of the deportation of illegal immigrants will begin on June 6 involving Indonesians at Immigration depots in the country, says Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said the first group of 450 people would be flown back to Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya on June 6 followed by 445 others on June 10 to the three destinations.
He said the deportation process would also involve sea routes, with 1,294 Indonesian illegal immigrants scheduled to leave for Medan on June 22.
“All those who will be sent home will undergo the Covid-19 test with (representatives from) the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia (KBRI) invited to be present during the test,” he told a daily press conference on the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) here yesterday.
He said the second phase would involve 2,623 illegal immigrants who would be deported to their respective country of origin within two months.
Ismail Sabri said representatives from the Indonesian Embassy would also be allowed to conduct consular visits for documentation of its citizens who did not have travel documents.
The Foreign Ministry and the Immigration Department, he said, were also having talks with the Embassy of Nepal and the Bangladesh High Commission on the deportation of their citizens, comprising 246 Nepalese and 2,476 Bangladeshi nationals.
“The Cambodia Embassy has also expressed its willingness to receive the return of its 67 citizens who are at the Immigration detention depots,” he added.
On the Covid-19 screening on illegal immigrants at the Immigration detention depots at Bukit Jalil, Semenyih and KLIA, he said all the 4,807 immigrants had been screened with 385 of them found positive with the virus, while the results of 37 others were still pending.
“All those found positive with Covid-19 were sent to the Covid19 Low Risk and Quarantine Center in Serdang for treatment. A total of 26 people have been charged and are in the process of being deported to their home country,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said action to detect illegal immigrants would continue to be carried out by the Immigration Department and the relevant authorities throughout the country.
This followed reports saying that the immigrants have shifted to the suburbs to reside, like Sungai Buloh, Sungai Besi, Pekan Subang Lama, Serdang and Klang.
On a viralled video of a Bangladeshi settlement in Sungai Buloh, Ismail Sabri said it was an old video. — Bernama