TAWAU: Deputy Home Minister, Jonathan Yassin, hopes the State Prisons Department will consider taking in some of the detainees currently held at the Immigration detention depots.
He said the depots have exceeded their capacities due to the disrupted deportation process caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Ministry is supposed to deport close to 200 Indonesians.
“However, the process was disrupted when over 100 of them were found positive for Covid-19,” he said during an operation conducted by the Immigration Department at a wood factory workers’ quarters in Kg Tanah Merah, Merotai Besar, here, Wednesday.
He added that the detainees concerned are currently under treatment and only after they have fully recovered will the Indonesian side accept their (Indonesian detainees) return.
As for the 2,000 Filipinos detained in Sandakan, Jonathan said the Philippine side has also requested that the deportation be put on hold since the Zamboanga Port is currently temporarily closed due to the pandemic.
“The number of detainees has exceeded the capacities, resulting in crowded detainee depots,” he said, adding they will deport the detainees in phases but, at the same time, hoped the State Prisons Department will agree to take in some detainees.
Meanwhile, the operation saw 92 undocumented Indonesians detained following screening, out of a total of 150 rounded up in the operation.
Jonathan said the 92 Indonesians were believed to have breached the Immigration Act 1959/63 for overstaying and having no valid travel documents.
“Some of those detained claimed their passports are being held by their employers,” he said.
He added that all those detained were sent to the Penampungan Temporary Detention Centre here for further action, including Covid-19 tests, before being put under detention pending their deportation.
Jonathan also said the Ministry via the Immigration Department would continue to monitor and inspect areas with illegal immigrant concentration such as factory workers’ quarters and squatter settlements.
“Such operation will be carried out continuously regardless of time, to get the message across to foreigners that they need to have valid documents in order to work here,” he said. – Daily Express
