More than 40,000 illegal immigrants deported under 3+1 programme

KUALA LUMPUR: More than 40,000 illegal immigrants have been deported to their home countries under the 3+1 programme, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pix).
Of the number deported, he told the Dewan Negara that almost 20,000 immigrants were from Indonesia followed by among others Myanmar (4,900), Bangladesh (3,900), India (2,700), and Nepal (2,600).
He was responding to a supplementary question posed by Senator Datuk Mohd Salim Sharif on the effectiveness of the ministry's programme in managing the presence of illegal immigrants in Malaysia.
Nur Jazlan said the government is currently ensuring immigrants working illegally in Malaysia be given valid working permit through the rehiring programme which will allow them to ascertain the exact number of illegal workers who did not register with the government.
"If they have no intention to stay in Malaysia, we will deport them under the 3+1 initiative," he added.
Data gathered from the rehiring programme would later allow the government to study if there was a necessity for the government to bring in more foreign workers into the country, he said.
"However, it is still too early for us to evaluate the success rate of the rehiring programme as it was implemented less than three months ago," he added.
Nur Jazlan said the authorities were having a hard time managing the entry of illegal immigrants due to the country's extensive borders, both land and water.
He said many of those who are staying illegally entered the country without valid documents or abused their social visit pass.