Illegal immigrants preparing to board their ferry home.
KOTA KINABALU: Immigration personnel continue to hold deportation exercises in an effort to rid the state of illegal immigrants, with the latest involving 76 Filipinos including babies being sent back from Sabah.
Sabah Immigration Department Datuk Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said of these 76 people, 48 were men, 11 women, 12 boys and five girls.
All are aged between three-months and 76, she said in a statement late Thursday (Feb 13).
She said children involved in this deportation on Wednesday (Feb 12) are with their parents or guardians.
Sitti said these immigrants were taken from the Sandakan Immigration Depot to the Lahad Datu Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) office, to Tawi-Tawi Philippines on a ferry.
All these deported paid for their own expenses home, she said, adding that all of them have served sentences under various immigration offences including overstaying and illegal entry.
As per usual procedure, all deported immigrants will be blacklisted from entering Sabah, she said.
Sitti said to date, the state has sent home a total of 437 immigrants, out of which the Filipinos make the most number of deportees at 221 people, followed by Indonesians (165), Pakistanis (33), China nationals (12), three Vietnamese and three other nationals.
For Filipino immigrants, deportations are based on the issuance of travel documents from the Philippines embassy in Malaysia.
She said this programme is to also reduce congestion in immigration depots and to cut short the detention period.
“The Sabah Immigration Department will not compromise on anyone breaking immigration rules, not on the immigrants themselves, employers or employees,” said Sitti.
She said stern action will also be taken against those harbouring or hiring illegal immigrants in Sabah.
