SANDAKAN: Sabah deported 800 Filipino detainees on Thursday (Oct 29), with six more large-scale repatriation exercises planned to prevent overcrowding at immigration detention depots.
Sabah Immigration director Datuk Sh Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said the department planned to repatriate 800 Filipino detainees weekly under the upcoming exercises.
“We have six more repatriation exercises planned, involving large groups of 800 people each week, starting this week and continuing thereafter.
“We hope this will prevent overcrowding at detention depots in Sabah,” she said when met during the deportation exercise at Sandakan Port on Thursday (Oct 29).
The detainees were deported to Zamboanga City in the Philippines aboard MV Antonia 1.
They comprised 590 adult men, 88 adult women, 64 boys and 58 girls from the Tawau, Sandakan and Papar immigration depots.
Sitti Saleha said the detainees were aged between 16 days and 83 years, with the children accompanied by their parents or guardians.
Together with 269 Filipinos repatriated on Oct 27, the latest exercise brought the number sent home this week to 1,069.
7,490 detainees of various nationalities had been repatriated from Sabah so far this year, including 5,357 Filipinos.
The others comprised 1,789 Indonesians, 139 Pakistanis, 141 Chinese nationals, 29 Vietnamese and 35 people from other countries.
Sitti Saleha said the space freed up at detention depots would allow the Immigration Department and other enforcement agencies to intensify operations against undocumented migrants.
She also urged embassies to expedite the issuance of travel documents so detainees could be sent home promptly.
“Our target is to send them home as soon as possible after they are handed over by enforcement agencies or have completed their sentences. If possible, we want them repatriated within a month,” she said.
She added that detainees of other nationalities could be repatriated within a week of entering a depot with assistance from their respective embassies.
Employers were reminded to ensure foreign workers under their supervision held valid documents.
On improvements to detention facilities, Sitti Saleha said the upgrading project at the Tawau depot had yet to be handed over because of delays involving the contractor, who has been urged to expedite works.
