500,000 illegal immigrants deported from Sabah in last 30 years

By Olivia Miwil - June 24, 2020 @ 6:46pm

TAWAU: Authorities in Sabah have deported more than half-a-million illegal immigrants to their countries of origin since 1990, with another 267 Indonesians to be sent home this week.

State National Security Council director Sharifah Sitti Saleha Habib Yussof said 134 foreigners were sent back to Indonesia today (June 24) and the rest on Friday.

"These foreigners will be sent back via the sea route from the Tawau port to Nunukan in Indonesia. This will be the 17th and 18th deportation by sea in 2020 that involves illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia," she said in a statement.

These detainees, she said, had undergone Covid-19 screening prior to deportation and personal hygiene was practiced throughout the process.

For the past 30 years, the council and other agencies including the Immigration Department in Sabah had deported 595,193 immigrants.

Sharifah Sitti Saleha also thanked agencies involved and the Indonesian government for the cooperations given throughout the deportation process.

As for the Philippines government via its embassy in Kuala Lumpur, they had been helpful too in the process of sending back their citizens who had been detained, she said.

She said continuous efforts were being made to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah

"However, it will be tough (to reduce the number) if the community is still hiring, protecting and assisting illegal immigrants into the state."