China
21:14, 14-Jul-2017
Malaysia begins crackdown on illegal foreign workers
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After a program legalizing foreign labor expired in June, Malaysian authorities have started to round up illegal foreign workers and their employers.
The government had hoped up to 600,000 workers would register for an E-card which would protect them from arrest.
However, after four and a half months of campaigning, only 150,000 out of an estimated two million undocumented workers registered with the authorities, CGTN’s Rian Maelzer reported from Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has deported more than 30,000 foreigners so far this year, and the government has been detaining hundreds more every day since the E-card program ended.
The largest numbers of those detained come from Bangladesh, followed by Indonesia and Myanmar. Many have come into the country legally on work permits but stayed even after their documents expired.
Illegal workers who are caught and deported will be blacklisted from returning to the country, and their employers will face fine or time in jail.
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