[ad_1]
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has detained 1,368 undocumented immigrants in a confined area in the latest raid despite fears that the crackdown could push vulnerable people underground and increase the risk of coronavirus infection in overcrowded detention centers .
People from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh were detained in an area near a large market outside the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, the Immigration Department said in a statement on Tuesday (May 12).
Ad
Monday’s raid, which included 261 women and 98 children, followed a similar summary last week, alarming the United Nations and rights groups.
The migrants’ crimes included lack of proper identification, staying longer and having false documents, authorities said. They have defended arrests as necessary to preserve the law and prevent migrants from traveling.
With 6,742 cases and 109 deaths, Malaysia eased movement restrictions earlier this month, but maintained strict restrictions in several areas where new outbreaks of the COVID-19 disease have occurred.
READ: Johor Bahru shopping malls and restaurants reopened with new health protocols, as state government eases COVID-19 restrictions
Ad
The Asia-Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) said many of those arrested Monday were asylum seekers not formally registered by the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
“It really puts them in a precarious situation because they are simply classified as undocumented immigrants when they flee from imminent danger,” APRRN Program Officer Rachel Tan told Reuters.
Throughout the world, migrants have been particularly vulnerable during the pandemic. In neighboring Singapore, thousands of infections have been linked to dormitories of migrant workers.
READ: COVID-19 community cases are falling, but Singapore must ‘remain vigilant’ as circuit breaker measures ease: Gan Kim Yong
Last week, the United Nations urged Malaysia to avoid detaining migrants and releasing all children and their caregivers, warning that overcrowded detention centers increase the risk of infection.
The director general of the Immigration Department, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, said in the statement that all those examined and detained after Monday’s raid were negative.
The area around the Selayang wholesale market, where many immigrants work, has been closed since April 20, with businesses closed and residents confined to their homes, after a new group of cases was reported there.
Malaysia has around two million registered foreign workers, but authorities say there are many more without the proper documents. Malaysia does not formally recognize refugees, regarding them as illegal immigrants.
