Migrant workers who violated MCO finally released after 51 days

Several documented migrant workers who were facing deportation for defying the movement control order (MCO) are finally being released after being detained for 51 days.

Lawyer Balakrishna Balaravi told Malaysiakini that the Perak Immigration Department finally agreed to release the four workers.

“(They) accepted all my arguments, especially since they are documented (workers) with valid employers.

“This should not repeat […] documented foreign workers should not be treated the same way as undocumented foreigners.”

According to a letter sighted by Malaysiakini, the Immigration Department said that after further investigations, the department’s director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud and the director of Perak Immigration agreed to release the four migrant workers.

The four Bangladeshi workers were arrested by the police in an industrial area near Menglembu, Perak on March 31 for violating the MCO.

On April 29, the accused pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a one-month jail term.

They were supposed to be released on the same day as they had served their term in jail after they were not allowed bail.

However, contrary to their expectations, they were instead handed over to the Immigration Department and detained at the Langkap Immigration Detention Centre to be deported.

Having already been detained at a police detention centre for 30 days, Balakrishna said his clients spent 21 more days at the Langkap Immigration Detention Centre.

Unnecessary detention increased risk of Covid-19 infection

While the workers’ employers were pleased with their release, Balakrishna said they were still unsatisfied as the workers were detained at the immigration detention centre for three weeks without a valid reason.

“They are not satisfied with what that has happened because their workers were unnecessarily held for 21 days.”

Balakrishna claimed that his clients had already undergone Covid-19 tests and were found to be negative, but the authorities had placed them under one roof with undocumented migrant workers who had not been tested for Covid-19, increasing their risk of being infected.

“You want social distancing but you put these healthy people in another detention centre which was filled with undocumented immigrants who did not go for any medical check-up,” he added. - Mkini