PETALING JAYA: Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob has defended Putrajaya’s raids on undocumented migrants last week, arguing that relaxing the law against them could “send the wrong signal”.
Ismail said Putrajaya needed to give a clear signal on their stand towards undocumented migrants.
“We cannot tell them that we’ll let them go just because they came in during the Covid-19 outbreak. We’ll then be sending the wrong signal, not just to our people, but also to those who might come in illegally in future.
“If they see the Malaysian government giving leeway, more of them will come,” he said in an interview with Bernama tonight.
He denied that the Immigration Department’s actions were cruel, arguing that the government’s treatment of undocumented migrants had been consistent, while those staying in locked-down areas were treated the same as Malaysian citizens.
More than 500 undocumented migrants were detained during two raids conducted in areas along Jalan Masjid India last week, which were under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO). These illegals had earlier undergone tests and were found to be negative to Covid-19 before the raids.
The joint police and immigration raids drew criticism from local and international human rights groups, which described the action as “mindless and inane”.
They warned that other migrants would not dare come out to undergo tests and the raids would drive them underground, endangering public health.
Yesterday, 145 construction workers escaped from the Pavilion Embassy construction site and went into hiding.
The site was under a targeted EMCO after 27 construction workers tested positive for Covid-19. - FMT
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