Penang Gears Up to Curb Illegal Immigration

The new detention centre for illegal migrants in Penang is nearly three times bigger than the old one.

Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is the home minister, claims that Jawi Immigration Depot and Quarters can house 1,200 immigration detainees.

The 500 detainee capacity Juru Detention Depot, located on Penang’s peninsula will be replaced by the new detention centre in Penang.

According to Saifuddin, the construction of the 6.07 hectare complex cost RM77.5 million.

Saifuddin said after touring the facility, “It has just been completed by the Public Works Department and will begin housing detainees from Nov 26. It houses a detention complex, court and quarters for immigration officers.”

Saifuddin added that the current detainees are planned to be relocated to the new depot sooner.

“There are currently 233 male and 133 female detainees at the Juru Immigration Depot. They are being detained for violating the Immigration Act such as misusing visas, entering without documents and overstaying.” He added that 118 Immigration employees would be moved to the Jawi depot along with these detainees.

According to Saifuddin, work on the facility started in May 2019 and was supposed to be finished in three years but the COVID-19 epidemic caused a delay.

Since the detainee’s stays were only temporary he said there was no problem with overloading at the nation’s immigration detention depots.

“We are still below the set capacity of 20,000 people in all depots nationwide.There are currently some 14,000 offenders.”

He warned that if foreigners were charged for an offence like overstaying for instance, the authorities would blacklist them and ban them from entering Malaysia again.

“Once they have finished serving their sentences, we place them at the depots temporarily before they are sent to their countries of origin, depending on how quickly their travel documents are prepared.”