SENATE As many as 49,222 illegal immigrants have been detained throughout the country from January till yesterday (Dec 18), the Senate was told today.

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said during this period, 169,712 illegal immigrants joined the Voluntary Deportation (3+1) Programme to return home.

“For the record, under the 3+1 programme which began on July 22, 2014 until yesterday, 452,779 illegal immigrants had voluntarily agreed to return to their home countries but they will be blacklisted before they are sent back,” he said when answering a question from Senator Rahimah Mahamad who wanted to know the statistics of foreigners without legal permits in the country as well as the measures to curb their entry here.

Nur Jazlan said as of Nov 30, the Immigrant Department recorded 1,856,869 legitimate foreign workers in the country.

He stressed that the ministry through the Immigration Department had taken various measures to ensure no foreign nationals entered the country without valid travel documents, including the process of early screening through visa issuance at the embassy or Malaysian representative’s office abroad.

Nur Jazlan said in addition, the department also screened the data of foreigners at the country's entry points through the National Enforcement and Registration Biometric System (NERS) for individuals on its list of suspects.

- Bernama