Immigration dept shifts focus to negligent employers

Employers' negligence and disregard for regulations set by the Immigration Department have led to the mismanagement of migrant workers in their employment, says Kedah Immigration director Ridzzuan Zain.

He said this was evident from the arrest of 64 undocumented foreign nationals in two separate raids under Ops Gempur at construction sites in Changlun and Kuala Kedah today.

In the raids carried out at around 10.30am, 72 foreign nationals were checked. Of these, 64 individuals from Myanmar, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, aged between 18 and 40, were detained for various offences.

"Based on today's arrests, 87 percent of those detained had committed various offences under Section 6(1)(c) (no valid pass), Section 15(1)(c) (overstaying) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, and Regulation 39B (misuse of passes) of the Immigration Regulations 1963," he told reporters today.

He said the initial analysis indicated that many employers were negligent in managing their workers.

"During operations, immigration teams enter offices to inspect workers' documents. We often find that employers lack the knowledge needed to make necessary applications related to migrant workers under the law.

"Furthermore, human resources departments of these firms are also found to be incompetent.

“During some checks, we discovered that the names of on-site workers did not match those registered by the company. This can lead to serious consequences for employers, including fines and penalties," he said.

Ridzzuan said his team had previously concentrated on detaining and punishing foreign nationals, but this approach proved ineffective. The emphasis has now shifted to taking action against employers.

- Bernama

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