'Stop Hiring Illegal Foreigners' As 900 Offenders Pay Price - JIM

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 19 (Bernama) -- The message is loud and clear to restaurants and shops out there: Never give jobs to illegal foreigners as the Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) will not compromise with employers who hire illegal immigrants and strict action will be taken.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said a total of 900 employers, mostly Malaysians, were arrested in JIM enforcement from Jan 1 to Aug 16, for employing illegal foreigners.

He said that during the period, a total of 11,903 operations saw inspections at 106,432 locations with the arrest of 29,030 illegal foreigners who violated the Immigration Act and Passport Act.

“Moving forward, among the main focuses of JIM is to identify employers who employ illegal immigrants. There are many out there, who gives them work? ...our (local) employers.

“If employers don’t take illegals in to work then we won't find them in the shops,” he said in a press conference here today.

Ruslin said he received many complaints about the overwhelming presence of illegal immigrants in restaurants and that employers would be subject to strict action for hiring those without valid documents or who stayed beyond the prescribed period.

He said employers cannot employ illegal immigrants in shops but instead need to find workers who were legal and registered with JIM.

“A reminder to employers, never employ illegal aliens. This is a major offence under the Immigration Act. Anyone who comes (to work) must follow the correct process,” he said.

-- BERNAMA