Irrawaddy-June 8

The Malaysian government wants to deport more than 3,000 people currently held in its immigration detention centers to Myanmar after hundreds of detainees tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Myanmar Embassy official in Malaysia. U Ko Ko Lwin, chief of chancery at the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Malaysia had informed the embassy of its wish to deport the detainees, and offered to provide charter flights to transport them.

In Malaysia, undocumented foreigners apprehended by authorities are typically jailed for three to six months under the country’s immigration laws for staying and working in the country illegally. After serving their prison terms, they are held at immigration detention centers until their identities and citizenship can be confirmed by their respective embassies. Malaysian Health Ministry Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah told the media on Thursday that the ministry had confirmed 277 new COVID-19 cases on that day, of whom 270 were foreign detainees held at immigration detention centers.

Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/malaysia-seeks-deport-3000-detained-illegal-immigrants-myanmar.html