KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Home Affairs (KDN) does not plan to follow the United States in its policy of deporting illegal immigrants to their countries of origin as a new, tougher policy to stem the influx of foreigners into the country.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said this was because KDN is constantly improving procedures for controlling and enforcing immigration regulations to control the presence of illegal immigrants in the country.

"Among the improvements that this ministry has and is currently implementing together with its agencies include control before entry into the country and the use of technology in controlling the country's entry points.

"In addition, we are also implementing control on the presence of illegal immigrants in the country with enforcement operations," he said during a question and answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

He said this in response to a question from Senator Azahar Hassan who wanted to know whether the ministry planned to follow the United States in its policy of deporting illegal immigrants to their countries of origin as a new, tougher policy to ensure that the issue of overflowing foreigners in the country can be resolved.

Responding to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Azhar Ahmad who wanted to know the number of illegal immigrants detained this year and the number deported to their country of origin, Shamsul Anuar said that for the period from Jan 1 to March 10 this year, the Immigration Department had carried out more than 2,679 enforcement operations involving the arrest of 9,904 illegal immigrants.

"These arrests involved foreigners from various countries and 348 employers for various immigration offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Immigration Regulations.

"For the period up to March 9 this year, the total number of deportations from Immigration depots was 9,199 people," he said.

-- BERNAMA