KL to deport 1,700 RI'S illegal immigrants

KL to deport 1,700 RI'S illegal immigrants

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur plans to deport 1,700 illegal immigrants
from Indonesia this week, the latest in a series of mass
repatriation of foreign workers.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the group
would be sent back on Sunday aboard on two Indonesian navy ships,
the Bernama national news agency reported.

Abdullah said that 11,325 illegal immigrants from Indonesia
had been deported recently. Malaysia recently began a program of
mass deportations to ease congestion in immigration detention
camps.

Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest countries, is a
magnet for immigrants from poor, neighboring Indonesia and the
restive southern Philippines. An estimated 600,000 illegal
workers are in Malaysia. --AP