MORE than 243,000 undocumented migrants have returned to their home countries under Malaysia's Migrant Repatriation Programme (PRM) 2.0, as immigration authorities intensified enforcement against foreigners violating immigration laws.
Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said 328,744 individuals had registered under the programme between Jan 1 and Oct 31, with 243,501 having completed their return home.
During the same period, the Immigration Department arrested 70,195 undocumented migrants in 11,808 enforcement operations nationwide.
A further 52,585 undocumented migrants were deported after completing the necessary legal and documentation procedures, while 155,498 individuals were inspected.
Zakaria said enforcement operations continued to target foreign nationals who overstayed, misused their passes or remained in the country without valid documents.
He said operations were conducted based on intelligence, with priority given to high-risk locations such as residential areas, workplaces, business premises and locations frequented by foreign nationals.
The department was also monitoring various methods used to circumvent immigration regulations, including the misuse of passes, the use of premises as accommodation or transit centres, and the illegal employment of foreign workers.
"Information gathered through intelligence activities, surveillance and inter-agency cooperation is used to plan more targeted enforcement action, including identifying individuals and parties suspected of involvement in immigration offences," he said.
Zakaria said the department had also stepped up cooperation with other enforcement agencies, including the Royal Malaysia Police, National Registration Department and local authorities.
A total of 1,674 integrated operations were conducted with relevant agencies, alongside 3,424 enforcement inspections involving premises nationwide during the 10-month period.
He said the coordinated operations enabled authorities to take more comprehensive action against illegal employment, misuse of premises and parties suspected of facilitating immigration violations.
The public was urged to report suspected immigration offences through the department's official channels to facilitate investigations.
"We will continue to strengthen detection methods, intelligence operations and strategic inter-agency cooperation to improve immigration enforcement nationwide," he said. - November 15, 2026
