Aim is to deport 50k illegal immigrants in 5 years: Shamman

Controller General of Immigration Mohamed Shamman Waheed said on Saturday that the state aims to deport close to 50,000 illegal immigrants within five years.

While speaking on a SanguTV program, Shamman said Maldives Immigration's crackdown to deport illegal expats follows a five-year plan.

"Our target is to deport close to 50,000 illegal immigrants, and we have a lot of work to do to achieve this, and we are working on that," Shamman said.

Illegal immigration and expats running businesses illegally are two of the most prevalent issues in the Maldives right now. The issues further intensified owing to a lack of regulation in preceding administrations.

Shamman said the former government failed to deport illegal immigrants. He added that the previous administration's lack of enforcement further worsened the issue.

The current administration has been taking extra measures to curtail illegal immigration and other issues related to expats, including the nationwide crackdown to locate these individuals.

Shamman said the authority focuses on three key objectives under the initiatives, which include biometric data collection via 'Operation Kurangi', providing opportunity to legalize illegal expats, and stronger enforcement of relevant laws and regulations.

Immigration, in collaboration with the Maldives Police Service, has been regularly raiding places of interest to identify and take action against culpable expatriates.

The authorities have raided more than 200 venues, including cafes, restaurants, and spa facilities, under their ongoing crackdown.

The Immigration CG further said that several expats who have been illegally running businesses have since closed their operations voluntarily since the authorities began their crackdown. Shamman, however, said that the operation was still not progressing at optimum speed.

Shamman also assured that the crackdown would continue without interruption.