It appears that we have an issue with illegal migration on our soil or overstays on various pretexts. This is concerning on two levels. For one thing, we do not have the exact number of foreign nationals staying in the country without authorisation which is reflective of surveillance gap and attendant security risks. For the other, our report citing SB sources put the number at 12,000 in the very least who have been staying illegally since as early as 2000.

A study of how they could have prolonged their stays almost seamlessly reveals the cracks in the system: once caught by law enforcers, they would quietly serve a sentence to avert deportation. Soon they come out on bail and move freely until their cases are settled, an open-ended waiver, so to speak. Serving in private organisations, they hire flats in groups and get involved in drug trade, VoIP business, gold and currency smuggling racket aside from assorted petty crimes.

Some steps have been long overdue given the complexity and ramifications of unsupervised migrations into a densely populated country with an expanding economy. So, a wake-up call is sounded for the authorities to develop a mechanism to effectively deal with illegal immigrants.

First and foremost, a database must be set up, maintained and updated with due diligence. A checking and surveillance apparatus should be put in place to separate out foreigners with valid work permits from those without proper documents. Then we need to plug legal loopholes following the best practices with logistic and fund support thrown in.