Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

2/6/02  News Report -- Reuters

BANGKOK (Reuters) -- Thailand, with at least a million illegal immigrants from its poorer neighbours, is to launch a nationwide crackdown on foreign labourers without papers this week, officials said on Wednesday.

Despite regular crackdowns, Thai authorities have been unable to stop a human tide of illegal immigrants seeking work. In the first half of 2001, police said they arrested and deported about 120,000 illegal workers.

Paisal Pruthiporn, head of the labour ministry's office of alien workers, said labour and security agencies would start carrying out raids on February 10.

"We will deploy police, soldiers, and labour ministry officers from February 10 onwards to arrest illegal migrant workers nationwide," Paisal told Reuters.

Thailand, far richer than most of its neighbours, is seen as a haven for poor labourers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh.

Over the past decade, millions of people from Indochina have fled war and poverty and found work in Thailand as housemaids, fishermen, construction workers and farm labourers.

Last October, the labour ministry registered around 560,000 of an estimated two million illegal workers in an effort to control the flow.

Paisal said illegal migrant workers who are arrested face a maximum jail term of three months and a maximum fine of 5,000 baht ($113.60) followed by deportation.

Employers found hiring illegal workers also face a maximum penalty of three years in jail and a 60,000-baht fine.

The registration scheme, which ended last October, required employers to register their foreign workers and pay an annual fee of 4,450 baht for each migrant employee.