PUTRAJAYA: The Immigration Department has conducted nearly 12,000 operations since January this year.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said these were conducted to identify illegal immigrants and those who employ them.
"As of Aug 16, we conducted 11,903 operations where we checked 106,432 individuals.
"During these checks, we identified and detained 29,030 illegal immigrants," he told reporters at the Immigration Department Intelligence and Special Operations Division office here on Monday.
He said the department also arrested 900 individuals, who had allegedly employed illegal immigrants.
"Based on our records, the 29,030 illegal immigrants detained were detained for various offences under the Immigration Act, including overstaying, not having valid documents and unlawful entry.
"Further checks revealed that the 900 employers detained had allegedly employed foreigners, who had overstayed, and did not have valid documents," he said.
Ruslin said these foreigners could face action under Section 55 and Section 56 of the Immigration Act for sheltering illegal immigrants.
"Our focus from now on will be on identifying those who employ illegal immigrants while we continue our operations on illegal immigrants.
"We want to ensure that there is no demand to employ illegal immigrants here," he said.