10,000 illegal Cambodian workers deported by Thailand each month

ស្នាដៃសេដ្នកិច្ច ដ៏ មហា លោតផ្លោះ របស់ សម្តាចម៏ ដែកចោរ ធ្វើឲ្យ ថៃ បញ្ជូនពលករខ្មែរ ជាង១ម៉ឺននាក់ ក្នុងមួយខែៗ មកស្រុកវិញ ដោយសំអាងថា ទៅដោយខុសច្បាប់

Friday, 18 November 2011
ដោយៈ សុក្រ វិច្ឆិកា
DAP-New

Synopsis: In November of this year, 12,165 illegal Cambodian workers were deported out of Thailand. Each month the number of Cambodian deportees amounts to about 10,000. Not a single goes by without seeing deportation of Cambodian from Thailand. Is this the CPP win-win strategy?

ភ្នំពេញ៖ មជ្ឈមណ្ឌលសំចត ស្ថិតនៅក្រុងប៉ោយប៉ែត ខេត្តបន្ទាយមានជ័យ បានបញ្ចេញរបាយការណ៍ ប្រចាំរបស់ខែខ្លួនថា យ៉ាងហោចណាស់ពលករខ្មែរ ក្នុងមួយ ខែៗ ត្រូវបានអជ្ញាធរថៃ ចាប់ខ្លួន និងបញ្ជូនត្រលប់មកស្រុកកំណើតវិញ ជាងមួយម៉ឺននាក់ តាមច្រកព្រំដែន ដោយពួកគេត្រូវបានថៃចាប់ខ្លួន និងបញ្ជូន មកវិញដោយលើកហេតុផលថា ទៅដោយខុសច្បាប់ ពុំមានលិខិតឯកសារត្រឹមត្រូវ។

លោកស្រី ឈា ម៉ានិត នាយិកាមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលសំចត បានមានប្រសាសន៍ប្រាប់មជ្ឈមណ្ឌល ព័ត៌មានដើមអម្ពិលឲ្យដឹង នៅថ្ងៃទី១៨ ខែវិច្ឆិកា នេះថា ក្នុងមួយខែៗ ថៃបញ្ជូនពលករខ្មែរ ទៅដោយ ខុសច្បាប់ចំនួនជាច្រើនម៉ឺននាក់ នៅក្នុងខែវិច្ឆិកានេះ ថៃបានបញ្ជូនពលករខ្មែរ ចំនួន ១២.១៦៥ នាក់ ក្នុងនោះបុរសមាន ៧.៤៥២ នាក់ និងស្រ្តី៣.៥៤២ នាក់។

Thailand deports back 210 Cambodians from Rong Kluea market

03 May 2010
By Suon Sophal Mony
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Thailand’s joint authorities arrested Cambodian citizens who lived in Rong Kluea market without proper legal paperwork, and they handed them over to the Cambodian authority in the evening of 02 May.

In the evening of 02 May, Thai immigration police, cops and black-clad soldiers arrested numerous Cambodian citizens who slept along various stalls inside Rong Kluea market, Thailand, and who do not hold proper legal paperwork. The arrested Cambodians were taken in for education before they were handed over to the Cambodian authority.

Ser Lak Ky, a merchant inside the Rong Kluea market, said on Monday 03 May that, on 02 May starting from 08PM to 02AM, numerous Thai joint force members went to knock on each market stall and at locations where Cambodian merchants are living to check on their paperwork, subsequently the Thai forces arrested numerous Cambodian citizens who live there illegally.

Ser Lak Ky said: “Last night, there were Thai cops, the black-clad [soldiers] who came to arrest many, about ten truckloads and seven black-and-white cop vehicles. The people arrested were all Khmer citizens living there, but they did not obtain a border pass, there were so many of them who did not have border pass.”

Cambodian merchants indicated that these Cambodian citizens reside inside Thailand without legal paperwork. They were sent to the Aranyaprathet police station for education and they were deported back to Cambodia.

Sao Bunrith, director of the immigration police at the Poipet international border gate, said that the Thai authority deported back 210 Cambodians in the morning of 03 May after they were arrested from stalls at the Rong Kluea market on Sunday evening.

Sao Bunrith said that these deported Cambodians crossed the border illegally into Thailand through the various border crossing paths. They were all released after receiving advice. “I do recognize that they crossed through our [official] border gate, to cross through our gate, they must hold documents. Therefore, they could have crossed along border crossing paths. They cannot cross through our gate because they don’t have the proper documents.”

The Cambodian consul in Sa Kaew district, Thailand, could not be reached to confirm the arrest of Cambodian citizens by the Thai authority.

General Hun Hean, the Banteay Meanchey police commissioner, noted that, following the Cambodian New Year, Cambodian citizens have returned back to their work in Thailand in spite of the directive from the Cambodian authority telling not to do so.

Hun Hean said: “Some of them listened to us, they came back, but others did not. When they cannot enter through [to Thailand] in one way, they find another one.”

Human rights officials indicated that the reason Cambodians have to leave their country to find work in Thailand is because of their poverty and the lack of job market in Cambodia. These officials are asking the Cambodian government to resolve these issues.

Recently, the Cambodian ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government issued directives to all provincial and municipal authorities along the Thai border to take measure to prevent Cambodians from crossing the border into Thailand illegally, nevertheless, it is observed that the number of Cambodians crossing to Thailand to find work is increasing significantly.

Deadline passes for foreign worker registration in Thailand

Human Rights and Development Foundation has called for leniency, saying some Burmese workers feel their lives are at risk if they have to go back to their country. [Reuters]

Thursday, March 04, 2010
Radio Australia News

The Thai deadline for foreign workers to register for permits has expired.

The Nation newspaper in Bangkok says authorities are ready to deport about half a million Burmese, Laotian and Cambodian workers because they failed to meet the deadline.

It quotes the Employment Department's deputy director-general Supat Gukun saying his officials will not be lenient and those who have not met the requirements will be arrested and deported.

He says his department will work closely with the police and the Immigration Bureau in enforcing the law.

Human Rights and Development Foundation has called for leinency, saying some Burmese workers feel their lives are at risk if they have to go back to their country.

It predicts that many will simply go underground and live in Thailand illegally.

Thailand may deport 1.3M migrants

INDEPENDENT UN EXPERT WARNS
02/22/2010
Global Nation Inquirer (The Philippines)

MANILA, Philippines—A large number of migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos face the threat of deportation from Thailand if the government goes ahead with its nationality verification process, an independent United Nations human rights expert warned last week.

In January, the Thai Cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for approximately 1.3 million migrants provided that they were willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to 28 February 2010.

However, migrants who fail to do so by this deadline risk deportation after the 28 February deadline.

Jorge Bustamante, the UN expert on the human rights of migrants, noted in a news release that carrying out the verification process in its current form places many documented and undocumented migrant workers at risk after 28 February.

“I am disappointed that that the government of Thailand has not responded to my letters expressing calls for restraint,” said the expert, who reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

“I reiterate my earlier messages to the Government to reconsider its actions and decisions, and to abide by international instruments,” he added. “If pursued, the threats of mass expulsion will result in unprecedented human suffering and will definitely breach fundamental human rights obligations.”

Bustamante called on Thailand to respect the principle of “non-refoulement,” noting that among the groups who may potentially be deported are some who may be in need international protection and should not be returned to the country of origin.

Like all UN human rights experts, Bustamante works in an independent and unpaid capacity.

Migrant Worker Tragedy

Thursday, February 18, 2010
By ANDY HALL
The Irrawady

Around 2 million migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and Laos currently live in Thailand. Many have underground lives. These migrants contribute greatly to the economy and remain an untapped source of cultural and spiritual vitality that can enrich and diversify Thai society. Instead, they are often viewed as commodities or a national security threat.

Many of these workers follow the river of life wherever it takes them. From poorer to richer lands, from less to more developed countries, from war to peace, from dictatorships to democracies, from old to new experiences, and —most importantly—from supply to demand.

Consecutive Thai governments have sought to manage irregular migration flows from neighboring countries into Thailand. Policy makers have considered primarily the short term needs of the economy, relying on yearly Cabinet decisions. So it was that work permits for more than 60,000 migrants, almost all from Burma, were set to expire in January before the Cabinet considered the issue.

On Jan. 19, just a day before the expiration, the Cabinet issued a resolution to allow this group of workers until Feb. 28 to renew their permits for another two years. But for the first time, extended permission to stay and work in Thailand came with two conditions: migrants must enter into a nationality verification process (NV) before Feb. 28; and migrants must complete NV before Feb. 28, 2012. Agreeing to NV means submitting biographical information to their governments via employment offices or, as is more often the case, to brokers.

The Ministry of Labour was ordered to conduct a public awareness campaign for migrants and their employers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was ordered try to bring Burmese officials to Thailand to conduct the NV process, but Thai officials have returned reportedly with a promise that Burma would provide “fresh” workers to replace those who may be deported.

For migrant workers who fail to sign up by Feb. 28, they are subject to deportation.

The NV process is intended to grant migrant workers a legal status. For Burmese migrants, many of whom are from ethnic minority groups, it means they have to be legally recognized as “Burmese.”

NV means migrants can obtain documents from their country of origin (including a “temporary” passport) to enter Thailand legally. The documents allow them to legally reside and work in Thailand for two years at a time, for a period not exceeding 4 years, at which time they much return to Burma.

Beside the right to work legally, a migrant would be able to do such common things as ride a motorbike, access worker's accident compensation and travel in Thailand without restrictions.

However, many obstacles remain. Besides a lack of reliable information, the NV process is potentially expensive, since most migrant workers will use a broker who charges as much as 6,000 baht. Also, there is a great deal of fear surrounding giving Burmese officials their personal information, which could expose them and their family to unknown consequences.

Explanations abound about why Burma refuses to conduct the NV process in Thailand, as done by Cambodia and Laos..

The cost of migration mismanagement to be paid by an economy, society and the migrants themselves is high. In Thailand, some migrants are already packing up and going home in the face of NV deadlines, threats of deportation and unacceptable broker costs. Many employers are crying foul as workplaces are being depleted of cheap and hard-working labor.

Human rights activists foresee a massive wave of random and needless deportations, adding to worker hardships in both Thailand and Burma.

Thailand has duties according to domestic, Constitutional and international law. But Thailand has moral duties too, and officials should offer a procedure that is fair to migrant workers. The economic imperative alone calls for a careful reconsideration of the existing NV policy so that the Feb. 28 deadline doesn't result in a debacle for all concerned.

The author is the director of the Bangkok-based The Human Rights and Development Foundation’s Migrant Justice Programme.

Thailand Serious About Deporting Unregistered Migrant Workers

Thursday, February 18, 2010
By LAWI WENG
The Irrawady

Thai authorities say that despite protests by human rights groups they are proceeding with plans to deport up to 1.4 million migrants who fail to complete national verification procedures by the end of February. About 80 percent of the migrants threatened with repatriation are Burmese.

Jackie Pollock, a founder of the Migrant Assistance Program (MAP), a Chiang Mai-based NGO, said, “They [the Thai authorities] told us they will go ahead with the process of deporting migrants.”

The Thai language newspaper Thai Rath on Thursday quoted Jirisak Sukhonchaat, director general of the Thai government's employment department, as saying that Dep Prime Minister Maj-Gen Sanan Kajornprasart, in his capacity as chairman of the alien workers management committee, had appointed officials to arrest and deport migrant workers who failed to complete national verification formalities by the end of February.

In January, the Thai Cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for about 1.4 million migrants provided they completed the national verification formalities, which involve processing by their home countries.

Migrants seeking to work legally in Thailand must submit detailed biographical information to the Burmese authorities in order to complete the nationality verification procedure. Many fear for their safety and of repercussions against family members in Burma if they turn up at the military government offices to complete the paperwork.

The Cambodian and Lao governments have sent their officials to Thailand to complete the process in previous years. However, the Burmese government wants all migrant workers to go to three border points within Burma––Myawaddy, Tachilek and Kawthaung––to complete nationality verification registration.

Rights groups have called on the Burmese government to send their officials to verify their people's nationalities in Thailand in order to encourage Burmese migrant workers to register. The groups say that because of a lack of information and awareness about the national verification process, many migrant workers have chosen to avoid the process.

The UN expert on the human rights of migrants, Jorge A Bustamante, said that while the Thai government resolution on migrant workers was to be welcomed, he was concerned that “irregular migrants” were not covered by the measure.

“This scheme does not offer options for protecting the human rights of migrants who have not availed themselves, or will not avail themselves, of this process.”

Bustamente said: “Among the groups who may potentially be deported there may be some who may be in need of international protection and should not be returned to the country of origin.”

The UN official said he was disappointed that the Thai government had not responded to his appeals for “restraint.”

Bustamente, a special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, warned: “If pursued, the threats of mass expulsion will result in unprecedented human suffering and will definitely breach fundamental human rights obligations.”

In Bangkok, Andy Hall, director of the Migrant Justice Programme, said deportation was “not realistic...the economy needs the workers.”

But Jirisak Sukhonchaat said: “We must have these workers 'above ground.' They must work according to the law.” He said a decision would be taken later in the case of migrants who had problems proving their nationality, such as Rohingyas.

About 50 rights groups in Thailand appealed to the Thai government last month to allow migrants more time to complete the required formalities.

After January's Thai Cabinet decision, about 1,000 migrants a day returned to Burma through the border crossing at the Three Pagodas Pass, dropping to about 700 in February, according to one local source.

Nai Jhon Thet, a 45 year-old Mon migrant, said he was returning to Burma because he doesn't trust the authorities there to work correctly on nationality verification.

“We can't trust them because they never keep their promises,” he said. “They say they aren't extorting money from our families, but we don't know about the future.”

Talks on the issue between Thai and Burmese representative in Bagan last week were “fruitful,” according to a report in Tuesday's issue of the state-run The New Light of Myanmar.

Of an estimated 2 to 3 million Burmese migrants in Thailand, only 1,310,686 have registered as migrant workers.

Many of the migrants are from ethnic minority groups, such as Mon, Karen and Shan, who have fled Burmese army oppression and human rights abuses.

The rights groups say very limited public awareness has been raised about the national verification process and its benefits, both for migrant workers and employers.

UN raises fear of mass deportation of migrants from Thailand

Cambodian workers deported from Thailand (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

Thu, 18 Feb 2010
DPA

Bangkok/Geneva - The United Nations Thursday raised concerns over the possibility of mass deportations of migrant workers in Thailand at the end of this month, following the implementation of a new worker documentation process. "A potentially large number of documented and undocumented migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao People's Democratic Republic face the threat of deportation from Thailand after February 28, 2010," Jorge Bustamante, the UN human rights expert for migrants, said in Geneva.

In January, the Thai cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for some 1.3 million migrants provided that they were willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to February 28, 2010.

Those who fail to do face the risk of deportation.

The new process was agreed on in memoranda of understanding signed bilaterally between Thailand and its three neighbours Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

"We believe this is the best way of documenting the migrants and of protecting their rights here," Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpaksi said.

Human rights groups have noted that the lack of national identity documentation in countries such as Myanmar will mean many migrants working in Thailand will fail to meet the deadline.

They have also raised concerns that migrants who are fleeing their homelands for political reasons would be unwilling to seek verification documentation from their governments.

"This scheme does not offer options for protecting the human rights of migrants" who fail to take the necessary steps, Bustamante said.

"Among the groups who may potentially be deported, there may be some who may be in need of international protection and should not be returned to the country of origin. Thailand should respect the principle of 'non-refoulement'," he added.

Non-refoulement is a principle of international law that states refugees should not be expelled to a place where they might be at further risk of persecution.

Thani said that the principle did not apply in this case, because the government viewed the foreign labourers as "economic migrants" rather than refugees.

He also suggested that a mass deportation might not be on the cards immediately after the February 28 deadline.

"As we get closer to the deadline we will see what can be done to facilitate the process," Thani said. "I think we will work something out."

Cambodian Workers Overstay Welcome

Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Pattaya People (Thailand)

A group of ten Cambodian people were brought to the Immigration Office in Jomtien on the morning of 17th August to face deportation back to Cambodia.

They were discovered working in Pattaya without valid work permits. Only one woman in the group had a legal work permit but it had expired in July and she had not renewed it for fear it would not be extended.

Thailand deports more than 100,000 Cambodian illegal workers through Poipet in 2007

Thai immigration officers deporting Cambodian workers from Thailand (Photo: Sovannara, Loh Santepheap)

Thursday, February 21, 2008
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Banteay Meanchey – Illegal Cambodian migrant workers including men, women, young and old, were deported back to Cambodia by the Poipet border gate on a daily basis, and there is not a single day that goes by without a single deportation. Each day, 300 to 500 of them are deported back. According to these illegal workers who were deported back, they all came from various provinces of Cambodia, and they entered Thailand by paying middlemen who led them in.

The workers said that the middlemen charged them between 2,000 to 3,000 Baths ($62 to $92) to take them to Thailand to look for work, and sometimes, after working in Thailand for a long period of time, when they want to return back to Cambodia, they have to pay middlemen to take them back across the border. These workers indicated that among the workers deported back, some of them were not arrested by the Thai authority, they surrender themselves to be arrested so they can return back home safely. Without using this tactics, their belongings and monies will all be confiscated from them.

Cambodian officials asked Cambodians who want to cross the border illegally to look for work to earn a living, to be careful not to fall into the traps of the middlemen when they arrive in Thailand. Furthermore, some workers who arrived back in Cambodia do not even have money to travel back home, even if they were promised a job by the middlemen who take them to Thailand.

Regarding these illegal migrant workers, The Cambodia Daily reported on 18 February that, Bun Hor, the cabinet chief of the Banteay Meanchey provincial office, reported last week that 105,709 Cambodians, including women and children, were deported back across the Poipet border gate, last year. Bun Hor was quoted as saying through the phone that: “These people went to work in Thailand illegally.” He added that among this group of deportees, 43,647 were women, and 8,676 were children. He believed that more than 15,000 Cambodians are still working illegally in Thailand in farming, as security guards, fishermen, cooks, market peddlers, construction workers and factory workers.

Bun Hor said that farm owners in Cambodia have a tough time providing jobs to these workers, therefore the workers went to work in farms in Thailand instead. Cambodian farms can provide only 1-2 months of work only per year, whereas in Thailand, there is work for them all yearlong.

Chatorun Chayakam, the first secretary of the Thai embassy in Cambodia, was quoted by The Cambodia Daily as saying that: “Even without any encouragement (from the Thai government), several Cambodians and Burmese cross to Thailand to look for work also. He said: “The Thai authority is doing all it can to prevent these people from entering Thailand illegally, and it arrested all these illegal workers and deported them back to Cambodia. We will not put them in jail, they will be deported back to Cambodia. They are only deported back, this is not a too serious issue, and this (daily deportation) work now becomes a routine.”

Thailand deport back 300 to 500 Cambodian migrant workers daily [-Acute joblessness problem in rural Cambodia]

Transfer of illegal Cambodian migrant workers from caged Thai trucks to the Cambodian authority (Photo: Sovanna, Koh Santepheap)

Friday, January 11, 2008
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

Banteay Meanchey Province – Illegal Cambodian migrant workers who sneaked into Thailand to find work are arrested daily and deported back to Cambodia. They are handed over the Cambodian authority at Poipet international gate. Each day, at least 300 of them are deported back.

A report from Poipet, O’Chrov district, next to the Thai border, indicated that illegal Cambodian migrant workers are transported over daily, in caged trucks, and handed to the Cambodian authority at the Poipet international border gate, and there is no interruption to this flow of deportations. When Thai trucks bring in these illegal workers to hand over to the Cambodian border authority, these workers were then transported to the Poipet immigration police for questioning and education, and they are then released to travel back to their villages. Based on observations, it seems that this has become a normal ritual by both the Thai and Cambodian authorities, but from the workers’ perspective, the situation is unsettling because it shows that there are no jobs to be found inside Cambodia.

A source from the Cambodian authority indicated that, among the Cambodian workers deported back by Thailand are men, women, and some children also. When questioned, these workers said that they sneaked across the border into Thailand, some legally and some illegally. They crossed through border corridors to work as laborers for Thai businessmen to earn some money to feed their families, because in their village, there are not many jobs around, therefore, they have no choice but to seek fortune in another country because of hunger.

These Cambodian workers said also that, when they want to return home (safely), all they have to do is to walk over and have the Thai cops arrest them. This is the only way for them to return home safely, because otherwise, all their belongings and monies will be taken away from them (by some crooked officers in the Cambodian authorities?), and they wouldn’t have anything left. In this manner, when the Thai authority deport them back to Cambodia, the Cambodian working group would only educate them, but would release them out safely so they can return to their villages.

Pech Saran, the director of the Poipet immigration police, informed these migrant workers that they should understand about the border crossing into Thailand, and they should do it legally, and not to fall for tricks set by middlemen who would incite them to go find jobs in Thailand, because some of them ended being sold as slaves, such as those forced to work as fishermen in high seas, or working in various dangerous jobs. Furthermore, numerous illegal Cambodian workers deported back from Thailand show that this situation did exist.

Cambodian workers are faced with insecurity when they cross the border illegally, some are faced with death, or sent to jail. Nevertheless, in spite of education and several instances of incidents that took place, Cambodian migrant workers cannot be prevented from trying to sneak into Thailand, as long as they cannot find jobs in Cambodia. The several hundreds cases of daily deportations show the problem of joblessness in Cambodia, and this situation worsens each year.

While Hun Sen boasts about economic progress, Cambodian workers are leaving in drove to find work in Thailand and in neighboring countries

Grief-stricken Cambodian workers deported back from Thailand

Saturday, December 29, 2007
Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Cambodian-Thai border police based in Poipet area, Banteay Meanchey province indicated that, recently, Cambodian workers who crossed the borders to work in Thailand were arrested and send back, they are filled with grief and hurt. These workers were arrested, had to endure hardship in the hands of the Thai cops and were prevented from working by the Thai police force, and they are now facing the deportation back to Cambodia.

Cambodian police indicated that Cambodian workers, who left their country, were deported by the Thai police who loaded them up into trucks and dumped them at the Poipet border gate, they are illegal workers who struggled hard to elude the Thai border guards during their border crossing, in order to find work in Thailand.

The Cambodian police quoted these Cambodian workers, saying: “Because they went to work there (in Thailand) without proper paperwork, they went because they were very poor in their villages in Cambodia, and they didn’t have work or jobs here.”

At the end of the fourth week of December 2007, two full truckloads of convicts were dumped at the Poipet international border gate. These turn out to be Cambodian workers who went to work in Thailand illegally.

In an interview with a foreign news media, Cambodian immigration police at the Poipet international border gate indicated that, almost daily, and at least 3-4 times a week, Cambodian workers were dumped there in group of 50-100 persons. For the 26 December 2007 deportation, the number of workers deported is not known yet. Furthermore, the total yearly number of illegal Cambodian workers who were deported back has not been tallied up yet.

Cambodian immigration police said that, each year, a large number of Cambodian workers leave to work in Thailand. Some of them have the legal paperwork as they are sent over by private companies and they have the authorization from both the Cambodian and Thai governments to go work in Thailand, but a number of others are going to work there without legal paperwork, and they are following friends or they pay middlemen to take them in to Thailand through border corridors.

The workers who were deported back from Thailand said that some of them came from Thmar Puok district, Banteay Meanchey province, some came from Kampong Speu province, as well as a number of other provinces, and the majority of them were dumped at the borderline several times already. Nevertheless, they kept on returning back to Thailand to find work in order to earn a living and have money to buy food and goods for a decent living, whereas in their villages in Cambodia, they do not have work, and they cannot find work, when they work in the rice fields, they face drought and they do not even own land to plant crops at all.

Thailand is a neighboring country with Cambodia, and it is a country where Cambodian workers go to work, legally and illegally. Besides the job market in Thailand, Cambodia also sent out Cambodian workers through private companies to work in other countries, such as Malaysia, Korea, etc… because Cambodia does not have sufficient jobs for all the workers in the country.

In the past, the government work hard to attract foreign investors to invest in Cambodia, especially in the garment industry, tourism, and construction. However, the ministry of industry reported that only 300,000 jobs were created.

Pattaya police deported many Cambodians who allegedly went there to beg and to find work

November 7, 2007
Story : Nutphumin
Photo : Nutphumin
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

KHMER POPULATION INCREASE IN PATTAYA

Immigration police arrested illegal Khmer families. Police declared that the number of illegal foreigners is increasing in Thailand. Many of them with infants are beggars in the street.

On 6 November 2007, at 10.00AM, Police Captain Archeep Jaruen-santisuk, Deputy Chief Inspector, Pattaya immigration, had detected that there were many Khmer people, had slipped into the country to work illegally. Police found Khmer men working in the fishing boats and in many other jobs. Most of them had brought their wives along and rented rooms around Bangsaray, Sattahip, Chonburi. They had settled down in Thailand and started to increase the population. Many of them are beggars in Pattaya and near by to cause problem and annoy the tourists.

Lately, Pattaya immigration police raided to a fisherman camp, Moo 1, Bangsaray, Sattahip, where the illegal Khmers had rented rooms to stay with their wives and children. Khmer families with their infants, altogether thirty people were arrested. Police found that they have entered to Thailand illegally with their wives and started expanding their families. Some Khmer men were alert and escaped, leaving their wives and children there. Police had taken them to Sattahip police station in order to proceed of sending them back to Cambodia.

Police Captain Archeep declared that there were many young children coming out to beg for money from tourists and they were mostly Khmers. Some of them had arrived with their parents and some of them were born in Thailand. However, there is human trafficking around. The young children could be stolen and then forced to beg in the street. Whether those are their real children or not must be investigated. Police will get rid of illegal workers in every area as soon as possible.