By Our Correspondent in Abu Dhabi.
Illegal residents face immediate deportation when they are caught, under new Ministry of Interior rules. Illegal immigrants previously faced a two-month prison term before being deported, but that has been scrapped in a bid to clear the decks of a growing number of illegal migrants and eliminate crowding in Taweelah Prison, where hundreds of people are taken daily.
Prison sources said the new rule has been enforced for about 20 days, and those caught on the spot when sneaking into the country are deported immediately. However, those who aid infiltrators still face a minimum of three years in jail plus a heavy fine.
Dhow or speedboat operators and owners who bring in illegal immigrants are jailed for at least three years and fined heavily.
According to a ministry report, over 14,000 illegal immigrants were caught between 2020 and this year..
As many as 200 illegal immigrants are taken to Abu Dhabi and Dubai airports every day, said the source, and sometimes the number is as high as 300. “There are days when we drive five to six bus-loads of illegal immigrants to the airport.”
Most illegals are Afghans, followed by Pakistanis, Iranians, Bangladeshis Indians and Africans. Those brought to the jail are asked to arrange an air ticket so they can be deported quickly. Those with no valid travel documents are assisted in getting out-passes from their embassies.
“Hundreds of applications for out-passes are forwarded to embassies daily,” a source said. All inmates are permitted to contact friends and relatives to arrange air tickets. Those with no relatives or friends are referred to the ministry.
“The ministry examines such cases and provides air tickets for their deportation,” he said. This procedure takes not more than 15 days and those who get air tickets are deported within a week. A Ministry of Interior report revealed a rapid growth in the number of people staying in the country illegally.
The developments come a month after the Amnesty International called on the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to compensate Africa Migrant workers who were recently rounded up, detained, tortured and dehumanized before being deported.
The barbaric and inhumane acts were also strongly condemned by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa.
According to Amnesty International reports Police in the United Arab Emirates carried out a sweeping campaign arbitrarily detaining and deporting at least 375 African migrant workers. The victims were seized from their homes in terrying night – time raids, taken to prison where they were subjected to degrading treatment and other multiple human rights violations.
They were later collectively deported without any form of due process to fair hearing ascertain their legal status in the UAE.
Hundreds of African nationals were rounded on the night of June 24 – 25, 2021 before being arbitrarily detained incommunicado in Al Wathaba prison for over two months.
The African workers were living and working in the UAE legally. This racial targeting caused devastation in the lives of some of the most marginalized members of the Emirati society at a time when the UAE government presented itself as a model country for multicultural tolerance as it hosted a global Dubai Expo 2020 ■
