SANDAKAN: More than 22,000 undocumented immigrants in Sabah will be deported to their countries by year-end.
Sabah National Security Council director Datuk Rodzi Md Saad said that since Jan 1, the government had sent back 21,514 immigrants, including 441 Filipinos today.
"The deportation from Sandakan port today involved immigrants, aged between one and 75, who were placed at temporary detention centres in Tawau.
"It is expected that another 1,000 immigrants will be sent back by Dec 31," he said in a statement.
Since the 1990s, more than half a million of immigrants have been deported or left the country voluntarily.
Rodzi added the repatriation shows the government's commitment in handling the presence of illegal immigrants in the state.