| BI deported 144 illegal aliens in 2011 |
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DECEMBER 26, 2011 The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has so far deported 144 illegal aliens this year due to the agency’s campaign against illegal aliens and its contuing program to decongest its detention center in Bicutan, Taguig. BI Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said the aliens were expelled pursuant to deportation orders issued against them by the bureau’s board of commissioners which found them liable for violating the country’s immigration laws. The deportees were also placed in the immigration blacklist, thus they are banned from re-entering the Philippines , David added. David said the bureau’s legal and jail officials have been instructed to facilitate the immediate deportation of foreign detainees once their cases are resolved.
However, he stressed that the BI cannot deport a foreign detainee unless the necessary clearances are secured from court, police and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The deportees also included several fugitives from justice who were arrested while hiding in the country to evade prosecution for crimes committed in their homeland. According to Lawyer Arvin Santos, BI legal division chief, 53 Chinese topped the list of the deportees, followed by 18 Americans, 17 Indians, 15 Koreans, and 10 Taiwanese. Also deported were seven Japanese, seven Nigerians, three Germans, two Bangladeshis, two Africans, a Briton, an Australian, French, a Malaysian, a Singaporean, a Slovenian, a Norwegian, a Spaniard, a Syrian, and a Vietnamese national. As of Dec. 19, there were 89 foreigners detained at the Bicutan jail, most of whom could not be deported yet due to cases pending against them before the local courts. Santos , however, said that he has instructed his staff to expedite the clearances of deportation of detainees who do not have court cases. ### |
