Deporting Illegal Workers from Saudi Arabia

In the past couple of weeks, an operation to expel illegal workers was implemented in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Ministry of Labor declared that an amnesty period for illegal workers to leave the country had ended. As a result, thousands of illegal workers were recently arrested.
 
The process began on April 3, 2013. The government of Saudi Arabia announced, “There will be a three- month period of amnesty for illegal workers to leave the country;” later this period was extended to four months. In a press conference, Ministry spokesman Hattab al-Anzi said, “We have absolutely no intention of further prolonging the amnesty period,” and he added that people who violate the rules would be arrested, penalized and deported. Following these explanations the Saudi government officially started the operation.
 
Many illegal workers, most of whom are from the Philippines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Yemen and India, left the country during the initial three-month period. Another approximately 4 million illegal workers found employers to sponsor them in order to legalize their status and remain in the kingdom.
 
Many illegal workers were arrested in different cities of the kingdom after the four-month period. Jeddah police spokesman Nawaf al- Bouq said, “A total of 1,899 illegal expatriate men and women were arrested in Jeddah. In addition, Some 2,200 were arrested in the area of Samta, 379 in the Eastern Province, 208 in Baha, 150 in Tabuk, 85 in Yanbu, and 80 in Hafar Al-Batin.” Another 818 illegal workers were arrested in Riyadh.
 
This situation significantly affected the business sector and the economy in Saudi Arabia. Many shops, restaurants, bakeries, laundries and other stores that employ these workers were closed. The closure of these service sector shops adversely affected the daily life of Saudis because these illegal workers in the kingdom were cheap, unskilled laborers who mostly worked in the service industry. Manufacturing and construction also slowed.
 
Many Saudi businessmen are complaining about this process and state that this situation will drive labor costs up in the country. In Riyadh, a resident said, “Stores were closed in the popular Al-Batha commercial hub, a cheap market that employs low-paid Asian vendors.” Another resident noted that work had slowed at a construction site in Thumamama, north of Riyadh.
 
When this happened, the Philippine government made a move to protect Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia. Filipino diplomats made contact with the Saudi Arabian human rights council in order to guarantee the conditions of Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia. Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters, “We have sent rapid response teams there, we have formed teams to visit jails, detention centers and police stations to make sure that our people are okay and if necessary, to issue them travel documents.”
 
The crackdown and subsequent arrest of illegal workers caused clashes to erupt between workers and Saudi police in the kingdom. Foreign workers started to protest the arrests and the operation. During these protests, two people died and 68 (28 Saudis and 40 foreigners) were injured during clashes between police and workers. Some 561 people were arrested in various conflicts.
 
These conflicts occurred primarily in the Manfoha district in Riyadh where many illegal workers and migrants live. At the start of the operation, Special Forces and National Guard units as well as police officers went into the district and there were clashes with workers. In one such conflict, one Sudanese national was killed and 17 people were injured.
 
Saudi Arabia is the largest oil-rich country and there are many workers from different nations in the kingdom. Despite its enormous oil wealth, however, Saudi Arabia has a jobless rate of more than 12.5 percent among its native citizens. It is because of this situation that the government has required that businesses hire more Saudi citizens and that foreign workers remedy any irregularities in their documents or leave the kingdom. After the government announced this decision, some foreign workers completed their documents but others cannot fix their papers. A transition to a local workforce will likely result in higher wages, because there is a large number of skilled local citizens and it will hard to find people who will work in the kingdom’s service industry.
 
The Saudi government must be very careful about sending illegal workers away. Otherwise, the tension between illegal workers and police forces will grow worse. In addition, this will not only affect the daily lives of Saudi people, but also the business sector and the country’s overall economy.