UNHCR card holders still subject to Malaysian laws - Immigration director-general

PORT DICKSON - Holders of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards are not immune from enforcement action and remain subject to Malaysian laws if they commit offences.

Immigration director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said although valid UNHCR card holders are not detained for immigration-related offences involving the absence of documents after verification is conducted, they can still face action by the authorities if they violate other laws.

"If they do not have any documents, that means it is the department's responsibility, we will detain them and place them in immigration depots, but if they have a UNHCR card, from a human rights perspective, we cannot detain them, we only conduct inspections and so on.

"However, they are subject to other laws. If they commit a crime, for example, the police can take action...if they have a UNHCR card, we can check whether it is genuine or not. If it is genuine, we will release them,” he said.

He told reporters this after attending the Passing-Out Parade for the Basic Immigration Certificate Course and Advanced Immigration Certificate Course Series 1/2026 involving 124 officers, officiated by Home Ministry (KDN) secretary-general Datuk Dr Awang Alik Jeman at the Malaysian Immigration Academy here today

Zakaria said the ministry is currently carrying out a comprehensive registration process for all refugees in the country, including those with and without UNHCR cards, with the exercise having entered its first phase and set to continue until the end of the year.

He said the measure was implemented because the government no longer wanted to rely entirely on data supplied by the UNHCR to determine the actual number of refugees in Malaysia.

"Based on their data, there are more than 200,000 registered refugees involving more than 140 countries, with the majority being Rohingya from Myanmar.

We believe there are more refugees in this country than the data supplied by the UNHCR,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said the department had detained 33,145 foreigners through 5,430 operations nationwide for various immigration offences as of June 15, with 22,151 had been placed in immigration depots.

He added that 868 employers, comprising 825 Malaysians and 43 foreigners, had also faced action for employing and harbouring illegal immigrants without valid work permits and passes. - BERNAMA