Immigration crackdown: Thousands of foreigners charged for illegally entering Thailand

[dennis123]

My Laos friend just told me they all pay 500 baht at the border to be allowed in. Haven't asked about stamps or anything, he arrived this week and is still here.

[konying]

Half the weight?

Why should they have overweight girls?

Good point, pension not always enough to feed the entire family and her

Edited October 26, 2015 by konying

[Adeeos]

From the, "looks" of the pic,,,, appears the RTP,, are only replacing those they pay 50% to,,,,, with those they only pay 20-30 % to,,,,,,, GARRANTEED,,, in the next month, there'll be another batch between Asko/Nana to ask,,, "Hello my friend, where you go?"........ LOLOLOL .,,,, CHA-CHING........

lololol

Edited October 26, 2015 by Adeeos

[ozyjon]

How do they find all these people,

where are they hiding,,,,, ohhhhh

Pattaya, if they eliminated 9000

people from Pattaya, would the

streets look empty,, nah many will

come.

[dhream]

My Laos friend just told me they all pay 500 baht at the border to be allowed in. Haven't asked about stamps or anything, he arrived this week and is still here.

I think most expats would agree that the border states migrations are more about peasant folks finding work, than evading justice at home, coming here to pimp, deal, scam and otherwise leech. Not saying every one of them is an angel, but by next year they're supposed to be able to come here legally, cue the Thai version of "They're stealing our jobs!" I didn't know cleaning McD toilets was so hotly fought over!

It's really a waste of resources chasing Cambodians etc out at this point, but the Russian girl flirting with you in a coffee shop, or an overly friendly Nigerian type. They're not here to stock shelves in Tesco, or admire the freakin' temples.

[dhream]

This is good. Get rid of the trash. You want to stay here in Thailand ??? DO IT LEGALLY or get out.

Maybe a bit harsh, calling an overstayer TRASH (no, I am not one, here very legally...)? Whats it to you if someone overstays on the visa?

I know exactly what it is to me if they overstay. The THB 800,000 I have to remove from a good investment account to show every year I'm here legally. They don't. I have a problem with that.

Law enforcement have learned (well the better ones) that criminals tend to flout most societal conventions, apart from their 'main game', that's why experienced traffic cops can often get decent criminal arrests out of an everyday stop for failing to indicate, or a busted brake light.

The Yorkshire Ripper was initially held on suspicion of stealing license plates. That's why most of these are rightly labelled trash, 9/10 they're bad news. Overstaying is the least of it!

Plus, all Governments have a tiresome kindergarten habit of punishing the many for the sins of the few. I do NOT want to see my privileges to enjoy what this country has to offer, become eroded or even more expensive, as a 'punishment' for trash like these.

Selfish? No more than they are, arsehats.

[anotheruser]

Keep doing illegal drugs and thinking you aren't the trash that ruins it for everybody else.

[puukao]

With this crackdown, already over 34,000 flights have been cancelled...

much less demand......i can now rent a guesthouse for 2,000 baht instead of 2,300 baht..

oh wait; 134,234,654 chinese coming

hmmmmm.....

i don't care, i want the backpackers gone!!!!

why do i hate people so much???? haha

when i go to CM, I want to never see an expat or backpacker!!!!

until i do....

[balo]

"Authorities on Sunday also revealed they arrested 9,265 people suspected of being in the country illegally during a seven-day operation which ended Sunday. Police said they want to reduce the estimated 800,000 people in Thailand illegally by 80 percent.
Almost all – nearly 98 percent – of those arrested face charges under the 1979 Immigration Act, police said, with 18 others facing other criminal charges and 209 accused of other offenses"

Actually I believe the story. I would think 90% of them are from neighboring countries and easy to get rid off after the "paperwork". Just send them to the border.

Then maybe a handful Russians, Africans and a few other white faces.

I hope the crackdowns will happen month after month so we can get rid of the scum .

Edited October 26, 2015 by balo

[F4UCorsair]

Was it just dark inside or were there no farangs amongst the detainees?

Wouldn't they all be farang? If not, how would they be illegal entries?

Farang applies to all other than Thai doesn't it?

[Richard W]

I thought 'farangs' meant ANY non-thai apart from asians, so what do the Thais call Africans then?

Tricky question to answer if Thai is thoroughly banned. The vulgar word I know literally means 'black guest', the word for 'black' being the obvious one, and the word for 'guest' being the one vulgarly used for Indian.

[hutchings1963]

It is really funny but when they want to catch thais doing something wrong they are told days before about the crack down BUT because your a farang who is spending more money than most thais ever do in a day,the do not broacast it.

[dbrenn]

The land of crackdowns.

[brewsterbudgen]

The inconsistency for thousands of Laotians and other ASEAN nationalities is frustrating. Out-in border runs for a 30 day stamp have allowed them to stay in Thailand for years (but not work) and they can still do this at Laos border crossings, but not at Cambodian ones. Not many will continue to make the long trip to Laos and back every month, so most will risk staying illegally.

[bangon04]

Forget the anomalies in the reporting. What is happening is that the Thai's are waking up to a massive problem. They do not know who is in their country, have very few controls to collect or process illegal aliens once here and that many illegals are nefarious of character and intent and have few options here or back home.

Read: they do not really contribute to whatever society they are in.

It is a situation that has developed for wont of tourist dollars and cheap labor. Poor immigration enttry conditions and porous borders and little big picture thinking got them to this situation. Unfortunately the Thais have never evaluated the opportunity cost entertaining these people for years domestically. Pay no tax, generate little in consumption enterprise, most are by large parasitic. And determining if they are overstay is difficult once integrated. Big problem.

Actually this sounds very very similar to a few prominent European countries. Wonder if they will wake up one day too??

[cape]

I'd agree that a government needs to evaluate carefully the real lifetime costs and risks in accepting immigrants into their fold, ad well as the costs of keeping them out (and the 80-20 rule probably doesn't apply here).

By lifetime costs, remember the cost of cleaning them up health ways, educating them ie skills and culture. Their value-added at work and tax and as payers of the pensions of those in the third age. Their benefits dependency if applicable. Their pension and health costs when their working life is over and the chance of their going home. What legacy they will leave including children.

This is to not to overlook the risk of civil unrest in multicultural societies where sometimes there is only an oily curtain separating antagonistic peoples.

This is how policy makers - peace to Angela Merkel, physicist but also daughter of a preacher man - think. Are they wrong?

Consider the approach taken by gulf states. A two year visa and out. Before if slightest misbehaviour. Absolutely no question of a passport. Qatar is considering possibly some forms of health insurance to compensate but then ex-pat incomes would become taxable.

[mikemac]

............have asked Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha to use his special power........

He has a magic wand?

Yes, he turned Thaksin into a sand-Baron.

[Veritas48]

Last Thursday I witnessed the largest immigration bust I have ever seen since moving to Pattaya over a decade ago, so there is some truth to this story. At about 1pm they surrounded the "made in thailand" complex, I saw at least 20 immigration officers and several full pick up trucks of captured migrants. I saw a few white males in the trucks as well but I have no idea what nationality they were. Most seemed to look like the Burmese/Nepalese decent. Who came originally from Nepal but settled in western Burma some 50 years ago. Most of the touts working in front of the tailor shops are of this decent as well as working in the tshirt/suveneer shops now.

Well done..Many in the picture are clearly of Bantu or Nguni descent(African)

[shaggy28303]

9,000!!!

Jesus.

One has to ask how 9,000 were allowed to enter illegally in the first place.

Clearly Immigration has no idea what the hell is going on.

9000 x 25000 -- 2.25 mil Baht corruption at its best

[Aussie123]

9000 people arrested...both Black and white People...but here....we can only see pics of black people. Yeah we know ....this is not racism!

[rocketmankabin1]

Many people were busted in my provincial town last week. One was a good friend who was dumped here by a Thai wife with no visa or job. He sold EVERYTHING back in his home country of the Netherlands. Stuck here with no visa or job selling food on the side of the road. He is NOT a scumbag. Says he's to old to get a job back home and can't get one cause he doesn't own a house registration in the Netherlands. Can anyone else clarify this? He's been just a victim of evil greedy people here. He has a court order coming up next month. The court is allowing him to sell all property and buildings since his wife abandoned him here and he paid for everything not knowing he couldn't legally own anything.

[rocketmankabin1]

A footballer from Ivory Coast was busted in my town as well. Begged the coach to extend his visa and pay his salary. Coach didn't do either. Total human exploitation!! Guy spent a night in jail to be deported. Every guy on that football team from Africa has shared the same thing. These poor chaps will end up in IDC forever. Ivory Coast does not have embassy representation here.

[rijit]

Now that's where fifa should earn its dollar and get some good press in the mean time.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[oncearugge]

A footballer from Ivory Coast was busted in my town as well. Begged the coach to extend his visa and pay his salary. Coach didn't do either. Total human exploitation!! Guy spent a night in jail to be deported. Every guy on that football team from Africa has shared the same thing. These poor chaps will end up in IDC forever. Ivory Coast does not have embassy representation here.

Really ?

Have a look see!

http://www.mfa.go.th/main/en/information/2015/28899-COTE-D'-IVOIRE.html

[Lampang2]

A footballer from Ivory Coast was busted in my town as well. Begged the coach to extend his visa and pay his salary. Coach didn't do either. Total human exploitation!! Guy spent a night in jail to be deported. Every guy on that football team from Africa has shared the same thing. These poor chaps will end up in IDC forever. Ivory Coast does not have embassy representation here.

Working for money is such a humiliation.

I know, I've gone through it for many years.

Need to quit thinking of it before I burst out in tears.

[gandalf12]

Anyone with a bit of imagination out there can think of new words to replace "scumbags and quality tourists"? So "old hat and boreing" when wheeled out every time we have a story such as this.

Agreed these words are old hat but the beloved Mods dont like you telling the truth as to what they are