21,651 immigrants arrested in Saudi Arabia, 99 percent of them citizens of two countries

More than 21,000 immigrants have been arrested in Saudi Arabia in a week on charges of violating housing, labor and border security laws. The country's law enforcement forces arrested the expatriates in a raid from October 23 to 29. The state-run Saudi Gazette reported this information on Saturday (November 1), citing the Saudi Ministry of Interior.

The report said that they were arrested as part of an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants across Saudi Arabia. 21,651 expatriates have been arrested in raids across the country in the past week. The arrested are accused of violating Saudi Arabia's housing, labor and border security laws.

The country's Ministry of Interior said that among the arrested, 12,745 people were arrested for violating the housing law, 4,577 for violating the border security law and 4,329 for violating the labor law. The arrests were made in a joint operation by various security forces and government agencies in the country.

The report also said that 1,689 people were arrested while trying to illegally cross the border into Saudi Arabia. Of these, 46 percent were Yemenis, 53 percent were Ethiopians, and only 1 percent were citizens of other countries.
In addition, 59 more migrants were arrested while trying to leave Saudi Arabia illegally.

At the same time, 21 people living in Saudi Arabia were also arrested for transporting and harboring violators of housing and work regulations. Currently, legal action is underway against 31,826 expatriates. Of them, 30,151 are men and 1,675 are women.

Of the arrested expatriates, 21,980 have been sent to their respective diplomatic missions to collect the necessary travel documents before being sent back to the country. In addition, final instructions have been issued to arrange for the repatriation of another 5,100 from Saudi Arabia.

In addition, 13,279 of the arrested people have already been repatriated from Saudi Arabia to their respective countries.

The Middle Eastern country has a provision for 15 years in prison and a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals for anyone who tries to help people enter illegally. The Saudi Interior Ministry has repeatedly warned about this.

Saudi Arabia is a country of about 34.8 million people. Millions of migrant workers from different countries around the world work in Saudi Arabia. Local media in Saudi Arabia regularly report on the continuous crackdown on lawbreakers and the detention of illegal immigrants in the country.