Ministry of Justice cracks down on 38,000 illegal aliens, the largest number ever

<Case 1> The Gwangju Immigration Office and the Gwangju Police Agency recently cracked down on a foreigner-only karaoke bar located in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City and caught 33 people, including foreigners residing illegally. Among them, 10 people who tested positive for drugs were urgently arrested and investigated by the police, and the remaining 23 illegal aliens were forcibly deported.

In order to establish order for foreigners' stay, the Ministry of Justice conducted a government-wide joint crackdown on illegal stays three times this year, cracking down on 38,000 illegal stayers, the largest number ever.

In addition, the number of foreigners staying illegally is decreasing due to the consistent crackdown on illegal stays and the operation of a special voluntary departure period. Looking at the results of this third joint government crackdown on illegal foreigners, a total of 7,255 foreigners illegally residing and working illegally were cracked down, 6,532 were forcibly deported and other measures were taken, 159 were fined, and the rest are under investigation.

A total of 1,653 illegal employers were caught and fines were imposed, 21 brokers who arranged illegal employment, etc. were caught and 8 people were arrested, and 13 foreigners illegally residing in the country using and selling drugs were also caught and subject to deportation and entry ban after completion of criminal proceedings. In addition, during this third joint government crackdown period, 8,800 illegal aliens who attempted to voluntarily leave the country were exempted from fines and entry restrictions and were allowed to leave the country.

In particular, the Ministry of Justice will extend the ‘Special voluntary departure period for illegal aliens (September 11, 2023 – December 31, 2023)’ currently in effect for two months until the end of February 2024.

Although the number of voluntary departures continues to increase, the special voluntary departure period is being extended until the end of February 2024, taking into account the difficulty of making reservations for return flights due to the year-end and New Year holidays.

Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon said, “This year, we cracked down on more than 38,000 illegal aliens, the largest number ever. In order to actively respond to the illegal stay problem, we will do our best to establish a strict stay order by increasing the number of enforcement personnel by 88 and further strengthening the consistent, regular enforcement system next year,”

However, as illegal foreigners leave Korea through crackdowns and voluntary departures, foreign workers who return to Korea are choosing to stay illegally, so efforts by the Korean government to improve this are essential.

If 38,000 illegal aliens left Korea this year, the same number of illegal aliens will increase again.

Mary Eve of Papaya Story