International Roundup

Two Indonesians arrested earlier this month in Malaysia were sentenced to jail Friday, becoming the first to be punished amid a crackdown on illegal immigrants, according to Agence France Presse. On March 1, Malaysia launched a nationwide campaign to eliminate hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants after the expiry of a four-month amnesty which had been extended twice. 

Malaysia estimates there were nearly a million illegal workers in the country, mostly from Indonesia but also from the Philippines, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. About 382,000 people, mostly Indonesians, took advantage of the amnesty, which started in October, to depart without penalty but an estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants remain. 

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Chinese twin brothers were being held in Paris Wednesday on suspicion of operating an illegal immigration operation via a language school, police said. The pair is believed to have received large amounts of money for enrolment certificates at the school, which could be used by Chinese immigrants to acquire residence permits. Police said they invested their profits in China and France.



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