By Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah
The recent assault on a police officer in Jeddah by a group of undocumented workers shows that the Kingdom is suffering from the same difficulty as many countries around the world that cannot close their borders and find it hard to prevent illegal immigrants from entering. For example, the American president wants to build a large wall to stop illegal immigrants from entering the US. Europe is having difficulty dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants fleeing the Middle East and some Asian countries. A large number of them are seeking political asylum in Europe.
The Kingdom has been suffering from this problem for ages. We have refugees who have fled their conflict-stricken countries. We have Yemenis who have crossed the border illegally. We have Africans and Asians who have overstayed their Haj and Umrah visas and have never returned home. We have expatriates who entered the country as visitors and have never left.
The government has been exerting painstaking efforts to stop the influx of undocumented workers. The problem is that neighboring countries are weak and find it difficult to control their borders. This has undoubtedly exacerbated the problem.
All countries suffering from this problem need to take draconian measures and tighten control of their borders. They need to take legal action against illegal immigrants. Many studies have shown that the majority of undocumented workers turn out to be criminals, gangsters and drug dealers. They can negatively affect society by concentrating in certain neighborhoods and increasing crime and drug rates. Neighborhoods with a large concentration of undocumented workers are described as time bombs that can explode at any minute.
