Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the children were among the 15,845 undocumented migrants detained at the depots.

“Out of the total, 2,683 are women,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.

Saifuddin said this when responding to Ahmad Fakhruddin Sheikh Fakhrurazi (PN-Kuala Kedah) who wanted to know what the ministry was doing to prevent foreigners from overstaying.

Saifuddin also revealed that the biggest group of detainees were Filipinos, totalling 5,138.

This is followed by Myanmar nationals, including the Rohingya, with 4,424 detainees, while Indonesians are the third largest group with 4,097 detainees.

The immigration department, he added, had nabbed 3,129 undocumented migrants and 34 employers between January and Feb 8.

Last year, 22,804 undocumented migrants and 371 employers were arrested by the department.

The home ministry recently came under fire after the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia expressed concern about the welfare of 36 children housed at the Lenggeng depot in Negeri Sembilan.

The children were among 67 Indonesian migrants rounded up in a raid on an illegal settlement in Nilai Spring on Feb 1.

Saifuddin has since said children detained at immigration depots would soon be placed in the care of organisations that specialise in child welfare.