Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the ministry was in the final stage of collecting data on the number, age and locations of children detained at immigration depots in the country.

He added that the ministry spoke with stakeholders and experts, including Dr Jemilah Mahmood and Syed Hamid Albar, to help in coming up with the working paper.

“Currently, there are a total of 1,030 children in 20 immigration detention depots and they comprise 579 boys and 451 girls.

“Of the total, 351 of them are in the detention depot with their guardians,” he told a press conference after a programme at the Semenyih immigration detention depot, here this morning.

Saifuddin said the ministry will always strive to look after the welfare of children who are in immigration detention depots by ensuring they have access to education and health, as well as be given appropriate treatment should they fall sick.

“So far, there are five immigration detention depots that provide classes for these children, including at Semenyih, Bukit Jalil, Pekan Nenas (Johor), and Belantik (Kedah),” he said.

He said the classes were conducted by the staff of the immigration detention depot on a voluntary basis.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said a total of 14,139 illegal immigrants had been deported between January and last April 12 and they comprised 10,625 adult men, 2,907 adult women, 364 boys and 243 girls.

He added that based on nationality, 5,571 of them are Indonesians, Myammar (3,285) and Filipinos (2,203).

On the duration of stay of illegal immigrants at the immigration detention depot before their deportation, he said, it depends on how quickly the documentation can be completed by the country of origin.

“So far, Indonesia is the fastest country to provide documentation for its citizens who are detained here,” he added.

Also present was immigration department director-general Ruslin Jusoh.