Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing crackdowns on illegal entrants in Thailand. I haven't done a video on this in some time. It seems like back in 2018, 2019 even going into 2017, we did a number of videos on crackdowns in Thailand associated with Thai Immigration. In recent months especially we really haven't seen a lot of this activity most notably because it is not particularly easy to get into Thailand so we are not seeing a lot of folks coming into Thailand; we are not seeing a lot of folks overstaying in Thailand but I found this interesting. 

In a recent article from the Chiang Rai Times, that is chiangraitimes.com, the article is titled: Soldier Catch Illegal Chinese People Evading Immigration Quarantine. Quoting directly: "Soldiers from Western Thailand's 4th infantry regiment have arrested illegal Chinese people who were supposed to be in 14-day quarantine." Quoting further: "Upon a search of their documents, soldiers found the two had been detained at an Immigration Detention Centre for illegal entry awaiting deportation. They had been granted bail because they were scared of catching a disease while in detention." So again I urge folks who are watching this, go ahead and check this out. Again that is chiengraitimes.com. 

Yeah, Thailand has taken a much more serious approach to Immigration enforcement in roughly the past 4 years, really about the past 5 years. It kind of began with the transition to the Big Joke era as I call it at Thai Immigration and it has continued to under the administration of Sompong Chingduang who is currently in charge of Thai Immigration. It is a much more law enforcement centered approach rather than viewing it as an exercise in Administrative Law if you will and it is definitely a shift in paradigm. Those who are trying to come into Thailand illegally, I would urge you to really seriously reconsider that because you can end up in detention for a prolonged period of time; deportation is no fun; you could end up blacklisted from Thailand forever; there are a number of reasons not to do it. The other thing to bear in mind is one could end up in Thailand illegally and then it could be very, very difficult to figure out a way of getting out. Finally it should be noted the Thai Government, Thai Immigration takes this seriously. Frankly, where they don't have to commit resources for example to border checkpoints for the thousands if not millions of tourists that come in every year for example at an airport, they have resources to commit to these enforcement endeavours.