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Update on Thai Immigration Crackdown

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Immigration crackdowns. 

I haven't really made a video on this in a lot longer than we used to make them. It seemed like we used to make them almost every other day I was making a video on Immigration Crackdowns especially in the heyday of Operation X-ray Outlaw Foreigner and when "Good Guys In, Bad Guys Out" was first implemented we were seeing a lot of activity especially with respect to deportations and roundups of illegal immigrants here in the Kingdom of Thailand. 

In recent months, and especially since the changeover in the leadership of the Thai Immigration apparatus, we have been seeing a lot of changes in the way the crackdowns are occurring and most notably it would appear that although the attitude of Immigration Officers, we have gone over this a lot, whereas it has evolved recently or, more recently, from an attitude of sort of administrative processing it is now viewed much more in a law enforcement light or through sort of a law-enforcement prism or paradigm if you will. That is interesting to bring up because it seems Immigration is working more and more with law enforcement in order to apprehend foreign nationals who are in the Kingdom committing illegal activity and also deporting them. It seems to me that the Police apparatus and the Immigration Police apparatus are working more "hand-in-glove" in sort of having people rounded up who are in the Kingdom illegally, working illegally. We made a couple of videos on that here recently; working illegally seems to be increasingly of interest to Immigration Authorities but also foreign criminals. That seems to be a major issue.

In a recent article from Khaosod English, that is khaosodenglish.com. The article is titled: Uzbeks, Egyptians, Ugandans  Arrested in Pattaya Prostitution Bust. Quoting directly: "Chonburi Immigration Police said Tuesday they arrested 7 foreigners in the province's tourist areas for prostitution. Quoting further: "The women have had their visas revoked and are awaiting deportation." That is just one of many articles that has come out here recently. I urge those who are watching this video to go check out that article directly so you can go ahead and read it. There is a lot more in there. They also go into how these folks get apprehended and the deportation process etc.

So, on one level there is a more sort of crime-fighting aspect to this Immigration initiative now and then on another level there seems to be a technological or sophistication aspect of it.  In a recent article from the Nation,  nationthailand.com,the article is titled: Airport Biometric Systems Catch 45,000 Overstayers, 1,000 on Blacklist. Quoting directly: "Using an advanced biometric system, 16 international airports in Thailand have found more than a thousand people on Blacklists and watch lists. Over 45,000 who overstayed in the Kingdom and about 700 who have arrest warrants, Immigration Police Chief Lieutenant General Sompong Chingduang said on Monday."  Quoting further: "The biometric system can also translate information in a chip on a passport and compare this with facial features using UV and infrared light to see whether there are any differences to identify fake passports. 

45,000 people is a lot of people to find in overstay. A thousand people found blacklisted is pretty staggering. Keep in mind, this biometric stuff has only been online a few months. It really hasn't been online very long at all and it is having a tremendous impact on the enforcement abilities and capabilities of the Immigration Bureau here in the Kingdom. So taking this into consideration with the fact that Immigration is being viewed as more of a law enforcement activity coupled with the fact that the technology is just really staggeringly improving the efficiency of the apparatus, it stands to reason that we are probably going to see more crackdowns in days and months and weeks to come. We will report on that or provide more information on how this plays out as and when there is further information to bring to you.