Baghdad: The Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday the implementation of extensive inspection campaigns to apprehend and prosecute residency violators across the country. The ministry confirmed the deportation of more than 16,000 people and the arrest of more than 12,000 violators since the beginning of this year.

According to Iraqi News Agency, the Director of the Residency Affairs Directorate at the Ministry, Major General Osama Jamil Al-Fatlawi, stated that “the directorate’s detachments are continuing to carry out extensive inspection campaigns in coordination with the relevant authorities.” He explained that “the total number of people deported from Iraqi territory from January 1st to August 1st of this year reached 16,182.”

Al-Fatlawi added that “the security campaigns also resulted in the arrest of 12,502 violators during the same period,” emphasizing that “efforts are still ongoing and coordinated in this direction to regulate the labor market and enforce the rule of law.”

The Director of the Residence Affairs Directorate called on employers and those who bring in foreign workers to “observe the Residence Law and fully comply with the applicable deadlines, timeframes and legal controls in order to avoid falling under the purview of legal accountability.”