19% lower arrests for immigration offences over last year: ICA

According to the annual statistics report by the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), there have been lesser cases of immigration offenders arrested over the last year.  As compared to 2013, the number of arrests made in regards to immigration offences has decreased by 19 percent, with the amount of offenders apprehended totalling 2,040 — comprising of 350 illegal immigrants and 1,690 overstayers.  The situation with harbouring illegal immigrants however has aggravated slightly; the number of harbourers arrested last year had increased by 7 percent to 250 cases as compared to 233 in 2013. Meanwhile, the number of employers arrested for hiring immigration offenders have dipped by 29 percent.  Other factoids in the report include the reduced incidents of contraband smuggling, dropping from 99,700 in 2013 to 93,380 in 2014.  There has also been a fall in the number of people convicted for marriages of convenience — marriages contracted to exploit legal loopholes in Singapore's immigration laws.  Photo: Jason D' Great via Flickr