Authorities in Jizan have stepped up efforts to round up Yemenis living illegally in the region, with approximately 1,500 being deported every day. The head of the Passports Department in Jizan told Al-Watan newspaper Tuesday that “work was continuing to round up persons in breach of residency laws who entered the Kingdom from Yemen by illegally crossing the border”. “We are currently deporting around 1,500 a day, in the light of the situation in the region and the confrontations between Saudi forces and infiltrators,” said Faisal Bin Duleim. “They are being deported by bus through the various border points.” Other illegal residents held during the operations, such as persons of African origin, were being dealt with by authorities in Jeddah. “They are fingerprinted and photographed,” Bin Duleim said, “and then deported to their home countries.”
