Private sector says Thai government not strict enough on illegal border crossings

Suphan Mongkhonsutee, the president of The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the issue of illegal immigrants in Thailand is the result of careless government measures which do not prevent illegal border-crossings. Suphan asked the government to stop trafficking gangs in which, he believes, some Thai officials are involved.

The FTI is asking the government to investigate very quickly, to find illegal workers, most of whom work in fresh markets. Suphan said the current spread of the virus is causing losses of over a billion baht in trade daily.

The FTI stated that there are no illegal immigrant workers in the over 6,000 factories in Samut Sakhon. All factory employees are legally registered and hiring legal migrant workers is actually beneficial, they say.

The penalty of hiring an illegal immigrant is a fine of up to 200,000 THB per person.