A Thai police operation called “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner,” aimed at busting visa abusers and illegal immigrants, has sparked concerns about profiling based on skin color.
As Thailand attracts tens of millions of tourists each year, its weak law enforcement allows the country to be a hub for transnational crime. It paved way for Operation X-Ray to start about a year ago and has arrested more than 1,000 people in the recent weeks due to overstaying, reported Arab News.
Although most of the arrested are migrants from nearby countries, the racial overtones of the campaign have raised questions about racial profiling.
“Our job is to classify who are the good dark-skinned people and who are the ones likely to commit crimes,” said immigration bureau chief Surachate Hakparn.
As for the crimes they commit, Chief Hakparn highlighted “romance scammers” who victimize lonely locals online to swindle them with cash. He claimed that the “romance scammers” are dark-skinned people, often Nigerian or Ugandan. But in their recent operations, they have discovered different nationalities including a Frenchman, Korean, and Thais, and Laos national being involved in romance scams.
Rights groups warn that refugees and asylum seekers who traverse through Bangkok en route to a third country for resettlement are also being entrapped in the latest police operation as they lack legal protections.
“Thailand’s immigration crackdown has swept up refugees and asylum seekers, sent young children into horrid, prison-like conditions, and appears to have clear aspects of racial profiling against South Asians and Africans,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Despite criticisms, the authorities remain unapologetic.
“In order to clean house, we need to bring in the good people and deport the bad people so that the country will have sustained stability,” he said.
Photo credit: AFP
