The police have been doing a great job over the past few weeks. They have genuinely cracked down on violators of the country’s immigration and work laws. The search-and-arrest campaigns in crime-infested areas turned up thousands of foreigners who have been living and working in this country illegally for years and who were found to be involved in many kinds of criminal activities. These foreigners live and operate in areas that were, for a long time, outside the control of anyone.
The police efforts must be commended but I think that many people have been asking two important questions about the campaigns. The first is how these closed neighborhoods came into existence in the first place and who is responsible for bringing thousands of foreigners into the Kingdom, providing them with legal residence permits without giving them any work and then turning them loose on the streets to earn a living by any means whatsoever?
The second question is what kind of solution we see for this complicated problem. This question takes on special significance because not all those who have been arrested are illegal residents.
Much of the blame for the problems should be put on Saudi sponsors who transformed recruiting foreign workers into a profitable business which provided them with a steady flow of cash. These individuals are doing their country and its people a great injustice and they must be held accountable. Again, who will initiate action against them and against those who allowed them to continue carrying on this illegal business for so many years? There are foreigners who have been illegally in the country in clear violation of its laws. When caught, they are deported at Saudi government expense. The problem is that almost as soon as they are deported, they return. It is therefore necessary to take appropriate measures to ensure they do not return to the Kingdom, whether by smuggling or because of a greedy sponsor.
There are also people in this country who have been living for decades; though they lack legal papers and residence documents, they consider the Kingdom their home since no other country will accept them. This group needs special attention; their presence here needs to be made legal in order to protect them from being forced by desperation into becoming criminals.
Once again, the police are dealing with mistakes and crimes committed by others. Unless their efforts are followed by solutions that address the root causes, the campaigns will turn out to be no more effective than those mounted by the traffic authorities — visible action but also a failure to address the causes which results in an increase in traffic accidents.
