{
  "id": 12313181,
  "title": "'How will my family survive?' detained Myanmar worker asks",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/06/how-will-my-family-survive-detained-myanmar-worker-asks",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-06T06:04:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/regional/2026/10/1548916/how-will-my-family-survive-detained-myanmar-worker-asks"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the early evening, Immigration Department officials conducted raids on two electronic factories in Iskandar Puteri, apprehending 177 foreign workers and three Malaysian employers. The detainees included 177 foreign workers and 3 employers. The primary cause of concern among the detained Myanmar women, who were aged between their twenties and forties, was not their detention, but rather how their families back in Myanmar would cope without the monthly income they depended on. One woman, who wished to remain anonymous and identified herself as Damiano, expressed her distress over leaving behind her parents and siblings who relied on her financial support. Damiano had only started working at the factory a few days prior, after an irregular stint as a restaurant worker in Batu Pahat. She currently has family in Myanmar, comprising her father, who is Bangladeshi, and mother from Myanmar's Rakhine state, along with younger siblings. Despite presenting a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card, which she believed authenticated her identity, she was still detained following questions about its validity. Another detained worker, named Mawe, expressed her worry for her husband and child, as she had been without a source of income for four years following her time in Penang and Johor. Both women, among the detained, found it challenging to secure employment in Myanmar due to the difficulty of obtaining work permits. The Immigration Department's operation, conducted concurrently with about 80 enforcement officers, lasted around two hours, beginning at 5:30 PM. The arrests comprised 114 Myanmar women, 35 Myanmar men, 23 Bangladeshi men, three Indonesian men, and two Nepalese women. All the foreign workers were detained for entering Malaysia without a valid permit, according to Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63. The three employers are currently under investigation under Section 56(1)(d) of the same Act for harboring illegal immigrants. The detainees were subsequently taken to the Home Ministry Complex in Setia Tropika.",
  "summary": "ISKANDAR PUTERI: Tears flowed as several Myanmar women workers hugged each other after being detained in an Immigration Department raid on two electronic factories here yesterday.",
  "key_points": [
    "Immigration raid detains 177 Myanmar workers and 3 employers",
    "Detained Myanmar women fear for families' income in Myanmar",
    "UNHCR card presented but deemed invalid for detention"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The detention of the Myanmar workers, many of whom financially support families back home, raises concerns about the impact on their dependents' livelihoods and well-being in Myanmar.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}