Crimes Committed by Foreigners

Mr Darryl David asked the Minister for Home Affairs (a) how many foreigners have committed criminal offences in the last year that have required them to be imprisoned; (b) how is this number compared with the previous years; and (c) what criminal offences will be deemed serious or heinous enough for the Government to revoke the immigration status of an offender, deport him from the country and bar him from re-entry, either indefinitely or for a specified period.

Foreigners visiting or living in Singapore must abide by our laws. The Government takes a serious view against those who run afoul of our laws and will not hesitate to take them to task.

The number of foreigners imprisoned for criminal convictions over the last five years has declined, from about 4,550 in 2012 to 2,750 in 2016. Of the foreigners sentenced to imprisonment in 2016, over a third were convicted of immigration-related offences. Foreigners made up 26.9% of all persons sentenced to imprisonment for criminal convictions in 2016. This proportion is less than the 30% of foreigners in our population. The number of foreigners imprisoned for offences, other than immigration offences, was 1,809. That is 17.7% of the total number of people sentenced to prison terms, compared with the 30% of foreigners in our population.

The Immigration Act allows the Controller of Immigration to deem any foreigner who has been sentenced to imprisonment as an undesirable immigrant and cancel his immigration pass. Similarly, the Ministry of Manpower will revoke the work passes of foreigners who commit serious offences and ban them permanently from employment in Singapore. These foreigners will be repatriated after they have served their sentences.

The Immigration Act allows the Minister for Home Affairs to prohibit the entry and re-entry of a foreigner in the interests of public security. Foreigners who reoffended or are convicted of serious offences, such as drug trafficking, violent crime, organised or syndicated crime, and immigration offences, and do not have family roots in Singapore will typically be prohibited from re-entry into Singapore.