Burmese migrant workers who came to Thailand to work illegally are being arrested.
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On the night of February 7, Thai immigration police arrested 11 illegal Burmese workers after conducting checks posing as tourists on Khao San Road, which is known as Bangkok’s nightlife street, according to Thai news media.
Similarly, Chiang Mai immigration police arrested a 40-year-old Burmese woman selling food, fruit and drinks in Chang Phueak, Chiang Mai, according to Sai Lain Kham, a Burmese migrant worker activist.
“Mainly because of the people around them. If they become jealous of them, they go to the Thai police. In fact, the Thai police do not know what this man does. I feel sad every time I see this kind of incident because the people around them behave badly,” he said.
The woman who was arrested has been selling her shop for more than 2 years and was arrested only now.
In Thailand, there are a total of 40 types of jobs that are restricted for Burmese migrant workers, of which 27 types of jobs are not allowed to work at all for Burmese workers.
“In Thailand, there are only 2 types of jobs for our Burmese migrant workers. To be a mason or to be a housekeeper. Jobs that require the use of the brain, or work that requires no sweat, are not allowed to workBumr at all. In a restaurant, you can’t work as a shopkeeper. You have to wash dishes in the back,” said Sai Kyaw Hein, a Burmese migrant worker.
In addition, if Burmese workers are found to be doing the type of work restricted by Thailand, they will be fined from 5,000 to 50,000 baht, as well as being sent back to Burma.
“Where I work, my passport and job are valid. Selling in the market is doing it as someone else’s disciple. If you open your own and sell it, it’s illegal,” said Nan Noot, a vendor at Kad Mueang Mai market in Chiang Mai.
In the two years since the military coup, Burma’s economy has been declining exponentially, and people have been fleeing to Thailand in masse because it has become difficult for them to make a living.
