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Kuwait steps up deportations of expat workers: report
Kuwait steps up deportations of expat workers: report
In the first four months of the year, authorities deported 14,400 expats, compared with 26,600 in the whole of 2015, Al-Anba newspaper reported.
Expatriates make up some 70% of Kuwait's 4.3mn population, greatly outnumbering its 1.3mn citizens.
In April 2013, then labour minister Thekra al-Rashidi announced plans to deport around 100,000 expatriates each year for the next decade to reduce the number of foreigners living in the emirate by 1mn.
The government made a string of traffic offences punishable by deportation, including skipping red lights and driving without a licence, a document difficult for many expats to obtain.
Al-Anba said most of the deportations were carried out without trial, using controversial powers given to senior interior ministry officials.