TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Forty illegal Indonesian migrant workers were deported on Monday (May 27), setting a single day record for deportations of foreign workers, announced the National Immigration Agency (NIA).

NIA's Northern District Affairs Corps mobilized nearly 50 officers from Yilan County, Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Keelung on Monday to launch an operation to repatriate 40 illegal foreign migrant workers to their home country. The number of those repatriated set a new single-day record since the establishment of the NIA.

According to the NIA, all of the foreign migrant workers repatriated were Indonesian nationals, including 30 women and 10 men. The 40 had been arrested for either violating the law or overstaying their visas.

40 migrant workers undergoing repatriation. (NIA photo)

As part of a large sweep to clamp down on foreign workers who overstay their visas that was implemented last Tuesday (May 21), the NIA arrested 165 illegal migrant workers. This was also a new record for the most illegal migrant workers arrested in a single day by the NIA.

The NIA said that the surge in the number of foreign migrant workers taken into custody resulted in overcrowding at the agency's Yilan Shelter. The agency said that in order to respect the importance of "the rights and interests of those detained," and to avoid delays in their stay and repatriation, the Yilan Shelter arranged for the swift repatriation of 40 migrant workers.

The agency said it hopes that through its special services, it can fulfill the wish of detained migrant workers to return to their home country and reunite with their families in an expeditious manner. The NIA said that this highlights the agency's core values of "investigating illegalities and safeguarding human rights."

Last month, on April 28, hundreds of migrant workers marched in Taipei to protest against the brokerage system and demanded that it be replaced with a government-to-government direct hiring system.