Govt anticipates rising influx of illegal immigrants
Govt anticipates rising influx of illegal immigrants
JAKARTA (JP): The government has taken the rising influx of
illegal immigrants as a serious problem, especially in connection
with widespread fear to organized terrorism, an official said
here on Tuesday.
Muhammad Indra, director of Immigration Supervision and
Control of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said the
government's seriousness was based on the possibility of much
bigger influx of immigrants, especially because of the current
conflict between the United States and Afghanistan.
Indra made the remarks after a closed meeting of the
interdepartmental coordinating team on supervision of foreigners
here on Tuesday.
The meeting, hosted by the directorate general of immigration,
was attended by officials from the immigration office, the
National Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General's Office, the Indonesian
Navy and the National Intelligence Body.
Indra said that although the issue of a possible war between
the United States and Afghanistan was not specifically discussed
during the meeting, a bigger number of Afghans was feared to flee
their country.
"Most of Afghans will likely run to other countries, mainly
Australia, via our country. There have already been thousands of
them in Malaysia by now," he said.
"We cannot close the possibility that these Afghans are
members of militia forces in their country or trained personnel
of terrorist groups.
"If we fail to handle the illegal immigrant issue seriously
with comprehensive measures, the effect may be fatal to Indonesia
since we can be considered as a safe transit area for terrorist
groups," he told journalists after the meeting.
The government has taken a policy to limit the issuance of
entry permit for citizens of certain countries, including from
Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.
The people from the above-mentioned countries can only obtain
visas to enter Indonesia after getting approvals from the
immigration office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' clearance
house, which will screen their applications and sponsors
responsible for their visit.
Indra underlined the importance of proper quarantine
facilities which restrict the illegal immigrants' freedom so as
to discourage prospective illegal immigrants to choose Indonesia
as their transitory destination.
"Many illegal immigrants fled detention center or guest houses
where they are sheltered. We cannot detain them as illegal
immigrants since they claim of seeking refuge, therefore there is
no tight security. This condition should be changed in the future
where they should be put in the quarantine centers pending
deportation.
"Indonesia doesn't want to be a processing center for the
illegal migrants intending to enter their destination country. We
think neighboring countries who are concerned with the influx of
immigrants can help us establish such quarantine facilities,"
Indra argued.
Indra explained that the illegal migrants actually enter the
transitory country in a legal way using tourist documents.
However, they later threw away all their documents as soon as
they reached the transitory country or before being caught by the
law enforcers while trying to reach their destination country
through unusual entrances.
"To make it worse, it's difficult to send them back due to
their vague nationalities because the embassies of the countries
they claimed to have come from reject them," he added.
As of this month there are at least 1,663 illegal migrants
sheltered in many places all over the country. Out of the total
number, 514 are Afghans, 355 Iraqis, 57 Iranians, 20 Pakistanis,
11 Palestinians and 2 Vietnamese. (bby)