Govt sees increase in illegal immigrants a serious problem

JAKARTA (JP): The government views the rising influx of illegal immigrants as a serious problem, especially in connection with widespread fear of organized terrorism, an official said on Tuesday.

Muhammad Indra, the director of Immigration Supervision and Control at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, said the government's strong stance was based on the possibility of a much larger influx of illegal immigrants, especially due to friction between the United States and Afghanistan.

Indra made his remarks after a closed meeting on Tuesday of the interdepartmental coordinating team on the supervision of foreigners.

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 raised at the meeting, members discussed the likelihood of a large number of Afghans fleeing their country.

"Most Afghans will likely run to other countries, mainly Australia, via our country. There may already be thousands of them in Malaysia," he said.

"We cannot ignore 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 properly and with comprehensive measures, the effect may be fatal to Indonesia since we could be considered a safe transit zone for terrorist groups," he said after the meeting.

The government has issued a policy to limit the issuance of entry permits for citizens of certain countries, including those from Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.

People from these countries can only obtain an entry visa for Indonesia after receiving approval from the immigration office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will screen their applications and sponsors for their stay in the country.

Indra underlined the importance of proper quarantine facilities which would restrict the movement of illegal immigrants to discourage others from choosing Indonesia as a transitory destination.

"Many illegal immigrants have fled detention centers or guest houses where they were sheltered. We cannot detain them as illegal immigrants since they are claiming refuge, therefore there is no tight security. This situation should be changed in the future where they should be placed in quarantine centers pending deportation.

"Indonesia doesn't want to be a processing center for illegal immigrants intending to enter another country. We think neighboring countries who are concerned with the influx of immigrants could help us establish quarantine facilities," Indra argued.

He explained that illegal immigrants enter a temporary destination legally with valid travel documents. However, they throw away their passports and other forms of identification as soon as they reach a transitory country or before they are caught by law enforcers while trying to reach their destination country.

"To make it worse, it's difficult to send them back because the embassies of the countries they claim to be from reject them," he added.

As of this month, there are 1,663 illegal immigrants being sheltered in many places around the country. Out of the total, 514 are Afghans, 355 Iraqis, 57 Iranians, 20 Pakistanis, 11 Palestinians and two are Vietnamese. (bby)