More than 100,000 Indonesians illegally in the Inited States

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than 100,000 Indonesian illegal migrants live in the United States, which has given Jakarta a handful of problems as the implementation of the registration policy there draws close.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday that the government had to detect the location of these people before the registration policy began later this month.

"More than 100,000 Indonesian citizens live illegally in the U.S. and our representative offices have tried to reach them, as the registration will start soon," Hassan said.

Most of the illegal Indonesian migrants are in Houston, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, the minister said, adding that the data was gathered from Indonesian representative offices across the U.S.

The minister said that the Indonesian Embassy, through its website and meetings with its citizens, tried to warn the illegal migrants either to go home or complete their documentation.

"However, it's not easy, as illegal migrants don't want to come forward," Hassan remarked.

Washington requires Indonesian males aged 16 and over to register themselves with the U.S. immigration and naturalization service from Feb. 23 to March 28, as part of its counterterrorism efforts.

Jakarta protested the decision, but Washington insisted that by 2005 the policy would reach most countries around the globe and not just Indonesia.

Due to the large number of Indonesian illegal migrants, the government sent a team, led by Ministry of Foreign Affairs director for North and Central America Dino Patti Djalal, to ask for more flexibility in the implementation of the registration policy.

"The team is slated to meet several high-ranking officials and, if possible, Vice President Dick Cheney," Hassan said, adding that the team had left the country last Saturday.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, citizens from foreign countries were required to register themselves, resulting in the expulsion of thousands of illegal migrants from the U.S.