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Medan immigration detains eight Somali refugees
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Iraqi asylum seeker Khairullah kisses his daughter Rawan during an interview with The Associated Press at a temporary home in Puncak, West Java, on Jan. 31. For thousands of asylum seekers and refugees from Iraq, Somalia and other conflict-scarred countries, Indonesia is an often years-long hiatus in their lives as they wait for the United States or another country to accept them. President Donald Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim countries and suspension of the US refugee program has now made their tenuous situation even more uncertain. (AP/Tatan Syufiana)
T
he Belawan Immigration Office in Medan, North Sumatra, detained eight Somali refugees who attempted to cross Indonesia's northern waters from Malaysia, an Indonesian ministry official has said.
"The navy patrol captured an unnamed ship at around 1:30 am on Friday," the Directorate General of Immigration at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Agung Sampurno, said on Saturday, as quoted by kompas.com.
(Read also: Indonesia widens arms for refugees)
According to Agung, the captain and his crew jumped into a mangrove forest carrying the passports of eight Somali refugees who had allegedly come from Malaysia.
“The refugees were left on the boat when we seized them. They are now detained in the Belawan Immigration Office for investigation,” Agung told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. (dis/dan)
