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2,328 Indonesian workers halted from going abroad
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Rescued: Seven female illegal migrant workers from West Nusa Tenggara have been rescued from a alleged human trafficking attempt during an operation on March 29. (Courtesy of the West Nusa Tenggara Police/File)
T
he country’s immigration agencies have in the last three months prevented the departure of more than 2,000 Indonesian workers seeking employment overseas through illicit channels, officials say.
As many as 2,328 Indonesians have had their passport requests blocked by immigration agencies across the country, according to a statement from the Immigration Directorate General at the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
Directorate General of Immigration spokesperson Agung Sampurno said the operation to foil the departure of non-procedural workers was carried out in 92 regional immigration agencies nationwide.
"The preventive measures taken to prevent non-procedural migrant workers is a priority program of the Immigration Directorate General in 2017," Agung said in the statement on Tuesday.
He said the majority of blocked requests were recorded at the Batam Immigration Office in Riau Islands province with 223 rejected applications, followed by the Jember and Tanjung Perak agencies in East Java, with 157 and 120 rejected applications, respectively.
Parallel operations occurred at 20 immigration checkpoints, which include airports and seaports, across the country.
The majority of blocked departures at checkpoints came out of Surabaya's Juanda Airport, with 124 workers prevented from traveling overseas, followed by Batam Port, with 104 people, and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta with 94 people.
The Foreign Ministry's director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, welcomed the initiative to prevent non-procedural migrant workers from going abroad.
"[These operations] are in line with the Foreign Ministry's position that any attempts to clamp down on problems involving migrant workers abroad must start with preventive measures," he said on Tuesday.
