JAKARTA - Member of Commission I DPR RI Junico Siahaan highlighted the arrest of two Indonesian citizens (WNI) by the United States (US) immigration authorities, following President Donald Trump's policy. He asked the government to improve the protection system or protection for the Indonesian diaspora in the US.
"So far, the Government's attention has focused a lot on our legal migrants. However, cases such as ESS and CT show that the population of Indonesian citizens who migrate non-formally or diaspora who are having problems need the same serious attention," said Junico Siahaan, Friday, June 13.
As is known, the two Indonesian citizens detained by US authorities are women with the initials ESS (53) and men with the initials CT (48). They were arrested on the issue of residence permits to criminal history. Both were arrested by the United States (US) federal immigration authorities, or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) in the middle of the process of submitting a change in status to obtain a permanent green card or identity card in the United States.
DHS claimed ESS was arrested for illegal status and CT was arrested for having a record of narcotics and illegal entry violations. The Indonesian Consulate General in Los Angeles is currently coordinating with local authorities for access to consular assistance for the two Indonesian citizens.
According to Junico, there must be mitigation and early detection of Indonesian authorities regarding the status and condition of every citizen who is abroad.
"The absence of an integrated data system across ministries has exacerbated the situation because it is difficult to track and prevent," said the man who is familiarly called Nico Siahaan.
In a situation like this, Nico said, it is necessary to ensure the administrative aspects and immigration status of Indonesian citizens clearly. Especially in the context of strict immigration policies in the US following President Donald Trump's controversial policy.
"Whatever it is, we encourage friends from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to accompany detained Indonesian citizens," said Nico.
"I just heard about Trump's policy on the green card holder, apparently there are temporary green card holders who are the main targets of Trump's policy, I don't know what incomplete administrative completeness our Indonesian citizens have," he continued.
For this reason, Nico emphasized that one of the most crucial and urgent aspects is the protection of Indonesian citizens living in the US, both Indonesian citizens living in the US legally and those in vulnerable status. For example, students whose visa period runs out, informal workers, or mixed families.
With the anti-immigrant rhetoric that strengthens and tightens aggressive borders, Nico assesses the risk of deportation or harassment against Indonesian citizens is increasing. Moreover, Trump-style deportation is carried out with a military model.
"The condition in the United States is now quite worrying, especially for migrants. This should be an important note for the Government to improve protection or protection system for our diaspora there," Nico said.
The member of the Commission in the DPR in charge of international relations also asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the Indonesian Embassy in Washington and the Indonesian Consulate General in various major US cities to improve protection services for Indonesian citizens. Including, said Nico, by providing emergency hotlines, legal assistance, and diplomatic advocacy if needed.
"The state needs to be proactive in detecting vulnerable areas and establishing partnerships with international human rights organizations and the Indonesian diaspora community," said Nico.
The legislator from the West Java I electoral district also assessed that the Government needs to strengthen emergency services abroad, especially in countries with extreme immigration policies. As is the case in the US.
"Indonesia diaspora protection must be based on an active and sustainable monitoring and empowerment system," said Nico.
Nico then detailed a number of strategic steps that could be taken starting from mapping and data collection of diaspora, then data integration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek), Dukcapil, to the Ministry of Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers to build a more precise Indonesian citizen tracking system abroad.
The illegal immigrants prevention campaign also needs to be promoted by education through social media, local communities, educational environments as well as other facilities on the dangers and legal risks of non-procedural migration. Strengthening the function of diplomatic missions also needs to be improved," he explained.
"The Indonesian Embassy and the Indonesian Consulate General must be strengthened by human resources and adequate surveillance instruments, including problematic Indonesian citizens' early detection units and preventive legal counseling services," Nico continued.
Not only that, Nico also encourages a thorough evaluation of the national migration policy. According to him, new regulations need to be drawn up to answer the challenges of protecting informal diaspora and handling cases across jurisdictions.
Nico also emphasized that bilateral cooperation with migrant destination countries such as the US must also be strengthened. "The ESS and CT cases are a reflection of systems that are not ready to anticipate global migration based on the socio-economic crisis. So the protection of Indonesian citizens should not only be active when problems occur. The system must be built from the start before Indonesian citizens leave, when they are in the destination country, until when they return," Nico explained.
On the other hand, Nico asked the Government to immediately fill the position of Indonesian Ambassador (Ambassador) for the US, which has been vacant for several years.
"We also encourage the government to immediately determine the ambassador to lead all programs in responding to Trump's drastic decisions," he concluded
As reported, President Donald Trump's increasingly violent immigration policy has sparked a wave of public protests that have led to escalating unrest and social tensions in several states in the US. There are at least 21 policies to clean the US of Trump's illegal murals.
Starting from granting authority to security authorities to actively arrest suspected illegal migrants. With this policy, legally problematic migrants can be arrested anytime and anywhere, including in public places such as schools, churches, hospitals, or when in court.
Another crucial policy is related to the abolition of automatic citizenship for babies born in the US. Previously, babies born to mothers who only lived illegally or only temporarily in the US automatically became US citizens. Likewise, if their father was not a US citizen.
Trump also ordered ICE to stop all immigration applications and asylum requests and strengthen surveillance of the US and Mexico borders, which are often entry points for illegal immigrants. Trump's policies sparked a wave of protests, such as in Los Angeles where the demonstrations that took place led to riots.
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Trump responded to the protests due to these policies with a military-style model. Trump even deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to quell the demonstrations that took place in Los Angeles, on Saturday, June 7.
The White House called this deployment a step to defuse "law violations" after riots-flagged protests. In recent days, at least hundreds of residents have been injured as a result of clashes between protesters and police at various points of unrest. Dozens of people deemed provocateurs were also arrested.
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