Christmas-New Year's holiday is a Modus, 137 Illegal CPMI is Intercepted at Soetta Airport

Head of the Special Class I Immigration Office at Soekarno-Hatta, Galih Kartika Perdhana, gave a press statement regarding the results of preventing illegal PMI departures at Soetta Airport. (ANTARA/Azmi Samsul M)

TANGERANG - The Immigration Office of the Special Class I Immigration Inspection (TPI) at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, thwarted the departure of 137 prospective Indonesian migrant workers (CPMI) during the Christmas 2025 and New Year 2026 (Nataru) holiday period.

Head of the Special Class I Immigration Office at Soekarno-Hatta, Galih Kartika Perdhana, said that hundreds of CPMIs were detected to be leaving for a number of countries in the Asian and Middle Eastern regions, which have long been known as the destination for illegal placement of migrant workers.

The destination countries include Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Hong Kong, as well as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

"They all claimed to be tourists who wanted to go on vacation," said Galih in Tangerang, Tuesday, December 30.

However, based on the follow-up examination by immigration officers, there were various strong indications that they were non-procedural migrant workers.

"They cannot explain in detail the purpose of the trip, such as how long they will stay in the destination country or where they will stay," he said.

Galih said that during the period from January to December 29, 2025, Soekarno-Hatta Immigration had managed to prevent the departure of 2,917 passengers. Of these, as many as 1,905 people were indicated as non-procedural CPMI and had the potential to become victims of human trafficking (TPPO) and human smuggling (TPPM).

Meanwhile, Head of the Immigration Inspection Point (TPI) Soekarno-Hatta Jerry Prima said that the non-procedural CPMI detection process is now more complex because prospective migrant workers already understand the pattern of officer inspections.

However, his party still applies two layers of inspection filters, namely through physical and gestural observation, a brief interview at the immigration counter, and the use of the Subject of Interest (SOI) system, especially for passengers who have records as non-procedural CPMI.

"Initial indications usually come from suspicious movements, inconsistent answers during interviews, to the inability to explain travel plans, such as tickets, accommodation, or the party who will bear the cost," said Jerry.

In addition to thwarting departure, from January to December 2025, the Soekarno-Hatta Immigration Office also rejected 197 passport applications that were indicated to be related to TPPO and TPPM.

Based on the results of the interview, the majority of passport applicants admitted that they would travel for tourism purposes. However, after being investigated, many of them eventually admitted plans to work non-procedurally abroad.

All non-procedural CPMIs who were successfully thwarted from leaving were then coordinated with the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Service (BP3MI) for further training and data collection, as well as with the Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police for handling CPMIs who were indicated as victims of TPPO and TPPM.

Soekarno-Hatta Immigration emphasized its commitment to continue to tighten supervision and increase vigilance to protect Indonesian citizens from the risk of exploitation and human trafficking, especially during long holidays such as Christmas.