A man walks on Jan. 28, 2025, past an apartment entrance, where according to local media reports United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducted an immigration raid in the Highbridge area of the Bronx borough of New York City. - Reuters
JAKARTA: Approximately 4,276 Indonesian nationals have been marked for deportation by United States authorities as the administration of President Donald Trump continues its crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The thousands of Indonesians are among the 1.4 million immigrants from various countries in the US who are on the list of “final orders of removal” and therefore are subject to deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Foreign Ministry citizen protection director Judha Nugraha said that the Indonesians on the deportation list were not yet US citizens. The number he referred to was the last update as of late November last year, before Trump assumed the presidency.
“Whether these Indonesians would be deported or not, it all depends on the US’s new immigration policy,” Judha told The Jakarta Post on Sunday (Feb 16), noting that many undocumented Indonesians have made it onto the list, but had not been deported.
Judha added that the Foreign Ministry and six Indonesian representatives in the US, including the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC and five Indonesian consulate generals across the US have been working to anticipate further measures that could affect Indonesian nationals.“We also call for Indonesians in the US [on the list] to know their rights, because they still have their rights even if they’re detained,” Judha said.
Trump, who won the US election last November, has declared illegal immigration a national emergency since he assumed office on Jan. 20. One of his campaign promises includes mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
At least two Indonesians have reportedly been caught during increasing immigration raids under Trump’s presidency. The one identified only by initials BK was arrested in New York on Jan. 28, while the other person, identified by initials TRN, was arrested in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 29.
BK, who has been subjected to a final order of removal since 2009, was arrested while doing his yearly report check-in at the ICE office. “As for TRN, we are still studying their case. Their hearings [at immigration courts] are scheduled for March 12,” Judha said.
Judha said that more than 4,000 Indonesians with final orders of removal are on the ICE list in the “non-detained docket” and therefore had not been detained. But he noted that “a recent change in US policy” led to these two arrests.
He did not elaborate further. Other countries have also been targets of Trump’s sweeping measures on illegal immigrants, such as Colombia.
The country refused deportation flights of its migrants from the US by turning away two US military aircraft flying Colombians in late January, prompting Trump’s administration to impose further tariffs and sanctions. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
