Indonesians in US fear deportation amid Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants

Indonesian immigrants in the US have grown increasingly anxious under President Donald Trump’s intensified immigration crackdown, as a recent deportation, several pending trials and heightened enforcement measures fuel fears of being targeted by authorities. Last week, Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that an Indonesian student was deported in February while reporting to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Francisco for allegedly failing to maintain an active student status. Additionally, US authorities have arrested two Indonesians in Atlanta and one in New York. All three are awaiting trial to determine their immigration status. The Atlanta detainees – a husband and wife – were scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, according to the ministry. Ida Bagus Made Bimantara, chargé d’affaires ad interim at the Indonesian embassy in Washington, told This Week in Asia on Wednesday that he had not heard the trial outcome for the Indonesian detainees in Atlanta, “but we are monitoring it”. Authorities also arrested another Indonesian in Los Angeles, he said. “We talk to ICE and the [US Customs and Border Protection, or CBP] to make sure that if Indonesian citizens are [arrested], we would be notified and to ensure that their legal rights, according to US law and constitution, are fulfilled,” Made Bimantara said. Shortly after his inauguration in January, Trump signed a series of executive orders to accelerate the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants. These included measures to expand ICE enforcement, fast-track deportations and require stricter monitoring of visa overstays. Judha Nugraha, the ministry’s director of protection of Indonesian citizens and legal entities, told VOA Indonesia on March 4 that the detainee in New York had been on the deportation list since 2009, when his asylum application was rejected. He was arrested while undergoing his required annual check-in at the ICE office in the state. According to Made Bimantara, about 66,000 Indonesians in the US are registered with the ministry, most live in California and New York, “but those that are not recorded are two or three times that, so around 120,000”. The ministry said at least 4,276 Indonesians were included in ICE’s final removal list as of November 2024. “The final order list is issued by the CBP and ICE from their database of foreign nationals whose residence permits have expired. Those who are on the list can be sent home, but in its implementation, only five [Indonesians on the list] have been affected,” Made Bimantara said. ‘A lot of anxiety’ While fewer Indonesians have been affected by Trump’s aggressive immigration policies compared to other nationalities, many have said they still fear being targeted by authorities. “There’s a lot of anxiety and people are worried that they would be stopped by ICE and arrested, even though the targets are people who already have final deportation orders,” said Sinta Penyami Storms, a member of the Indonesian diaspora living in Philadelphia. “Many are afraid to do anything, like travelling, for example. Now the immigration process is also delayed a lot, because there is a budget cut. In the past, applying for asylum, work permit or social security only took three months. Now it can be almost a year, because now everything is slowed down and complicated.” Storms said that compared to the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, not many ICE officers roamed the streets of Philadelphia in plain clothes these days. Many in the diaspora were also “frustrated” by a new Jakarta-imposed requirement to show valid US residency permits when applying for or renewing Indonesian passports at consulates, Storms said. “If Indonesian citizens overstay in the US, they cannot prove that they have a residence permit, they cannot renew their passports and only get Travel Documents in Lieu of A Passport [SPLP],” she said. Made Bimantara claimed that the new requirement was in accordance with the national law. The SPLP could only be used in a one-way flight back to Indonesia, he added. Storms, who is now a US citizen, founded Gapura Philadelphia, an NGO to promote Indonesian culture and empower the Indonesian community in the city. Since Trump was inaugurated, the organisation had held discussions to help Indonesians “know their immigration rights” in the country, she said. Ida Ayu Sabrina Putri from the Indonesian American Lawyers Association said that after Trump’s inauguration, the number of Indonesians seeking legal counsel about their rights increased. Other diaspora groups have also been active in fighting for their rights. The New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, alongside two other immigrants’ rights organisations, filed a lawsuit on January 20 challenging Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for any child born in the US to a parent who is in the country illegally. The groups, assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other legal aid organisations, won their case as a federal judge in New Hampshire temporarily blocked the executive order on February 10. Ramped up deportation effort According to Sabrina Putri, who lives in Los Angeles, overstaying a visa is not a criminal offence in the US unless “the person commits a crime while overstaying in the US, such as illegally working here”. However, a new regulation from the Department of Homeland Security could add to the “burden” of undocumented immigrants, she said. On February 25, the agency announced plans to create an online database to track undocumented migrants aged 14 and older. Under the new regulation, they must register within 30 days of their arrival in the US and undergo fingerprinting. Failure to comply could result in fines or imprisonment. For now, Sabrina Putri suggested that undocumented Indonesians in the US “collect all important documents in one place” as lawyers would need them in the case of their arrest. “I would also suggest [undocumented immigrants] give power of lawyer to relatives or people they trust to take care of important documents, such as ones relating to banks, if the person is caught by [law enforcement],” she said.

Indonesians in US fear deportation amid Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants

As of November 2024, more than 4,000 Indonesians were on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal list