08 August 2008

US Immigration and Indonesians

I have often wondered the lengths that some people will go to make a new life for themselves and this includes overstaying the permitted visa stay or intentionally becoming an illegal immigrant. I have also wondered for example is it easier for an Indonesian to be an illegal immigrant in Australia or the US than it is for, say, me to be an illegal immigrant in Indonesia.

That aside, it seems that the US Immigration authorities have rounded-up 60 Indonesians for various immigration violations and is to deport them back to Indonesia on a chartered flight scheduled for 14 August 2008. This means that they will be back in time for the 17 August Independence Day celebrations that will dot the archipelago.

The deportation of these 60 individuals follows the deportation of 54 Indonesians on 10 April 2008.

The focus on illegal immigration in the US, at least on the majority of talk shows and other punditry programs, is on the Hispanic population. However, the deportation of Indonesians, Filipinos, Cambodians, Canadians, and the like, highlights that the issue is much more wide-spread than just one group of people.

The issue of illegal immigration is probably worthy of a more lengthy post. Yet, I guess my point for this brief little spiel is that sooner or later you get caught.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Question: how many of these 60 overstayed their visas because they were locked up in New York basements? Okay, so that's probably a bit extreme, but did any of these people have jobs? Would you hire someone who didn't have a valid visa? Americans are so bloody good at whinging about illegal immigrants, but are more than happy to hire them!

Rob Baiton said...

Brett...

Extreme, yes! But it happens. I am guessing that none of these 60 were locked in basements because that would have been newsworthy.

I am also guessing that most of them probably had jobs.

That is the question, isn't it? Why do people hire illegal immigrants? Two possibilities; fake documents or they just don't care because you can always pay an illegal much less than minimum wage as they are not likely to complain to the authorities.