Thirty-nine illegal Indonesian immigrants moved to Otero jail

ome 39 Indonesian illegal immigrants who were held in the immigration detention center of Albuquerque, New Mexico, after being nabbed in a raid on June 19 in Pennsylvania have been moved to the Otero County Detention facility in New Mexico.

"They were moved on July 18, maybe because the Otero jail is closer to El Paso, only some 30 minutes` walk from Otero County," Indonesian Consul General in Houston, Kria Fahmi Pasaribu, said when contacted from here on Thursday.

Nineteen of the 39 Indonesian nationals had agreed to be deported to Indonesia while the rest were hoping they would somehow be allowed to continue working in the US, he said.

The 39 arrested Indonesians had previously been moved from one jail to another in the State of Pennsylvania but they were now all in good health.

He added 19 of them had decided to accept free-of-charge legal assistance from an American non-profit institution, the United Neighborhood Organization.

The organization would help them obtain permission not to attend oourt trials so that they could be repatriated immeditaely, he said.

"The judges will be asked to issue an order for them not to attend the court sessions. And if the order is issued, they will be sent home to Indonesia with air tickets provided by the US government," he said.

Meanwhile, the other 20 Indonesians had already hired their own lawyers who would accompany them in court hearings in El Paso, Texas.

"According to the Immigration and Custom Enforcement, the court hearings will be commenced in the next two or three weeks. Most of them are hoping they will be permitted to continue stayingand working in the United States," he said.

"If the judges permit them to remain the US, they will obviously have to meet a number of conditions. But if the judges do not give permission, they must be deported," Kria said.

About the condition of 18 Indonesian women being held in the Gadsden Immigration Detention Center in the state of Alabama, Kria said they too were in good health.

"I saw them. Members of the Houston branch of Dharma Wanits (Association of Indonesian Civil Servants` Wives) also visited and talked with them," he said.

About when the 18 women would arraigned in court, Kria said he had yet to get new information from the US immigration office of Atlanta, Georgia , which oversees the Gadsden immigration jail in Alabama state.

"There is yet no schedule. Moreover, it turns out it is the Atlanta Immigration Office that is handling the cases of the 18 Indonesian women although they are being held at the immigration facility in Gadsden, Alabama," he said.(*)