REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SUKABUMI -- The local immigration authorities arrested 15 Iraqi nationals, including four children and three women, on Thursday (Oct 14) for violating the immigration law, a spokesman said. "As per our investigation, they came to Indonesia on the basis of immigration documents such as passport etc., but their presence in the country violates the immigration rules," Chief of the Sukabumi Immigration Office, Filianto Akbar, said here on Monday.

None of the 15 Iraqi nationals held a permit of stay and has entered the Indonesian territory without passing through immigration check points. Therefore, their presence is illegal, he added.

Only two of the 15 Iraqi nationals were being detained at the detention house of the local immigration office. The 13 others have been sent back to Intan Villa in the neighboring district of Cianjur under tight surveillance. The Iraqi nationals will be deported to their country soon, he informed. "We have coordinated with the Directorate General of Immigration at the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to deport them," he noted.

Filianto acknowledged that they wished to stay longer in Indonesia and had sought a written statement from the representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to be classified as refugees or asylum seekers.

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