Surabaya (Antara Jatim) - The Surabaya city administration in East Java has so far deported 16 foreigners to their respective countries after they were found working illegally, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini said.
"We will intensify our surveillance (of foreigners) and immigration authorities are now ready for the task," she stated after attending a plenary meeting at the Surabaya City Legislative Council Building here on Tuesday.
She disclosed that the city administration routinely conducts surveillance of foreigners to anticipate any undue influx of foreign nationals possibly employed illegally in the second largest city in Indonesia.
Since the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) mechanism came into effect officially early this year, the number of foreign nationals working in Surabaya has been on the rise, she noted.
She informed that several agencies, including the National Unity and Community Protection Agency (Bakesbanglinmas), the Office of Demography and Vital Statistics and the Immigration Office, have been involved in cracking down on illegal foreign workers in the city.
"Whoever enters (Surabaya) must hold a limited/permanent stay permit card," she made it clear.
To prevent any influx of foreigners working illegally in the city, the local authorities will intensify surveillance in the field.
Two days ago, the Surabaya Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers had arrested a German national, identified as Benjamin Holst, who was found begging on a street in the city. He was earlier found indulging in a similar act in the resort island of Bali.
The German national has been handed to the immigration office but it does not have any budget fund to deport him to his country.
Responding to it, the mayor clarified that she will coordinate with the German Embassy in Jakarta to deport Holst to Germany.
"We will communicate with (the representative) of his country of origin," she observed. (*)
