Thread: NJ-Highland Pk church helps illegal imms avoid deportation

Highland Park church helps illegal immigrants avoid deportation
By Karen Keller
March 02, 2010, 5:05AM

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerPastor of Reformed Church of Highland Park, Seth Kaper-Dale, center, with church members Linda Lachesnez, left and Liz Estes right, who have helped the pastor with his immigration project. Pastor Kaper-Dale, a 34-year-old Vermont native, and Lachesnez, a 63-year-old Woodbridge native who was homeless and unemployed for four years, have helped more than 50 Indonesians living in New Jersey obtain low-level "orders of supervision" from the federal government -- status allows immigrants to live in their homes, instead of in jails, and reduces the chance of deportation.

HIGHLAND PARK — A year ago, the pastor and a member of a Highland Park church went to extraordinary lengths to help an Indonesian church member avoid deportation.

The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale and Linda Lachesnez, of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, pleaded with federal immigration officials on behalf of Henry Pangemanan. They frequently visited Pangemanan — who was being deported because his tourist visa had expired more than a decade ago — in the Elizabeth detention center.

And when it appeared their appeals were going nowhere, Kaper-Dale boarded a plane for the West Coast in a last-ditch effort to help Pangemanan, a 39-year-old father of two U.S.-born children.

The detention center in Tacoma, Wash., was to be the last stop for Pangemanan before the deportation flight to Asia.

Months later, a federal official said, the deportation order was reversed, thanks to the Highland Park activists, and Pangemanan was back in Middlesex County.

That was the start.

Since Pangemanan’s release in April, Kaper-Dale and Lachesnez have helped obtain low-level "orders of supervision" from the federal government for more than 50 Indonesians living in New Jersey. An order of supervision reduces the chance of deportation and allows the immigrant to apply for a driver’s license and a work permit and remain living at home.

The feats have inspired immigration activists and clergy nationwide at a time when deportations are up and movement toward national immigration reform has been minimal.

"People were happy to hear what happened in New Jersey. You don’t hear about that scale happening," said Tara Tidwell, spokeswoman for the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago.

Now Kaper-Dale, a 34-year-old Vermont native, and Lachesnez, a 63-year-old Woodbridge native who was homeless for four years, are expanding efforts to the Filipino community and beyond.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman for New Jersey, Harold Ort, said 380,000 people were deported nationwide last year, 244,000 of them with no criminal record.

In the Highland Park case, Ort said, federal agents were impressed with Kaper-Dale and Lachesnez’s doggedness, and the strong family and community ties of the immigrants for whom they were vouching.

While ICE agents routinely use discretion in deciding who to detain and deport, it’s uncommon for community leaders to intervene in the cases of dozens, he said.

‘BIG IMPROVEMENT’

The Highland Park story has already created ripples thousands of miles away.

Four Indonesian-born illegal immigrants in Tacoma have averted deportation, as have two in Philadelphia, with the help of clergy who had learned of the New Jersey success, Kaper-Dale said.

Still, Kaper-Dale and other activists said they believe ICE in New Jersey has been more receptive to appeals than in other states.

"It feels like a real effort by ICE to listen to the concerns of advocate groups and faith-based groups," Kaper-Dale said. "There’s just a real different feel now. ICE would rather have less people in detention. It’s an attitude."

As a signal of more changes to come, ICE officials plan to meet today in Newark with New Jersey clergy members to discuss issues concerning illegal immigrants, he said.

Rex Chen, the supervising lawyer at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, which offers legal advice to illegal immigrants, said ICE has been granting parole more frequently to immigration detainees.

"In the past six months to a year, we’ve seen them being more thoughtful," Chen said.

Ort said the agency has been detaining fewer non-criminals in recent months. Of 57 cases involving illegal immigrants in New Jersey between Nov. 10 and Jan. 31, ICE put three people in detention, said Ort.

"With respect to detention ... we are committed to working on these types of matters in a humane and thoughtful manner," he said.

As of Feb. 24, New Jersey detention centers housed 828 illegal immigrants, Ort said.

Kaper-Dale and Lachesnez, meanwhile, hope to start working with other ethnic enclaves.

Four Filipinos have already been released from the Elizabeth detention center in the past month, he said.

Like the Indonesians who were helped, the Filipino immigrants still aren’t in the clear. To get legal status they must work with an immigration lawyer and make a successful plea to a federal judge.


http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/0 ... igrat.html

While ICE agents routinely use discretion in deciding who to detain and deport, it’s uncommon for community leaders to intervene in the cases of dozens, he said.

Illegal is illegal and the law is the law. ICE, as a law enforcement agency, shouldn't have the authority to make such decisions. Their job is to enforce immigration laws, not decide who goes and who stays. That is the job of our judicial system.

I am in the NJ and was looking on the internet to get some feedback on what to do to get this reversed.
I can not believe that a church can have this sort of power over a federal agency. If you look at the comments after the article no one is happy and apparently there is a meeting today with ICE and NJ clergy members.

Here is a previous article from 12/09 when they got their member out of ICE.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/1 ... nd_pa.html

"And when it appeared their appeals were going nowhere, Kaper-Dale boarded a plane for the West Coast in a last-ditch effort to help Pangemanan, a 39-year-old father of two U.S.-born children."

These children have only their ILLEGAL parent to blame,("because his tourist visa had expired more than a decade ago" and he didn't know he was an ILLEGAL); Abuse of the 14th Amendment to create an Anchor for U.S. Citizens to furnish benefits! The Elitist Politicians and Elitist Contributors are socializing benefits to the ILLEGALS for the ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS, veiled as welfare for U. S. Citizens, on the backs of U.S. Citizens through our assets such as the Education System, Social Security, and Health Care not to mention our National Security while privatizing the profits for themselves! The reason the ILLEGALS have the Anchors, furnishing a opportune SOB story, is to stay in the U.S. to receive the benefits, their Anchors are nothing more than throwaways for their agenda; if they were important to the parents they would take their children with them when they returned to their HOME countries . They do not want to be Citizens of the U.S. only to the extent that it would allow the ILLEGALS to remain in the U.S. for our tax money to drain the U.S. Dry.

lccat-
The original articles about the pastor getting on the plane states he got through security and ran onto the plan and the ICE agents let him pray with the man who is in federal custody.
Then it changed to a ticket agent saw how distressed he was and let him on the plan.
With NO TICKET, NO security screening. I wrote to the airlines and homeland security and they didn't care.
So what happens when a Muslim cleric runs for a plane to pray with a deported friend are they going to let him on the plane to pray also?

I've emailed the governor of NJ and someone I know is contacting the Attorney Generals office.

From a previous comment in the source article "Their immigration status has not changed. Also, I understand that Mr Pangmenon has been gainfully employed for years getting an over-the-table salary (paying taxes) with a real social security card."

Millions unemployed in the United States and we should take joy because a tax exempt organization has found a job for an ILLEGAL who most likely donates cash to the same tax exempt organization via the church collection plate.

Deleted by me. Oops.