Fate of Indonesian immigrants remains on hold

mycentraljersey.com
Written by Susan Loyer | Staff Report
7:40 PM, Dec. 6, 2011

HIGHLAND PARK — The news was grim, but they haven’t given up hope.

“Today, thank God, none of us have been put on a plane,’’ said Harry Pangemanan, who came to the United States from Indonesia on a tourist visa in 1993. “This has given us hard times, but it is the spirit of God that guides us and keeps us going.’’

More than a dozen immigrants from Indonesia, who have resided in Middlesex County for many years, reported Tuesday to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE office in Newark. Most of the immigrants, who face deportation for overstaying their visas, were told to return in two weeks when a decision on their futures would be rendered.

Pangemanan said he came to the United States in search of a better life. His wife, Yana, came in 1998. Both are in jeopardy of being deported.

“At ICE today, they told us to come back in two weeks and then they will issue me and my wife and not our children a ticket, ’’ Pengemanan said. “They said we will be deported from the U.S. about two weeks later. We love America. It’s the country where you can see a future for yourself and your children. My children are citizens here. They were born here and go to school here. We work hard here. We obey the law. We pay taxes. We have health insurance. We’re not asking anyone for anything. We will not give up hope.’’

And neither will the congregants at Reformed Church of Highland Park, who conducted a 24-vigil that started Monday evening in support of the approximate 70 local immigrants facing possible deportation.

“These are families that are law-abiding, responsible and valuable members of our community,’’ the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale said. “They do not deserve to be deported.’’

Kaper-Dale said most of the immigrants came to the United States between 1997 and 2000 on tourist visas to escape religious persecution and economic strife.

“They should have filed for asylum right away, but they say it was a mistake and they did not understand the law,’’ Kaper-Dale said. “Also at that time, our economy was booming and we needed workers, so we didn’t care if there were people here willing to do the job of third shift laborers. They were allowed get a work permit based on a tourist visa, which is only good for six months.’’

If deported, he said, some may even face jail time.

“If people are coming here looking for freedom from persecution and are being threatened while they are here for what they are talking about it, that’s scary,’’ Kaper-Dale said. “Today did not go well, but we won’t give up hope.’’

Kaper-Dale said an agreement was reached with ICE in 2009 that allowed them to remain in the community.

“We met with ICE and convinced them if they would cease deportation we would get all the folks who were told to leave and hadn’t left to come forward and get an Order of Supervision, which would allow them to stay and work,’’ he said. “We knew it wasn’t amnesty. It was a short-term fix in hopes that something would change as far as law or policy. And now policy has changed.’’

Kaper-Dale said the Obama administration has implemented a policy of “prosecutorial discretionâ€