Avenel couple should not be deported to Indonesia (MyCentralJersey.com)

Avenel couple should not be deported to Indonesia

April 7, 2009

Talking on the telephone from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash., Harry Pangemanan told the story how he was taken from his home in Avenel on Jan. 12, how he spent 11 weeks at a detention facility in Elizabeth before being sent to Tacoma last week. Evidence suggests the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is preparing to return him to Indonesia, the country he fled in 1993.

The one time his quivered on the telephone was when he described his 2-year-old daughter Crista's first visit to the detention center in Elizabeth. The two were separated by thick glass. "She tried to hug me. She cried when she couldn't," he said.

Since his arrival in the United States, he obtained work without being asked about his immigrant status. He obtained a driver's license and Social Security number. He met his wife Yana at a picnic in Iselin. The two were married and have two children, Crista and 6-year-old Jocelyn.

On Jan. 12, a male agent and a female agent from ICE came to take Harry and his wife Yana into custody. Yana, who works a midnight shift, was not yet at the couple's home in that morning. When she arrived the female agent sought to take her, but was overruled by the male agent because of the two children. The girls were born in the United States, and according to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution are American citizens.

Should the Pangemanans be deported to Indonesia, they would have a choice: Do they take the girls with them to Indonesia, where their American citizenship would be used against them? Do they leave them behind with relatives? Have them placed in foster care?

Since his arrival 16 years ago, Pangemanan has worked, often doing two jobs. Until he was detained, he was paying $250 in federal taxes every other other week. He and his wife became active in the Reformed Church of Highland Park.

The Pangemanans felt no need to apply for citizenship until after 9/11. Had they stayed in the shadow, they might be OK today. Now ICE knows who they are, and where they live.

Though an ICE spokesman will not discuss a specific case, he explained that detainees are sometimes moved, "to an appropriate facility when removal (from the country) is imminent." Tacoma is more than 2,000 miles closer to Indonesia.

If the couple is returned to Indonesia, they say they would have would have one strike against them: They are devout Christians who would be returned to a country that is 86 percent Muslim, with a history of sectarian violence. Their daughters would have two strikes: They are Christians and American citizens. As foreign citizens, they would have to pay an annual fee to stay in Indonesia.

The most notorious incident involving sectarian violence occurred in 2005, when three teenage girls attending a private Christian school in Indonesia were beheaded. "One of the heads was left outside a church, leading to speculation that it might have had a religious motive," according to the BBC.

Clearly, this is not a family-friendly choice facing the Pangemanans.

U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., introduced legislation (HR-182) that would "provide discretionary authority to an immigration judge," in ruling on immigration cases with minor American citizens involved.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, a Democrat from the 12th District in Central New Jersey, has signed on to the bill. He emphasized that immigration laws need broad reform, and Serrano's proposal is one small element.

"Any comprehensive immigration reform should have family integrity as one of the principals that should be pursued. Now a judge cannot even consider the welfare of the children," Holt said.

If we focus on the family, there is no way the Pangemanan's should face deportation. If there's no room for them in our country, there is something wrong with us.