Indonesians in US fear deportation despite deal

A group of Indonesian immigrants fear they are facing deportation despite a conditional agreement with U.S. immigration authorities that has allowed them to live and work legally in the country for years.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey are co-sponsoring a new law, the Indonesian Family Refugee Protection Act, which would allow Indonesians who fled religious persecution in their homeland and meet other criteria the opportunity to reapply for asylum.

The proposed legislation comes in response to a recent wave of deportation letters sent to Indonesian immigrants in New Jersey who have been living and working legally under a special agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of The Reformed Church in Highland Park said more than 70 Indonesian immigrants in the central New Jersey community have received deportation warning letters from the Department of Homeland Security in recent months or have been told to report to local ICE offices and bring a one-way ticket to Indonesia with them.

Kaper-Dale said that in addition to the New Jersey community, clusters of Indonesian immigrants in New York and New Hampshire have been living in the same legal limbo for years.

The affected group consists mostly of Indonesian Christians who fled economic instability and religious persecution in Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim country - in the late 1990s, Kaper-Dale said. They immigrated to the U.S. on tourist visas that allowed them to get Social Security cards and legally work here.

They worked, paid taxes and raised families - many of their children were born in the U.S. - until 2003, when a government program implemented in response to the 9/11 attacks compelled all adult males from 15 predominantly Muslim countries to register with U.S. authorities.

Indonesian immigrants registered in good faith, Kaper-Dale said, and started the process of applying for permanent status in the U.S. The majority applied for asylum based on religious persecution back home, and all were denied on the basis they had exceeded the one-year time limit for filing upon arrival.

In 2006, immigration authorities started deporting Indonesians, raiding an apartment complex in central New Jersey and arresting 35 people. Those who remained fled to Kaper-Dale's church. He helped negotiate with immigration authorities to allow the Indonesians to stay in the U.S. under conditional supervision - not amnesty or permanent status, but a legal status that allowed them to work while they tried to sort out their paperwork.

When Barack Obama's administration announced in June that it would start using "prosecutorial discretion" and prioritize deportation cases that involved criminals, the Indonesians thought they were in the clear, according to Kaper Dale - until they began receiving the letters.

Harry Puwo, a 41-year-old Edison resident who emigrated from Manado, Indonesia, when he was 24, is one who received a letter telling him to report to immigration authorities on Thursday.

Puwo said Wednesday that he was terrified at the prospect of being separated from his two U.S.-born daughters, one of whom has special needs.

"Before, nothing happened to me in the USA. I was just working, I got my Social Security card, I was paying taxes, me and my wife bought a house," said Puwo, who said he works as a chef at a hibachi-style restaurant. "I don't want to go back to Indonesia. I've been here a long time. I have a baby with Down's syndrome, and she won't get services there."

Maloney emphasized that her bill wouldn't grant automatic asylum but that it would remove a procedural barrier to allow qualified immigrants the chance to reapply and prevent families from being separated.

"The United States has long sought to protect refugees fleeing persecution and provide a process to fairly consider their claims," Maloney said in a statement. "These individuals came to this country, seeking relief from extreme violence and persecution for their religious beliefs, ad deserve a chance at asylum."