Immigrant who volunteered to rebuild N.J. homes after Superstorm Sandy seeks sanctuary from deportation

Steph Solis | Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Murphy meets with Indonesian Christian entering sanctuary in NJ church NJ Gov. Phil Murphy met with Harry Pangemanan and others in sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park. The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale explains their situation and their fear of being deported to Indonesia, where they face religious persecution.

ASBURY PARK, N.J. — Harry Pangemanan was honored a week ago by the Borough of Highland Park for rebuilding hundreds of homes along the Jersey Shore destroyed by Superstorm Sandy. On Thursday, the Indonesian national and father of two met the governor.

It wasn't to receive more accolades. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy went to the Reformed Church of Highland Park to lend his high-profile support to Pangemanan, an unauthorized immigrant, as he was entering sanctuary to escape deportation.

"Many of the houses that he worked on, in the lawn of the homes he was working on were big Donald Trump signs and yet he was still rebuilding those homes to get Jersey families back inside," the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, an immigrant rights advocate, told Murphy.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swooped into Central New Jersey around 8 a.m. Thursday morning and arrested two Indonesians, Gunawan Liem of Piscataway and Roby Sanger of Metuchen, said Kaper-Dale, who also runs the Deportation and Immigration Response Equipo that tries to intervene in ICE raids.

Pangemanan narrowly escaped. After eluding ICE agents outside his Highland Park home, he was escorted to the church, where he joined three other Indonesian Christians in sanctuary.

Murphy, who pledged during the gubernatorial campaign to protect unauthorized immigrants in New Jersey, said he raced to the church after learning of the ICE activity.

"I'm going to go back, go to Trenton right now and meet with my team and try to think through," Murphy told reporters. "This is extraordinary stuff we're talking about. These are wonderful people, and it's almost indescribable."

Inside the church, Pangemanan led Murphy, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and other elected officials through an Indonesian prayer.

"I'm thinking of you guys," Pangemanan told supporters in the church. "Nothing more has shown me that I belong here in this community."

Thursday's drama comes as President Trump and Republicans and Democrats in Congress step up negotiations over immigration policy.

More: Trump team unveils new immigration framework with path to citizenship for DREAMers

More: There are 3.6M 'DREAMers' — a number far greater than commonly known

The White House presented Congress with a proposal that would offer a path to citizenship for 1.8 million unauthorized immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children.

The plan also calls for increased restrictions on immigration and $25 billion for border security, including a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Such policy changes would not affect Pangemanan, an Indonesian Christian who fled religious persecution in his home country in 1993.

Since overstaying his visa, he has tried to gain legal status but failed to gain support for his asylum application. Married, he and his wife have two U.S.-born children.

Since 2012, Pangemanan has led a team of volunteers rebuilding more than 200 homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

He received the 2018 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Highland Park Human Relations Commission on Jan. 15 for his efforts.

"I'm working. I've worked hard for my family," he told am Asbury Park Press reporter. "I'm not dependent on somebody else."

Murphy meets with Harry Pangemanan, who is claiming sanctuary from ICE https://t.co/t2Q3Ul2Wzp — Steph Solis (@stephmsolis) January 25, 2018

Escaping ICE agents

For all three men — Pangemanan, Liem and Sanger — the day began ordinarily enough.

Liem and Sanger were dropping off their children at school when they were approached by ICE agents, Kaper-Dale said.

"It looked like it happened simultaneously," he said. "That way people wouldn't call (and warn) each other."

ICE confirmed the arrests, saying the men had orders of removal from an immigration judge.

"All enforcement actions are a part of routine, daily targeted operations conducted by ICE around the country targeting criminal aliens and other immigration violators who are in the U.S. in violation of federal law," an ICE official said in a statement.

Pangemanan apparently also was in the crosshairs of ICE agents.

He was backing out of his driveway to take his oldest daughter to Metuchen High School when he saw an unmarked SUV out front inch toward his car.

Pangemanan placed the car in park, jumped out and ran inside. Then he called his daughter, who was still in the car.

"I told her, 'Please walk to the school because I do not trust the car behind us,'" Pangemanan recalled.

He then called Kaper-Dale, who picked him up and took him to the church.

Kaper-Dale went back to Pangemanan's house in Highland Park and filmed ICE agents as they knocked on the front door.

"ICE decides that they want to take the guy that just won the MLK award for repairing 209 houses during Hurricane Sandy and assault and threaten him," Kaper-Dale said during a Facebook Live video.

By entering the church sanctuary, Pangemanan joined Yohanes Tasik and a couple, Arthur Jemmy and Silfia Tobing.

Liem and Sanger, who have been detained, are being held in Essex County Jail.

In the country without status

Pangemanan, an ethnic Chinese Christian from Indonesia, fled his home country to escape religious persecution in the Muslim-majority nation.

Nearly a decade ago, Pangemanan spent 68 days at Elizabeth Detention Center before church members and advocates helped secure his release.

In 2012, during the Obama administration, he entered sanctuary in the same church, fearing ICE agents would deport him. He was among nine Indonesian Christians holed up in the church at the time.

ICE relented and gave him a temporary reprieve from deportation, known as a "stay of removal," and a work permit.

Under Trump, however, Pangemanan and dozens of other Indonesian Christians in Central New Jersey and beyond once again face deportation.

Indonesian Christians without legal status could have qualified for asylum when they first arrived in the United States, but some came here shortly before or after the rules surrounding asylum petitions changed.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requires that potential asylees apply for protections within a year of entering the country. Many local Indonesians said they were not aware of the requirement until much later.

Some who arrived before the 1996 law took effect, such as Tasik, say they wanted to gain legal status but could not afford to do so.

"They're working hard, doing what they can. They pay taxes," Pangemanan said. "They have their own insurance. They're not bothering anyone."

At least seven local Indonesians without legal status have been deported over the past year. Four others self-deported for fear of being detained.

These immigrants were not labeled targets for deportation under the Obama administration, but that changed after a Jan. 25, 2017, executive order by Trump that makes all unauthorized immigrants, regardless of their situation, priority for removal.

Jemmy and Tobing took sanctuary in October after ICE asked them to come in before their regularly scheduled check-in.

Tasik took sanctuary earlier this month after ICE came to his house. He told a reporter the agents tried to separate him from his daughter and take her to her mother's house so he could be detained. Tasik believed the agents intended to deport him.

Seeking other options

The current immigration laws make it difficult for immigrants such as Pangemanan, Liam and Sanger to gain legal status because of the one-year application deadline for asylum, despite their fear of returning home.

Pallone and U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced the Indonesian Family Refugee Protection Act last year. The legislation would help certain Indonesian refugees reopen asylum claims if they were previous rejected because of the deadline.

"To me this is even more egregious that people persecuted for religious reasons who would normally qualify for political asylum on that ground not only can't pursue it but now are being rounded up and being detained and deported," Pallone said. "We know if they go back, they're going to suffer the consequences of their religion, which is outrageous."

One of the wives of the targeted Indonesians, who asked not to be named for fear of being detained by ICE, pleaded with the governor to help her family stay in the country.

“Since I came into New Jersey, I (am) working, I pay taxes, I pay my own insurance and I’m working to pay for the insurance for my husband and my kids,” said one of the women. “I never claim a penny from the government.”

When asked whether the raids on the Indonesian Christians would increase urgency for immigrant protections, Murphy said he needs time to think but that “answering something with nothing is not an option.”

Pangemanan said he doesn't know how long he will be staying at the church. He won't be able to leave to take his children to school or work rebuilding homes along the shore.

And the need is still there.

"Three days ago, I got a call from one of the clients in Union Beach," he said. "I can have some regional volunteers to continue to finish up the house, and then I'm here."

Follow Steph Solis on Twitter: @stephmsolis