The homes of three Indonesian immigrants who are currently in sanctuary in New Jersey’s Reformed Church of Highland Park were ransacked over the weekend, App.com reports. One of the immigrants, Harry Pangemanan, “has worked since 2012 to rebuild homes destroyed by superstorm Sandy. He recently received the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from the Borough of Highland Park for his efforts.”
But Pangemanan sought sanctuary just days ago, when he was nearly swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at his home. That same day, two other Indonesian men were detained as they were dropping their kids off at school, a possible violation of ICE’s own protocol designating schools as “sensitive locations.” Now the dad who narrowly escaped being arrested that day is reeling from his home being turned upside down, with nothing he can do about it:
"Whoever did this one, they (did) not just do the damage to me, but I just want to make it known to everyone that they did damage to Americans' lives," said Harry Pangemanan, an immigrant without legal status who on Thursday entered sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park. "They started destroying my children's lives."
The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale said Pangemanan's was one of two houses ransacked between Friday and Saturday morning. The Edison home of Arthur Jemmy and Silfia Tobing, an Indonesian Christian couple who entered sanctuary in October to escape deportation, was also trashed.
"I don't know what to say," said Arthur Jemmy, also an immigrant without legal status. "I'm speechless."
While “Highland Park police said the incident at Pangemanan's house is being investigated as a burglary,” Rev. Kaper-Dale also “voiced several possibilities, ranging from burglaries to ICE searching the place without a warrant.” The reports of ICE’s ruthless arrests of the two dads and then Pangemanan going into sanctuary earned considerable media attention, so there’s also the possibility this caught the eye of anti-immigrant activists.
"Could it be a hate crime?” Rev. Kaper-Dale asked App.com. “I think that's very likely, and I would hope that the attorney general would explore this as a possible hate crime.” Amos Caley, an associate pastor at the church, saw some of the damage and said some parts of Pangemanan’s home were left intact and not all the cash was taken. “To me it felt like sending a message of some sort or like they were looking for something non-money wise,” he said.
“At a news conference Friday, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy expressed support for Pangemanan—who recently received an award for helping rebuild hundreds of homes in the state after Superstorm Sandy—and others targeted by immigration officials”:
"We have to remind ourselves that they were escaping religious persecution. They're Christians who came from Indonesia," Murphy said. "So they didn't necessarily come here for economic opportunity. They're coming basically because they're being marginalized and persecuted. America used to be — and, god willing, will be again — the beacon and have our arms open to folks like that around the world."
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the arrests from the Associated Press on Friday. On Thursday, ICE said the arrests in New Jersey were routine and weren't based on religion, ethnicity, gender or race, the Associated Press reported.
But Pangemanan could have been the third immigrant man of Indonesian descent to have been arrested last Thursday in the New Jersey area, when ICE detained Gunawan Liem and Roby Sanger as they each took their kids to school:
Last Thursday started out as a normal day for Roby Sanger, an Indonesian Christian who has lived and worked in Metuchen for about 20 years.
But after he dropped off his children at school, his world changed.
Sanger was pulled over and arrested by agents of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE and taken to the Essex County jail for being in the country illegally.
His arrest and ICE’s targeting last week of two other Indonesian Christian men in Middlesex County has galvanized local elected officials and scores of supporters.
“Roby sits in a detention center alone, but he is not alone,” said Justin A. Karmann, the assistant pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen, during a Sunday afternoon prayer vigil for Sanger.
According to USA Today, “New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has called for a federal review of the arrests ... saying it may have violated a longstanding ban on such enforcement efforts at schools”:
The letter, addressed to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen and sent Thursday, expressed concerns about the arrests of Gunawan Liem of Franklin Park and Roby Sanger of Metuchen, who were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Thursday morning. Liem and Sanger reportedly were arrested after they dropped off their children at school.
In his letter, Grewal wrote that ICE has a policy that prohibits immigration enforcement action "at or focused" on sensitive locations, and that schools are deemed to be sensitive locations under the policy.
"Here, the fact that ICE arrested two parents as they were driving away from their children's school is deeply upsetting,'' Grewal wrote. "I'm not aware of any exigent or unique circumstances here that would justify such a departure from ICE's settled policy on sensitive locations. Undoubtedly, this creates a chilling environment for parents, who were simply ensuring that their children arrived to school safely."
There is a terrifying sickness flowing through the veins of America, a sickness that is amounting to an ethnic cleansing of our immigrant communities. “We had one night when 35 dads were taken in one night from Avenel, New Jersey, from the same apartment complex. I had 60 kids become orphans that night or become fatherless,” Rev. Kaper-Dale said. But the reverend and his congregation refuse to be intimidated:
At least two dozen supporters from Highland Park Minyan, the borough and other groups stood guard outside. Some formed a human chain in front of the church steps. Others walked around, holding signs denouncing hate.
“How could we not be here?,” said Judy Richman, a member of the board of the Highland Park Minyan, a Jewish congregation that holds services inside the church building. “Our religion commands is to protect the immigrants.”