Indonesia, Daewoo Sign $1.1 Billion Contract For 3 Submarines
DEMOCRATIC U.S. REPS SUBMIT BILL TO HELP INDONESIANS FACING DEPORTATION
Wall Street Journal/AP
NEWARK, N.J. -- Federal lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at helping a group of Indonesian immigrants who 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 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.
Read Wall Street Journal for full story.
