Demonstrators hold an "Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice"
outside the federal building, where ethnic Chinese Christians who fled
Indonesia after wide scale rioting decades ago and overstayed their
visas in the U.S. must check-in with ICE, in Manchester, New Hampshire,
US on October 13, 2017. Source: Reuters/Brian Snyder
AN INDONESIAN non-profit has deemed the administration of Donald Trump’s
plans to return 69 ethnic Chinese migrants to Indonesia
unconstitutional, as US lawmakers from both sides of politics call upon
the president to prevent the deportation.
Those facing forcible repatriation are part of a 2000-strong community
of Indonesian descent in the state of New Hampshire, most of whom fled
anti-Chinese violence to the United States during the archipelago’s
deadly 1998 riots.
Under an initiative from Senator Jeanne Shaheen in 2010, these members
of the Indonesian Chinese community were encouraged to register with the
government and become documented under the condition that they check in
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) every 3 months.
Earlier in 2017, however, the Trump administration decided to terminate
the program earlier with the 69 individuals subsequently being informed
that they faced deportation to Indonesia.
An
ethnic Chinese Christian, who fled Indonesia after wide scale rioting
and overstayed her visa in the US, holds her daughter’s hand and a
handwritten list of appointments with ICE, the last entry reading
“…Instructed to report on 10/9/17 at 9:30 with tickets and itinerary to
directly depart the US on or before 11/9/17..,.” before a scheduled ICE
family meeting including her husband and five year-old daughter in
Manchester, New Hampshire, US, October 13, 2017. Source: Reuters/Brian
Snyder
Violating national and international law
The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) released a statement on
Tuesday in which it said the government’s intention to deport the
community members violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.
Section One of the 14th Amendment reads that the government cannot “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
LBH Jakarta also said that the deportations would violate international
law, as the US is a signatory to the UN Torture Convention and Refugee
Conventions, which regulates that states cannot return people to a
country where they are at risk of persecution, violence or torture.
“They feel that they are citizens of the United States. Most of them
have left everything behind in 1998: family, jobs and property,” said
Alldo Fellix Januardy, a human rights lawyer at LBH Jakarta.
“Starting everything all over again, in a country from which they were
forced to flee, would only bring trauma to these families.”
Looters burn office chairs on the streets of Jakarta, 14 May 1998. Source: Wiki Commons
The community fled widespread violence in May 1998, which led to more
than 1000 deaths and property destruction in Chinese-majority
neighbourhoods of urban centres such as Jakarta, Medan and Solo, and the
rape of hundreds of women.
Januardy told Asian Correspondent that
in a time of political turmoil the country’s Chinese minority were made
“scapegoats for Indonesia’s economic crisis and inequality. It was a
black period of history that everyone should acknowledge.”
The case of New Hampshire’s Indonesian community comes at a time when
racial tensions are again running at a high in Indonesia – the world’s
largest Muslim-majority nation.
Jakarta’s Christian, Chinese ex-governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama
was ousted from his post and imprisoned in May after months of mass
protests by hardline Muslim groups. He was convicted of insulting Islam
under the country’s strict blasphemy laws.
A child holds a poster during a protest of Indonesia hardline Muslim
group members to call for maximum punishment to be imposed on Jakarta
governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Source: Reuters/ Beawiharta
‘Let them stay’
A number of US lawmakers, meanwhile, are making a bipartisan appeal to
President Trump to allow New Hampshire’s Indonesian community to stay.
The Mayor of Dover, New Hampshire, Karen Weston and her colleagues on
the city council earlier in October unanimously voiced their support for
the Indonesian community, who it said was living “under a cloud of
uncertainty and fear.”
“The threat of deportations also envelops innocent children that have
been given a safe harbour in our country and in our city,” said a
council resolution as quoted by the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The state’s Governor Chris Sununu wrote to fellow Republican Trump last
Friday in a letter publicly released by his office this week, calling
upon the administration to reconsider its decision and urging a
resolution to allow the 69 individuals to remain in the United States.
“While I firmly believe that we must take steps to curb illegal
immigration, it is also imperative that we make the process for legal
immigration more streamlined and practical,” wrote Sununu, stating that
the Chinese Indonesian community provided the “perfect example” of this.
Demonstrators hold an “Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Justice”
outside the federal building, where ethnic Chinese Christians who fled
Indonesia after wide scale rioting decades ago and overstayed their
visas in the U.S. must check-in with ICE, in Manchester, New Hampshire,
U.S. on October 13, 2017. Source: Reuters/Brian Snyder
“They came to this country fleeing persecution, and were met with the
burdensome and confusing requirements that accompany the asylum
process,” added Sununu, arguing that it was “not realistic” that asylum
seekers would have the resources to “navigate a complicated legal
process.”
Democratic Senator Shaheen welcomed the governor’s letter, stating on
Monday that she had sent letters to leaders at the Department of
Homeland Security and ICE, as well as Trump’s national security adviser,
urging immediate attention to Sununu’s call.
“It’s important that the President and his administration understand
that there’s bipartisan support for keeping these families intact and in
New Hampshire, and that we cannot put these families in danger by
sending them to a country where religious persecution is a very real
threat,” she said.
Januardy told Asian Correspondent that
returning the 69 people to Indonesia would re-traumatise the community,
especially given the current political climate. “These victims’ fear
that such violence could occur again is reasonable,” he said.
In a “worst case” scenario where they are deported, said Januardy, “we
hope that the Indonesian government would assist [them] to build a new
life, particularly to help them recover from past trauma.”
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