Seacoast Indonesians fear ICE raids

DOVER — There is a concern in the Seacoast Indonesian community about reports of nationwide immigration enforcement starting this Sunday targeting at least 2,000 immigrants who have been ordered to leave the country.

The New York Times reported Friday, citing anonymous homeland security officials, of pending Immigration and Customs Enforcement action. An ICE spokesperson told the Times the department would not comment on enforcement action. When the large-scale immigration enforcement will begin remains in flux and could be this weekend or later, according to the Associated Press, which cited two administration officials who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Rev. Sandra Pontoh of the Maranatha Indonesian United Church of Christ in Madbury said she is concerned about how this might affect her friends for whom she has advocated, “especially those with pending cases or are still working on their cases. It’s not good news at all.”

Pontoh said there are about 2,000 Indonesians in the Seacoast region, many of whom reside in Somersworth. When President Donald Trump tweeted last month about ICE beginning “the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Pontoh said she told her friends to be careful while carrying on their normal activities.

“I can’t imagine how scared they are right now,” she said.

Pontoh said even those whose cases are pending in immigration court and who should be safe from deportation are worried. “They still feel like they are not safe,” she said.

The people Pontoh is most concerned about are Indonesians who are seeking asylum but don’t have a court order that would protect from deportation if detained by ICE. Pontoh there have been threats made by people in Indonesia who say they would rape and kill those sent to the country. Many are seeking to open cases and seek asylum from persecution in their home country.

“We’ve had 16 Indonesians who have received asylum this year,” she said.

Last year, there were 50 local Indonesians who faced deportation orders. A federal judge halted the deportation order to allow them to reopen their asylum cases based on changing conditions of the country. Some of those in the group have been granted asylum, Pontoh said.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., called the Trump administration’s immigration policy “indiscriminate” and “cruel and dangerous.” She added, in a statement, "The administration should focus resources on individuals who pose a national security or public safety threat, rather than targeting those who are hurting no one and who are integral members of their communities, and I worry about the implications of these broad indiscriminate efforts. I’ve been encouraged by the progress made in the cases of Indonesian asylum seekers in New Hampshire, who are now protected by court order from deportation while their cases proceed, and I will continue to fight for these families and others who would be inappropriately targeted by this administration.”

Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard, who is also the Somersworth Middle School principal, said he has seen many of his students during the school year “fearful for months on end” that they or their parents could be deported. “This president is instilling fear into sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who can’t sleep and can’t focus because their parents or themselves will be grabbed up by ICE and deported.”

The enforcement operation is similar to ones conducted regularly since 2003 that often produce hundreds of arrests, according to to the AP. It is slightly unusual to target families, as opposed to immigrants with criminal histories, but it’s not unprecedented. The Obama and Trump administrations have targeted families in previous operations.

Local law enforcement officials said they have not been contacted by ICE about assisting with any enforcement action. That includes the Strafford County Sheriff’s Office and Dover and Somersworth police departments. Whether they would help in enforcement action differed.

Somersworth Chief David Kretschmar said, “While we do not routinely investigate anyone’s immigration status, if ICE asked us for assistance, we would provide it, just as we would with any of our federal partners."

Dover Police Chief William Breault said his department would not. “Any request for assistance from ICE would be treated like any other request from a federal law enforcement agency and assessed on a case by case basis,” he wrote in an email. “That being said, I will not authorize any member of the Dover Police Department to act as an enforcement arm of ICE, and we would not detain people or question individuals about their immigration status at the request of ICE or any other agency. It is the policy of the Dover Police Department that officers shall not initiate police actions with the primary objective of discovering the immigration status of a person.”

Sheriff David Dubois also said the department would not assist with enforcement action. “We only assist with transports in concert with the county contracts with federal agencies,” he said. The Sheriff’s Office has done many transports of those detained by ICE agents, and many of them have been held at the Strafford County House of Corrections.

Advocates have ramped up know-your-rights training since Trump took office, reminding immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, about their right to remain silent and to ask authorities for proper paperwork.

They have also explained that immigrants can often avoid arrest simply by not opening doors to agents, who need permission to enter private homes. That has led ICE officers to wait outside courthouses and other public places to make arrests.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.