HACKENSACK, N.J. _ Arthur Jemmy got a letter last week telling him to report to immigration authorities Tuesday morning, but as an undocumented immigrant, he feared he'd be jailed or deported if he showed up.
In a decision they described as agonizing, Jemmy and his wife Silfia Tobing, natives of Indonesia, chose instead to take sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park. They moved there Tuesday morning, with the church offering them a place to live and to avoid federal authorities, who are barred from taking action in houses of worship in most case.
"We are really scared to go report," said Jemmy, who is 40 and lived with his wife in Edison. "Suddenly we are going to be given a (monitoring ankle) bracelet or they just handcuff you and put you in detention. The next day they send you back to the county and you don't know what you are going to do there."
Jemmy and Tobin are among hundreds of Indonesian Christians who came to the United States fleeing persecution in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Eleven other people in their community have been deported in recent months or left because they were facing deportation. They said they did not want the same fate.
Jemmy suffers from severe back problems and walks with a cane following a 2015 injury while working at a warehouse. He fell 25 feet from a high-low and was hospitalized for three months. He fears going to jail or to Indonesia because he requires physical therapy and medication.
Hundreds of churches across the United States have offered sanctuary to immigrants as the Trump administration expands enforcement and detains and deports a greater number of immigrants for visa violations. But this is the first case in New Jersey where a family has decided to take sanctuary since President Trump took office.
A spokesman at the Newark office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he could not comment on any case, but that officers were barred from conducting enforcement at houses of worship "unless they have prior approval from an appropriate supervisory official or in the event of exigent circumstances."
