PHILADELPHIA _ An undocumented Philadelphia couple whose July arrest by ICE prompted a viral opinion essay by a friend desperate to find them are being released on bond.
A judge ruled Monday that the husband and wife could leave federal custody after posting $2,500 bond each. That followed a 20-minute hearing at the York County Prison that was attended by two dozen supporters.
The couple, who have been identified by friends only as "Elly" and "Fnu," came to the United States from their Indonesian homeland in 1999. Their bid for asylum was turned down and they were ordered deported.
Their saga gained attention after a friend, Stockton University professor Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, wrote about her efforts to get information about the couple while they were being held at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in downtown Philadelphia.
They were arrested by ICE outside their South Philadelphia home on the morning of July 2, as they left for their jobs at a delicatessen. That angered and upset members of the city's Indonesian and Asian communities, who noted that the couple has never been in trouble with the law.
The case illustrates how families can be broken apart when the seizure of undocumented, adult immigrants leaves their American-born citizen children without financial or parental support. The couple's daughters are 20 and 15.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Family members and friends stepped up to help the daughters. They described the couple as homeowners and taxpayers who have been important members of the Indonesian community and their South Philadelphia neighborhood.
"I'm outraged by a system that would abduct two longtime Philadelphians off the street where they live," said City Councilman Helen Gym, whose office has tracked the case since summer. "I'm outraged by a system that would take parents away from children, one of whom is still in high school, that would take parents away without any thought for their (children's) safety."
People will continue to surround the family with love and support, Gym said.
"There are countless others like (the couple) in detention right now," Gym said. "We have to shine a line on the abuses of a broken immigration system that allowed this to happen in the first place."
The couple are ethnic Chinese and Christian, two groups that became targets of persecution in Indonesia during riots in 1998, the Notebook reported.
