ICC Note: Timothy Sombah and his parents are Christians who fled Indonesia years ago and have resettled in Somerset, New Hampshire. He could hardly believe when a federal judge recently stopped their deportation and extended their stay in the U.S. Timothy is covered under DACA, a program for immigrant children brought to the U.S. by their parents. Currently, Timothy can stay in the U.S. until 2019 which will give him and his attorney some time to work on their next step.
09/27/2017 New Hampshire (Fosters) –For Timothy Sombah, the decision Tuesday by a federal judge to stop the deportation of local Indonesian Christians, including his parents, is nothing short of a miracle.
Sombah said it was a huge relief when he got the call from his lawyer, who told him that his parents, Freddy and Poppy Sombah, did not have fly back to Indonesia Wednesday.
“My dad was sitting next to me and I was on the phone and he didn’t know what was going on,” Sombah said. “I jumped up and I tackled him, hugging him, and I started to cry. ‘You’re staying,’ I told him, ‘you’re staying for now.’
Sombah said his mother came into the room then and wondered what was wrong and why he was crying and he told her the same thing, ‘you’re staying for now.’
He said he feels like the judge was very fair in recognizing that the Indonesian situation is unique.
“We have been here so long and we feel like she saw how we Indonesians have been here a long time and have been following all the protocols and the laws,” Sombah said.
His parents were prepared to leave. They had packed everything they were going to keep into three large boxes.
“During the packing I told my mom if a miracle happened just think of this as our fall cleaning,” Sombah said. “We emptied the closets and gave away three large bags of clothing.”
Sombah, who is 29, is covered under DACA, a program for immigrant children brought to the U.S. by their parents. As it stands now he can stay until 2019.
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