Court Opinion

ID: 9836118
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 02:57:45.766861+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:13.025619
License: Public Domain

Pregerson, J.,
dissenting:
On November 20, 2014, President Obama asked:
Are we a nation that accepts the cruelty of ripping children from their parents’ arms? Or are we a nation that values families, and works together to keep them together?
President Barack Obama, Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Immigration (Nov. 20, 2014), This case is an example of the cruelty of our immigration laws and the suffering inflicted on immigrant parents and their American citizen children.
Henri Nababan has lived in the United States for over 16 years, and his wife, Harlena Silalahi, has lived in the United States for over 14 years. Together, they have a built a life here. They have three United States citizen daughters: Hendira (age 11), Helena (age 10), and Hannalyn (age 5). The girls are good students with bright futures.
The family is active in their Seventh Day Adventist Church: Henri serves as, a deacon and an associate to young families; Harlena is in charge of the children’s ministry. They fear returning to and sought asylum from Indonesia where Christians are a recognized disfavored group. Tampubolon v. Holder, 610 F.3d 1056, 1058 (9th Cir. 2010). In Indonesia, Christians are “ ‘subject .to violence and official discrimination,’ and the [Indonesian] government has largely acquiesced in their persecution by those following ‘militant expressions of Islam.’” Salim v. Lynch, 831 F.3d 1133, 1139-40 (9th Cir. 2016) (quoting Tampubolon, 610 F.3d at 1060).
Despite the equities in this case, the government has chosen to prosecute Henri and Harlena. In doing so, the government has also chosen to rip this family apart.
I would grant the petition.