After being locked up for over two years in detention and denied due process for their asylum requests, dozens of South Asian men are facing another mass deportation in the coming days.
Among them is Mahbubur Rahman—a leader of national hunger strikes that started in the El Paso detention center in October 2015. Despite the fact that Mahbubur has an emergency stay pending with the immigration appeals court, ICE wants to deport him as early as next week.
Mahbubur fled Bangladesh because of repression and violence he faced as an activist. He journeyed across over a dozen countries—walking, boating, and hiding in the backs of trucks from Brazil to the US-Mexico border—all in search of safety and security.
When he finally reached the United States to present his case for asylum, he was abruptly thrown in detention. Immigration agents and judges denied his bond and refused to release him to community members.
After nearly 18 months in detention with no relief or progress on their asylum claims, Mahbubur, along with over four dozen other South Asian detainees, launched a hunger strike, which spread to nine detention centers and became known as the #FreedomGiving hunger strikes. Their demands were simple: a release from indefinite detention so they could properly prepare their asylum cases.
Instead of allowing them due process, DHS and ICE are planning a mass deportation of these migrants.
In response to the hunger strikes, ICE brought over a senior official from the Bangladeshi embassy to the detention center—exposing the detainees to representatives of the same government from which they were seeking asylum. Mahbubur's asylum papers and documents were reviewed by this official, in violation of federal law1 and his basic rights.
Mahbubur filed a complaint with oversight officials, but the outcome of any investigation remains hidden from the public. He put his body and his life on the line to uplift the struggles of tens of thousands of migrants who remain locked away inside detention centers across the country.2
Now he faces the very real danger of intimidation, violence, and death if the U.S. government moves forward with its plans to deport him.3
Please take some time now to sign this petition to DHS and ICE officials and demand that they halt these deadly deportation proceedings.
In solidarity,
Fahd Ahmed
DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving)
Queens, NY
Sources:
1. "Fact Sheet: Federal Regulation Protecting the Confidentiality of Asylum Applicants," USCIS Asylum Division, Oct 18, 2012
http://bit.ly/2a8nz6k
2. "80 Bangladeshi asylum seekers start hunger strike in Texas prison," Dhaka Tribune, Oct 17, 2015
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/oct/17/80-bangladeshi-asylum-seekers-start-hunger-strike-texas-prison
3. "South Asian migrants say they were put in 'body bags' for deportation from US," The Guardian, May 27, 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/27/south-asian-migrants-body-bags-deportation-us