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Queens Mother, Daughter Fight To Avoid Deportation To Bangladesh
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 29, 2011
Modified Sep 29, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 29, 2011
Modified Sep 29, 2011
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A Queens woman and her 19-year-old daughter are hoping that lawmakers can save the day and prevent their deportation to Bangladesh. Nazim Habib and Nadia Habib, who is a student at SUNY Stony Brook, are supposed to report to Federal Plaza for departure today, but their lawyer has filed to block the deportation—on the grounds that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deports illegal immigrants with criminal records first—as they try to sort out the issue. Nadia Habib, who arrived in New York as a baby, said, "I’m scared…I don’t want to be like arrested and put on a random plane and then like deported to a country that I don’t consider my own.":
In 1993, the Habibs came to New York to join Nadia's father, Jawad, who has a green card. The mother and daughter were granted political asylum, but their attempts to gain legal citizenship were thwarted by bad immigration lawyers, according to the family. Nazim and Jawad Habib have three American-born children, and when asked about leaving her husband and other children, Nazim Habib cried, "I’m to die without children.”
Congressmen Tim Bishop and Joe Crowley and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand are working to keep the Habibs with their family. Bishop wrote a letter to ICE noting, "[Nadia] Habib shares the same values and ideals as those fortunate enough to be born in this country... I respectfully request ICE follow its own guidelines and focus attention on people who are more of a threat to this country than Ms. Habib."
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bangladesh
deportation
immigration
Nadia Habib
Nazim Habib
queens
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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