By Kid Reporter MAYA DAVIS, age 14

- Sabreena Hussain, age 13, is a U.S. citizen, but her father is in immigration detention and may be deported to Bangladesh. In December, Sabreena spoke at a public event in Queens, NY, about her father’s case. PHOTO: Maya Davis

Since Barack Obama’s election, more undocumented immigrants have been deported than under any other president. In 2011, nearly 400,000 people were deported. Sabreena and Sanjana Hussain, ages 13 and 8, have become all too familiar with the deportation process since their father, Taimur Hussain, a native of Bangladesh, was taken into custody in March 2011 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Taimur’s family had no information regarding his whereabouts the day he was detained. Sabreena, an eighth-grade student from Queens, New York, and her sister were at school, but they started to worry when their father didn’t return from work in the afternoon. It wasn’t until hours later that they learned their father was being held in New Jersey for living in the United States without legal immigration status.
Mr. Hussain had been working towards becoming a legal resident like his wife and daughters, who are U.S. citizens, and his detention came as a surprise to his family. “We were shocked to find out Dad had been taken,” Sabreena told IndyKids. The sisters are finding it hard to cope with their father’s absence. “It has been difficult to learn in school because I’m always thinking about my dad,” Sabreena said.
The Hussain children are working toward getting their father out of detention and back into their lives, but so far his fate lies in the hands of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
That is soooooooooooooooooooooo sad!Those 2 girls shouldn’t have to be forced not to see there father.:(
I’m really happy for Michael Thomas and his parentr but like pointed out another commenter it’s annoying to see only case to case victory and not global victory for all. I don’t believe Obama BS anymore, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender are second class citizens. and I don’t see the change coming soon In december 2009 I arrived to the US to see my 8 years american parentr, and for coming to the US to many times I have been put in detention center humiliated and sent back to my country. I have been coming in and out from the US for 8 years, we spent countless amount of money to stay together. For the last two year we’ve been able to only spent 3 months together (2 weeks at a time) and we are connected on video ichat and FaceTime 24 hours thanks to apple, but this is not a life. Now I want to see a clear change, equality for all and not only for one couple that got help from a politician. I’m happy for them but it shouldn’t be one to one case. Happy Holiday