Father Faces Deportation

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.