In this second of three parts focusing on the experience of Black immigrants under America’s criminal justice system, viewers are introduced to a young man who was born in Senegal but came to the U.S. with his family at the age of three. He was facing deportation after being arrested by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcement agency.
He is a living example of the extremes that people go through in order to secure safety from a humanitarian crisis in one country and seek refuge and opportunity in another. He is also one of more than 1 in 5 immigrants facing deportation on criminal grounds who is Black, according to statistics compiled for a 2016 report by BAJI and New York University School of Law. Nearly 9 percent of immigrants in the U.S. identify as Black.
With the assistance of BAJI, which was described in the first part, the young man discusses everything from constant harassment from police to his ICE arrest to completing his I-130 form, which is a petition from a relative who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident who needs to establish their relationship to undocumented immigrants who wish to live permanently in the U.S.
Watch Part 1 by clicking here.
Watch Part 3 by clicking here.
