Ohio Father, Deported to Mali, Featured in Reuters Piece
Cleveland, OH – As Trump and Biden prepare for the first presidential debate of the general election, Reuters is out with a new story highlighting how Trump’s changes to immigration policy have had dire and traumatizing consequences for American families–including one from Cincinnati.
In paragraph after paragraph of human misery, we learn about the real-life impacts of various immigration policies such as the Muslim ban; family separation; “Remain in Mexico”; and cuts to refugee resettlement. “These policies affect real people,” said Lynn Tramonte, Director of Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “The Trump administration has admitted that cruelty is the point. The contrast between policies at the end of the Obama-Biden administration and where we are today is staggering. Ohioans have died, others have been kidnapped, after being deported by Trump. Their families are left behind, completely shattered.”
To interview Tramonte about tonight’s debate, contact her at 202-255-0551 or on Twitter @tramontela. To help a family affected by deportation in Ohio, visit: http://bit.ly/HelpIbrahima.
Reuters tells the story of Ibrahima Keita, a father of two young boys from Cincinnati, one of whom has sickle cell anemia. When ICE agents arrested him at his home in 2018, “his sons, Abdul, then 5 years old, and Solomon, then 7, burst into tears. Kone [Ibrahima’s wife] fell to her knees, pleading with the ICE agents not to take her husband.”
Ibrahima fled a dictatorship, and lost his asylum case when his attorney did not show up for the final hearing. Ibrahima waited for hours at the courthouse, not knowing he could attend the hearing by himself, and received a deportation order. Still, Ibrahima was allowed to remain in the United States and work legally, under an Order of Supervision granted by the Bush administration and extended by the Obama administration. His family was doing OK.
But after nearly thirty years in the United States, Ibrahima was deported to Mali in 2019 because of policy changes made by the Trump administration. He cannot bring his family there, because his son could not get the treatment he needs to stay alive. His wife and children are now housing insecure, and Ibrahima’s one wish is to be able to come back to the United States to help them. Ohio Immigrant Alliance has established a fundraiser for the family here: http://bit.ly/HelpIbrahima. We are also calling on the Democratic Party to commit to administrative and legislative changes that would reunite Ibrahima with his family in Ohio.
Also today, The New York Times published additional, sickening details about the women whose bodies were operated on without their consent by Dr. Mahendra Amin, while being detained for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia. As an example:
Yuridia said she had expected only a minor procedure that would be performed vaginally, but she was surprised when she woke up to find three incisions on her abdomen and a piece of skin missing from her genital area.
“I woke up and I was alone, and I was in pain and everyone spoke English so I could not ask any questions,” Yuridia said. Three days later, still sore and recovering, she was deported.
“I cannot imagine Yuridia’s trauma going through this ordeal. And these are only the examples we know about. Men and women are bravely speaking out about their treatment by Trump’s thugs at ICE, and ICE’s unaccountable doctors. So many more people have been deported or harmed with similar cruelty. This is not the type of country we should be,” said Tramonte.