Alright, so during the time of special registration, this is what was happening,
this was one of our clients. Any person who was Pakistani,
they were in a catch 22 if they were a visitor into the
United States. They were damned if they didn't register and they were damned
if they did.
This particular student registered, he had a visa, he was going to school.
When he registered, he was detained for almost, I think, 24 hours.
He wasn't allowed to get anything to eat,
and then he was informed that he has to leave the country.
He's like, "But my visa says I'm allowed to stay and I'm allowed
to go to school here." But yet they were being put into deportation
proceedings, and this is what happened to so many at that time.
This is what scared the community, this is what scared everyone and anyone
who was here. Twenty five countries were put onto that, and Pakistan was
one of those countries. Put on the list of countries... On the list... People
had to register if they were from. Had to register. Wow. If they
were from there.
Other things that happened in the community... And we'll show you,
individuals who were trying to get...
Who were trying to become citizens of the United States
and who went through the process,
were being
denied citizenship because they were saying that, "Oh, you need to go through
a background check." And the background... It takes you usually in the immigration
process to naturalize,
close to four to five years, you have to be a green card
holder.
After becoming a green card holder, then you apply
for becoming a citizen. So now what happened was, individuals were put into
two or three years
for background check. Which means you can't become a citizen after five
years. You're gonna become a citizen maybe after eight years.
And people couldn't vote, people couldn't advance in their careers, they
couldn't do anything. And this was... We found out, because
Daily News aired the story that there were over 2.7 millions,
names of applicants into the FBI for additional background checks causing
a backlog.
We worked with our Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke at that time,
and she emphasized and then all of the sudden they started to move
and many applications were starting to be reviewed. Otherwise, it would
never have happened. Wow. This story came out in 2006? Yep. Wow. And
I'll try to scan it and give it to you. I can get
you all this information. Okay. More than this,
we also found out
people who registered, who complied, were being put into deportation proceedings.
And about 83,000 individuals who registered with the FBI and INS, under
the special registration program, not one individual was even alleged to
have any types of link for terrorism, however
they put 13,000 individuals into deportation proceedings. And the reasons
were being very,
how could I say it? The reasons were very
simple. "Oh, 10 years ago, you had moved to Brooklyn to Queens,
and you didn't inform us. We're gonna deport you."
Those were the reasons being used at that time. Practically cooked up. Well,
it's not cooked up. It's actually, it is a guideline in the book
for immigration
protocol. But this was something that was never practiced, never emphasized.
So, and then all of the sudden we're hearing that Guatemalans were being
deported, Jamaicans were being deported, and I'm like, "Oh my God."
And they were using the same rhetoric, just to deport those individuals.
Here's a story in the Village Voice,
where a person was being deported.
And he was in detention, his name is Tauqir Zafar,
he was about to have a wedding,
and he went to visit his family and come back, and they started
putting him into
deportation proceedings.
I intervened and helped and assisted them, and lo and behold,
it took some time, but then they finally released him. And till today,
he comes and visits me and tells me, "Now, I have kids and
living my American dream. Thank you so much."
Those are the things that I live for. Did he make it to
his wedding? He made it to his wedding. That was the thing,
I mean, that's why I emphasized, like, "Oh my God, how could you?
This is not... " Here's another case, this is the Shahid Ali Khan's case.
This person, the father, who also registered,
he was apprehended, put into deportation proceedings. His child who's quadriplegic
and also has to get a feeding tube in his stomach
was put into deportation proceedings. This aired, I aired it, I contacted
the
USCIS, and they looked at the case and thank God then they released
him,
May 11th, 2005. 2005, wow. He was able to reunite with his family.
And his case was the one that just recently came up that was
aired in The New Yorker magazine. And you told me before the recording
how it all came out. Yes. And I was so happy,
came to me two days ago, he goes, "Mo, I got this,
Mr. Razvi, look I got this, I got this. They're letting me stay."
I was so happy. Permanently? No. The Order of Stay is in effect,
and they're not going to put him into deportation proceedings at the moment.
Great.
And his family has been in the country now for how long?
It's gotta be over to 20 something years. I'm so sorry. Yeah.
Yeah, I believe it. So I mean I can go on and on
of multiple stories. You name it... Well, tell me about
the first ones you remember, before you knew
how to make these calls and get media involved? Tell me about some
of your first
interventions. Okay, so this is what happened, after 9/11, very basically,
the office I opened up, Council of Pakistan Organization, which was back
then, and now Council of Peoples Organization. People used to come into
my office and say, "My husband's arrested. My son's arrested.
My cousin is arrested, what do I do? And some people came to
my office, these are the FBI card left in my office.
I don't know what to do. I'm afraid, they're gonna deport me,
or they're gonna do this." I started making phone calls.
If a person was missing, I started calling county jails because
that's where they were being held. I was calling multiple jails,
and I still have the list, of trying to figure out where they
were being held. And if they were being held, then tried to get
them pro bono attorneys.
I held the largest legal clinics for the community. I had over a
thousand people just come in, in days after days, just to get legal
services. I was working very closely even then with Donald Lieberman from
NYCLU, Udi Ofer, and others to assist these constituents.
I learned that there are...
Free legal representation is possible through Legal Aid. And till today,
I'm holding free legal clinics and Immigration Services.
As I was learning, I started to implement those
programs.
And now if a person is arrested, I need to only make one
phone call to find out where he is,
if that agency has them, and provide them with assistance.
This is what I learned, this is what I do now.
But I'm also teaching it to others, I'm making sure that other community
members also are aware, that I'm not the only one.
The most important thing that we can do is teach others so they
can help others.