From the NY Times:
In his short life, Ousmane Coulibaly, a 19-year-old high school senior in Manhattan, has seen plenty of adversity. He grew up poor in Mali, was estranged from his family at 13 and has lived on the street there and in New York. An illegal immigrant, he is staying in a homeless shelter while he tries to graduate and obtain a special immigration status reserved for young people who have been abandoned or abused.
But now he is facing a different kind of challenge: an investigation by immigration authorities who have subpoenaed his school records, without explaining why.
The subpoena, which New York City school officials say is highly unusual here, has raised alarm among some immigration lawyers and civil libertarians who say they fear that the federal government is opening a new front in immigration enforcement, in a city where officials have staunchly defended immigrant rights.
Mr. Coulibaly’s lawyers, who have sued to quash the request, contend that the City Department of Education was prepared to release the files without resistance, even though the subpoena did not have the backing of a court order and could have been challenged.
Mr. Coulibaly arrived at Kennedy International Airport speaking little English and knowing nobody. A West African cabdriver took pity on him, he said, and drove him to an apartment in Harlem shared by several immigrants, where he was given a bed. A neighbor helped him enroll in ninth grade at Liberty High School Academy for Newcomers, a public school in Manhattan that caters to immigrants.
Mr. Coulibaly joined the varsity basketball team and became the starting center. He ended his sophomore season as the third-highest rebounder and the 19th-highest scorer in the city’s Public School Athletic League. He was benched for much of the season his junior year while he improved his grades.
Meanwhile, he tried to support himself with work at a car wash and, later, as a pizza deliveryman. He had to leave his $150-per-month bed in the Harlem apartment early this year after he fell behind on the rent. Since then, he said, he has moved from shelter to shelter.
Before the subpoena appeared, his lawyer, Ms. Burke, had been helping him prepare an application for the special immigration status for young people who are in the United States without their parents’ support. She and Mr. Coulibaly are pushing forward with that case as they battle the subpoena.
8 comments:
who permitted the boy to leave the airport ,if he was illegal ?
did we not jail a boy/terrorist recently trying to blow up a plane full of passengers?
can't anyone think about the safety and well being of American citizens any longer?
this is all nuts.deport the immigration lawyers(liars).
Say what, now?
How did an illegal immigrant minor:
a) get enough money (while in Mali!) to get himself on a plane and to the US?
b) get himself through C&I at the airport without raising an eyebrow?
c) enroll in school without a legal guardian?
d) participate in extra-curricular activities without permission of a legal guardian? (I suppose any signature on a permission slip would have sufficed, though.)
This kid, so successful and so off-the-grid, as an illegal alien is a bit of embarrassment to officials who like to see a little more desperation, hopelessness, and dependency in their clients.
Prediction: he'll have more privacy than Obama's original birth certificate with the signature of the doctor who delivered him, and he will be fast-tracked to citizenship as a refugee.
And, yes, you can blame Bush for this too.
He is illegal. Being in this country illegally is a crime. Case closed.
If he were a murderer, rapist, bank robber, and he was a homeless, car washing student, would anyone seriously be defending him?
lmfao.. great homeland security.
Deport him already! How did he get on the plane without proper papers? He lands in NY and is enrolled in High School at the taxpayer's expense and now has lawyers ready to fight for him to stay here. Not bad for someone who broke the law and is feeding off the public trough. This behavior will encourage more people to do this -- At Our Expense! He took a seat in a high school that an American is ENTITLED to. Deport him already.
Deport him already! How did he get on the plane without proper papers? He lands in NY and is enrolled in High School at the taxpayer's expense and now has lawyers ready to fight for him to stay here. Not bad for someone who broke the law and is feeding off the public trough. This behavior will encourage more people to do this -- At Our Expense! He took a seat in a high school that an American is ENTITLED to. Deport him already.
Oh come on, how has he harmed us?
How much of what George Washington did was legal?
He's a kid. He's here. I wish we could just help him.
I will bet you he would be so grateful, he would become one of the best of us and give back his whole life if we give him a chance.
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