Facing Graduation, Not Deportation

Ianus · 02-16-2009, 09:49 PM

Here is an uplifting story concerning another Dreamer who beat the odds.This true story surrounds an individual who has faced quite a hardship here in the United States all by himself,his name is Amadou Ly from Senegal.Mr. Ly was abandoned by his mother at 14,but still continued his education despite the hardship & faced deportation at the age of 18.

However,with some support & media attention Mr. Ly's deportation proceedings were not only cancelled,but officials even granted him a student F1 visa & more recently a Green card due to his juvenile status & to an obscure immigration law.

If this isn't beating the odds I don't know what is.

Quote:

Born in Senegal, Amadou had been abandoned in New York at 14 by his mother, who wanted him to try to finish an American education. At 18, he was facing deportation as an illegal immigrant, with no way to attend the college where he had been admitted.

But by the time he arrived at the robotics competition by train, the response to an article in The New York Times had unleashed a news media whirlwind that brought members of Congress, Hollywood stars and volunteer lawyers to his side. They persuaded immigration authorities to drop deportation proceedings and grant him a foreign student visa to stay and study in the United States.

Now that happy ending has been eclipsed by another: Mr. Ly secured a juvenile green card just before his 21st birthday this month, thanks to his legal helpers and obscure changes in New York State law that extended the age of eligibility.

He is on track to graduate in June from Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, after struggling to pay tuition because as a foreign student he could not work more than 20 hours a week.

And he has already begun a very American career, winning parts in two independent films and a music video, and even an offer of a small role in an episode of “Law & Order.”

He had to turn down that television show last year, he said, because of the work limits imposed by his visa. But now, as a legal permanent resident, “I can work as much as I want, and I can travel,” Mr. Ly exulted last week, between college classes in Brooklyn and a film rehearsal in Harlem.

In April, he plans a trip back to Senegal, his first chance to see his grandmother since he came to the United States at 13. But he will not stay too long.

“I feel like I belong in this country,” he said, recalling how he longed to vote in the presidential election. “As soon as I have the next opportunity to become a citizen, I will take it.”

Mr. Ly (pronounced Lee) originally wanted to become a computer engineer. But he changed plans after he took an acting class in an effort to improve his public speaking style, and he visited producers at Universal Studios in Hollywood. He switched his college major to performing arts.

Amy Meselson, the Legal Aid lawyer who first took his case, said she was initially worried about his new ambitions. But she has been impressed by how hard he works, she said, and how much poise he has gained.

“When I first met him I was very struck by how shy he was,” she said, recalling the scared teenager who had been placed in deportation proceedings in November 2004, after he was a passenger in a car accident in Pennsylvania and a state trooper reported him to federal immigration authorities. “Even his voice was so quiet it was hard to hear him sometimes.”

“He’s always been a principled person who had a sense of the right way to act,” she added. “I feel like at every turn he has really taken the best from his environment and left the worst.”

He is still aware of his good luck, especially after visiting Senegalese friends when they were held for months without legal representation in an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, N.J. “There are people who have nobody to visit them,” he said. “They are just there alone.”

He now sits on a regional planning committee for the annual robotics competition, known as First, which has its robot-building trials on March 6. And he is trying to organize a robotics team in Senegal, said Kris Breton, who was Mr. Ly’s robotics coach in East Harlem and now works for the city overseeing free after-school programs.

Whether Mr. Ly succeeds in show business, returns to engineering or finds a different path, Mr. Breton added, he will make a fine American.

“Amadou has character,” he said.

dream3320 · 02-17-2009, 12:00 AM

Wow thats a good story.. I wonder which "obscure" law they're talking about and why they don't explain it or talk about it but I'm glad for him and I'm glad his dreams came true and he beat the odds. Took some luck too.

anitagreencard · 02-17-2009, 01:19 AM

It's terrible that his mother left him, but it's not fair to give him special treatment. I'm happy for him, but he's not the only one with hardship.

quaker · 02-17-2009, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anitagreencard

It's terrible that his mother left him, but it's not fair to give him special treatment. I'm happy for him, but he's not the only one with hardship.

Eh, go public with your story by getting detained by the ICE'man and it is likely, if compelling enough, you too will get "special treatment". Not the kind of special treatment i'd go running after or be jealous of though...

Excellent story, thanks for posting it.

dreamerhippie · 09:25 PM

Erase / Rewind

anitagreencard · 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamerhippie

wow .... what a dick thing to say. maybe you didn't mean it with so much venom, but the way that i'm reading it (which may or may not be wrong) it's almost like you're hating on a person who was in danger of being deported and through good timing / sheer luck / the right people got his situation righted.

you say that you're happy for him, but you also mention that the outcome to his true story isn't "fair." would you be saying the same thing if this was someone you knew personally? i highly doubt it.

although he may not be the only with hardship (in this economy, who doesn't?), the fact of the matter is that, as dreamers, we should take this story as a little ray of hope. if not because we can identify with his struggle of being at the mercy of others, at least because he managed to keep living his dream in the united states when he was so close to being sent back.

I didn't mean to sound mean. If higher authorities could have sympathy for one person, they should have sympathy for everyone. The article isn't very detailed, but they make it seem as if he's a rare case (well in a way he is, since he was granted stay). My brother was deported btw, luck was not on his side. You're right, i'm just jealous, that's all.

Ianus · 02-17-2009, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anitagreencard

I didn't mean to sound mean. If higher authorities could have sympathy for one person, they should have sympathy for everyone. The article isn't very detailed, but they make it seem as if he's a rare case (well in a way he is, since he was granted stay). My brother was deported btw, luck was not on his side. You're right, i'm just jealous, that's all.

Define higher authorities ?According to the story it seems this individual had a lot of public support which made it possible to get this far.The provision in immigration law that he got his Green card is called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

DREAM2oo7 · 02-17-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anitagreencard

It's terrible that his mother left him, but it's not fair to give him special treatment. I'm happy for him, but he's not the only one with hardship.

I actually agree with that.

anitagreencard · 02-17-2009, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ianus

Define higher authorities ?According to the story it seems this individual had a lot of public support which made it possible to get this far.The provision in immigration law that he got his Green card is called Special Immigrant Juvenile Status.

My mistake, I didn't realize he benefited from a law. I should have thought about laws before saying it wasn't fair. I don't know why I assumed immigration would just hand him a greencard just for having a good network of friends.

Ianus · 02-17-2009, 11:44 PM

^Well,actually you were half right,Anitagreencard.USCIS did give him an F1 student visa just because he had a good network of friends.

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Facing Graduation, Not Deportation