Queens Mom, Daughter Facing Deportation To Bangladesh Can Stay For Now
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A mother and daughter from Queens who are facing deportation to their native Bangladesh will be staying in the U.S. for now, their lawyer said Thursday.
Supporters cheered as the lawyer for Nazim Habib and her 19-year-old daughter Nadia announced that an immigration judge would review their case.
Nadia, who is a student at Stony Brook University, said she'll be returning to class on Monday.
"I'm just going to continue doing what I've been doing and keep living my life as I have and wait for an answer," she said.
About 100 people rallied for the family outside Federal Plaza Thursday morning as they met with immigration officials to discuss their case. As Habib and her daughter arrived for their meeting, supporters chanted "education, not deportation'' while holding signs that read "No One Is Illegal" and "Nadia Loves USA."
Unless granted a reprieve by immigration officials, Habib will leave behind her father and her three American-born siblings.
Nadia said she's frightened, but hopeful she and her mother won't have to leave the country.
"Hopeful that there's so many people here supporting me," she said. "We still have a lot of waiting and hoping to do."
Nadia was just 1-year-old when she and her mother were granted political asylum and came to America to reunite with her father, Jawad Habib. He was granted a Green Card and blames a string of bad immigration attorneys for not getting documentation for his wife and daughter.
"I'm to die without children," Nazim Habib told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez.
"My life, it break. And also my three children... they could not stay without my wife, without mommy. So I have very big problem," Jawad said.
In Queens Wednesday night, Nadia prepared to leave her family and home.
"I'm scared. I don't want to be like arrested and put on a random plane and then like deported to a country that I don't consider my own," she told Sanchez.
Habib and her mother would qualify for President Obama's DREAM Act, which says undocumented students illegally brought to the U.S. as children by their parents would not be targeted for deportation.
However, Habib said her case was ruled on some 11 years ago.
In addition to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Reps. Tim Bishop and Joseph Crowley are also trying to help the family.
An official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency can't discuss the case.
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