Queens Mom, Daughter May Avoid Deportation To Bangladesh
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A local mother and daughter from Queens, who are set to be deported Thursday morning, spent their time Wednesday night packing, praying and hoping for a last-minute reprieve.
Nazim Habib and her 19-year-old daughter, Nadia, are scheduled to be deported to their native Bangladesh -- leaving behind her husband Jawad Habib and their three American-born children.
When asked what her life would be like without her husband and children, Nazim Habib broke down in tears saying "I'm to die without children."
The Habibs have one last chance to convince immigration officials to allow them to stay. Friends and family are making signs of support for a rally outside their hearing. Wednesday night, Nadia packed for the unknown -- America is all she knows.
"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," Nadia told CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez.
Nadia was just 1 when she and her mother were granted political asylum and came to America to reunite with her father. Her father was granted a Green Card and blames a string of bad immigration attorneys for not getting documentation for his wife and daughter.
"My life it break. And also my three children...they could not stay without my wife. So I have very big problem," he said.
Along with the dozens of people who plan to rally outside Federal Plaza before the Habibs' hearing Thursday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is also lending support and her office is optimistic.
"Our office is working hard with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to resolve this matter through the legal avenues of relief that have not yet been exhausted," a spokesman for the senator said.
For now, the family is holding on to every precious moment they can and praying it won't be their last on American soil. Friday morning, supporters for the Habibs will hold a rally outside Federal Plaza in Manhattan at 9 a.m.
