By Tien-Shun Lee
Jamaica HS basketball star Mohammad Sarfaraz Hussain, 18, who overstayed his visitor’s visa after coming from Pakistan as a boy, has been given a reprieve by the INS to remain in the United States while his green card application is processed, U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) announced Tuesday.
Hussain’s mother died soon after he arrived in Queens at the age of 7 and his father remained behind in Pakistan waiting for a visa to the United States that never came through.
After learning about the case from a New York Times story on April 19, Ackerman appealed to the director of the city Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Edward McElroy, to allow Hussain to stay in the country.
“We have policies that are prudent because of the treacherous times in which we live, but despite those policies we must be prudent to protect the rights of our constitution,” said Ackerman. “I strongly made a plea on humanitarian grounds that this is not the reason we changed the regulations, that this young man is someone we are proud to have.”
Speaking calmly and earnestly in front of a crowd of reporters at Jamaica HS, Hussain thanked Ackerman, his lawyer, The New York Times, his teammates and family for their support during a time when he needed help.
“It’s still not hitting me,” said Hussain when asked how he felt about escaping deportation. “I’m here since I was 7 … If I think about going back to Pakistan now, it’s like a smoke screen. I have no family there.”
Hussain came to the city in 1993 to be with his mother, who was dying from cancer in a city hospital. When he appeared for Special Registration on Feb. 19, an Immigration and Naturalization Services official told him that since he did not have the proper documentation to be in the country, he would have to appear before an immigration judge on May 1 to prove that he should not be deported.
Special Registration is a system put into effect on Sept. 11, 2002 that requires individuals from certain countries, including Pakistan, who meet specific criteria to appear before an INS official to be interviewed, photographed and fingerprinted. The policy targets mostly Arab and Muslim countries and is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s effort to combat terrorism.
Hussain’s mother died in August 1993, after pleading with her brother on her death bed to take care of Hussain. As was her wish, Hussain’s uncle, Dr. Kamal Ahmed, 52, a gynecologist who lives in Holliswood, took Hussain into his household and enrolled him in public school.
Hussain’s father remained in Karachi, Pakistan, after his wife’s death, waiting for his own visa to the United States to come through. He died there in 2000 from a heart attack, leaving Hussain with no immediate family in Pakistan.
“Everybody was very much concerned, especially me, because he doesn’t have anybody in Pakistan,” said Ahmed. “This is a tremendous relief.”
Growing up with his uncle and cousin, Khaled Ahmed, 19, who was born in this country, Hussain adopted an American way of life, becoming a star on his high school basketball team and dining on Subway sandwiches and Italian food. His Urdu has become extremely rusty from lack of practice, said his uncle, who is from Bangladesh and speaks Bengali.
“As far as he’s concerned, he’s American,” said Kamal Ahmed. “I had a hard time explaining this to him. When I told him, he didn’t have that much of a reaction because he didn’t believe in his heart that it could happen.”
Ahmed contacted lawyer Elizabeth OuYang shortly after learning from a newspaper about Special Registration requirements. Hussain’s 31-year-old sister had already filed an immigration petition on his behalf in April 2001. Ahmed was afraid that if Hussain failed to register, it could jeopardize his chances of obtaining a green card.
OuYang, a civil rights attorney who teaches at New York University and Columbia University, has advised numerous immigrants about the Special Registration process as a lawyer for the Coney Island Avenue project immigration clinic. When she meets with immigrants like Hussain, she lays out the consequences of both appearing and not appearing for Special Registration.
“All the cases I’ve handled have been compelling, but they’re just different facts,” said OuYang. “The one single thread that unites these cases is they are good people, they have no criminal record and they are contributors to society. And they’re the farthest anyone can imagine from being a terrorist.”
While Hussain has been spared deportation, others with equally moving stories have not had similar fates, said OuYang.
“The irony is that the government is trying to deport the very people who are the most loyal,” said OuYang. “I feel that the Special Registration program has not and will not unearth terrorists… If the government is concerned about who is in the country that they are unaware of, then a far more productive program is a legalization program.”
Hussain said he does not know enough about the Special Registration process and its roots to judge its merits. Surrounded by his classmates from gym class, he said he is happy that the ordeal is over and he can concentrate on chasing his dream to play professional basketball in the NBA.
“God bless America,” he said, as his classmates cheered.
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
