By juan soto
An Elmhurst teenager is asking the federal authorities to release her father, who is facing deportation, from a detention center in Hudson County, N.J.
The teen, Noora Ferdoucy, holding a sign that read “I want my dad back,” said the Bangladeshi family “cannot move forward without my father.”
She hopes the U.S. government will grant her father, Wadud Mohammed, 54, a humanitarian parole so the family can be reunited.
Mohammed has lived in the United States since 1994, but was detained in January because of an exclusion order from 1995, said Naresh Gehi, the family’s attorney.
Mohammed’s wife and daughter are U.S. citizens.
“If he gets deported, he won’t be coming back to the U.S.,” the lawyer said. “The family won’t see him here ever again.”
He hopes the government “takes a humanitarian approach in this case. I would like to see this family united.”
Gehi pointed out that the family and the community have reached out to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) office requesting her support. “The senator is helping the family out, and we deeply appreciated it,” the lawyer said.
Gehi said the authorities “have the power to grant a stay of removal and allow the family to be united.”
The Jackson Heights Jewish Center held a gathering Monday to support the family.
“We are pleading for mercy for Mohammed, and for his daughter and wife,” said Mohammad Rashid, an immigrants rights activist from Jackson Heights. “Why should we punish the daughter and the wife and destroy this American family?”
Rashid added that the family has received the support of U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing).
“She has expressed concern about this family,” Rashid said.
Ferdoucy, a seventh-grade student, said that since her father was taken into custody, she cannot concentrate on her schoolwork.
“I don’t want to go to school anymore,” the teen said. “I think all the time about my father, and how he always helped me with my homework.”
She asked President Barack Obama at a news conference held at the Jewish Center “to show mercy and send my dad back home.”
Ferdoucy said her father had a small business and paid his taxes since arriving in the United States.
“Forgive my dad,” implored Ferdoucy. “Each day is a very difficult day for us without him.”
Mohammed’s wife, Ferdoucy Akhter, said that ever since the arrest of her husband back in January “I have been suffering.” She hopes the authorities take a close look at her husband’s case “so he can be with his family.”
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
