{"id":2670,"date":"2011-11-01T17:27:19","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T21:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2012-07-17T16:32:23","modified_gmt":"2012-07-17T20:32:23","slug":"nearly-deported-dream-act-student-shamir-ali-in-his-own-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/11\/01\/nearly-deported-dream-act-student-shamir-ali-in-his-own-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly-Deported DREAM Act Student Shamir Ali: In His Own Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Courtesy of Shamir Ali<\/p>

Shamir Ali, 25, with his mother Shamim Sultana of Bangladesh. She was deported in Feb. 2009 for driving without a license.<\/p><\/div>\n

Days after\u00a0Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told StateImpact Florida that\u00a0DREAM Act<\/a>\u00a0student Shamir Ali was a\u00a0“fugitive alien,”<\/a>\u00a0Ali was released<\/a> from detention.<\/em><\/p>\n

We got in touch with Ali, who is now making new college plans. Ali says he shouldn’t have been facing deportation and is thankful to be out. Here’s Ali, in his own words:<\/em><\/p>\n

“I am still in disbelief!\u00a0The back and forth was such a psychological roller coaster. They first denied me prosecutorial discretion<\/a> but then approved it after all the media attention.\u00a0Pretty much, it was all the support I received from people… Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!<\/p>\n

I was given an order of supervision for one year which lets me work, drive, and etc. I have to visit with an ICE officer every month and if I’m doing well, they will renew it after that year expires.\u00a0I am VERY grateful for that \u2026 [and] I do appreciate ICE granting me that. I just wish they accepted it automatically since I qualify for everything under the Morton Memo released by ICE<\/a>. All the media attention, petitions, and protests is what really pushed ICE to release me.<\/p>\n

Basically the Morton Memo says they will release detainees with deferred action if they came as a minor (I have), have no other home (I don\u2019t), and is DREAM Act Eligible (I am). I don\u2019t even know how to read or write Bangla and can barely speak it.\u00a0All the hassle of petitions, protests, and media attention is not required if ICE themselves set forth a “new policy shift” a few months ago saying particularly that they were going to release students like myself with documents, who are no threat.<\/p>\n

My time in jail was horrible. I had no idea what would happen to me, especially after their initial denial a few days after I was detained, not knowing if you will be able to stay in the only country you know and love was unbearable. I was pleading with every ICE official I came across and told them my story. They said even if I was to be released I would at least spend a few months there.<\/p>\n

As for what I\u2019m going to be doing, as soon as my work permit comes in the mail I am signing up for FULL TIME classes and getting my license and car! I\u2019m so excited to get back on track to getting my Bachelors in Business Administration.<\/p>\n

\u2026 I hope my case helps other innocent students like me to get some footing in the only country they can call home.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Days after\u00a0Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told StateImpact Florida that\u00a0DREAM Act\u00a0student Shamir Ali was a\u00a0“fugitive alien,”\u00a0Ali was released from detention. We got in touch with Ali, who is now making new college plans. Ali says he shouldn’t have been facing deportation and is thankful to be out. Here’s Ali, in his own words: “I am […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1065,1053,1034],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}