My Friend Mohammed
The man that federal agents yanked out of his South Charleston workplace and stuffed into a van without explanation is a lot like any other West Virginian I’ve ever known.
From Staci Tighe, West Virginia Watch:
In January, I received a text that terrified me to my core and opened my eyes to an inhumane, broken system: “ICE just came and got Mohammed.”
The man that federal agents yanked out of his South Charleston workplace and stuffed into a van without explanation is a lot like any other West Virginian I’ve ever known. My friend learned English through his love of country music. When he’d play guitar for me, he’d sing the song “Where I Come From,” and if it weren’t for him changing the line about cornbread and chicken to hummus and pita, you’d swear it was Alan Jackson singing.
Mohammed entered this country legally. He met his ex on a trip to France, they got engaged and he moved to Kentucky to be with her. They later divorced, and as he’d learn while being transferred from federal holding facility to federal holding facility (four in four months), he failed to renew his green card on time — something that he was never made aware of.
For eight years, Mohammed was often the one to open and close the restaurant where he worked. He worked long hours, helped his friends when they were in need, and he’d even feed unsheltered people when he’d see them around.
He loved his home away from home. And in turn, our country is now treating him like he’s not even human.
Mohammed and other inmates were loaded onto a bus and transported from South Central Regional Jail to Moshannon, Pennsylvania. The trip overlapped with a meal time, so staff handed out sandwiches, but the men couldn’t reach their mouths because of the restraints. Unable to use their hands, they were forced to eat by bending forward and doing their best to eat the food.
“Everyone looked like wild animals trying to eat,” he later told me. A man that spent eight years pouring his love of food into the people of this place was forced to choose between going hungry and eating his food like a dog.
At work, Mohammed would make sure the kitchen was spotless, a far cry from the conditions of the facilities he has been held in. Usually, Mohammed is crammed in a room with about 100 other people; everyone sick from having irregular access to showers and bathrooms. At one point, Mohammed became constipated. He went 20 days begging staff for help and nearly died before seeing a health care provider.
When people hear about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “targeting criminals,” what they don’t tell you is that they’re disappearing people like Mohammed; a man with no criminal record. He’s a religious man who’s never done drugs, doesn’t own weapons and doesn’t even drive a car. All he’s done is work, pay taxes and contribute to society.
His only “crime” was failing to proactively check and see if his green card was renewed. The best our country could offer this hardworking, productive member of society was a notice sent to an address where he no longer lived.
Until his residency status became part of a political movement, the federal government made no attempt to locate him despite the fact that they clearly knew where he worked as evidenced by snatching him up while he was working at his job.
With mass deportations in effect, his support network on the outside hasn’t been able to figure out anything about his case. When we filed a Freedom of Information Act request for his ICE record in February, I was notified that the request was number 28,000 in line. As of writing this today, the request is number 10,180.
Mohammed’s story isn’t unique, but it’s largely invisible. No matter your politics, people who have committed no crimes shouldn’t be chained for days, denied medical care, forced to eat food like an animal and wait months for information about their case.
While politicians debate immigration at the border, there are tens of thousands of people who have lived and worked among us for years getting swept up in these raids — torn from their communities and forgotten in detention centers across the country.
I want Americans to know what’s happening in their name, and I want them to remember the name Mohammed.
Fine words about Mohammed. Terrible that he got caught up in the hysteria. Hope he reads this and takes some comfort that he will always have friends in WV.
why is immigration politicized?
why would anyone care about peoples legal status?
i personally have enough of my own problems without sticking my nose into other peoples business