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| Pakistani wins US political asylum |
| 2006-09-23 |
| NEW YORK: A Pakistan-born young man who has lived in the US most of his life after travelling here to see his dying mother was granted political asylum by an immigration judge. Mohammad Safaraz Hussain, 21, may remain in the US because it is reasonable to assume that, because of his Western political views, he could be a target of fundamentalists in Pakistan who would use him as a poster child for anti-American views, immigration Judge Patricia Rohan said on Thursday. Hussain came to the US in 1993 to see his mother, who was dying of cancer and remained at his uncle’s home. In 2003, after new laws required male non-citizens over the age of 16 from Arab and Muslim countries to register with the US government, Hussain, who was attending a New York City high school, reported to immigration officials and was told he was in the country illegally and faced deportation. Students circulated petitions and Hussain’s basketball coach and US Congressman Gary Ackerman lobbied on his behalf, and his status was reviewed. Hussain said on Thursday he felt relieved but exhausted. “I just want this to be over,” he said. “I want to make plans for my future and not worry about whether I’m getting shipped away.” “I don’t know what I would do if I had to go back,” he said. “There is nothing for me there; my life is here.” Hussain’s mother was sponsored for immigration to the US in 1984, the year of his birth, by Ahmed. As a minor, Hussain would have shared her status. But she developed colon cancer before the proceedings were complete and travelled to the US on a tourist visa for treatment. She died before her immigration status changed. |
| Posted by:Fred |