Despite ICE's Canned Denial, Naz Mustakim Fights On

by Danny Rangel · 2011-06-21 11:22:00 UTC
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ICE has dealt a hard blow to Naz Mustakim and his wife Hope. Naz, a beloved member of his Waco, Texas community, currently sits in an ICE detention center. Naz can't go home to his welcoming neighbors. He can't go home to a career spent helping those in desperate need. And he can't go home to his beautiful and supporting wife, who has worked tirelessly to set him free.

A letter from ICE Assistant Field Office Director Adrian Ramirez spells out the news: "Due to your client's immigration charges and previous criminal convictions, he falls within the mandatory detention guidelines...your request for your client's release is hereby denied."

"The news took my breath away," said Hope, who has created and operated the website wesupportnaz.com in hopes of galvanizing support for her husband's release. "I was numb– literally; I felt like I couldn’t move my limbs. 'But there still must be a way!' I cried in my mind. I couldn’t accept it as final. I still haven’t."

But there is hope yet. The office of Congressman Bill Flores of Texas has agreed to help Naz in his effort to stay home with his friends and family. They have agreed to contact ICE and attempt to get the agency to reconsider. In a bizarre move, ICE ignored Naz's request for humanitarian parole and instead denied an application for bond, a discrepancy that may leave some wriggle room in any reconsideration of ICE's decision.

Naz currently awaits another hearing in October, but supporters of him and his wife continue to help in the cause. Naz's local church, his neighbors and his friends have banded together in support of this young man. A Facebook group in support of Naz teems with daily activity. A change.org petition asking the U.S. to keep Naz home currently has over 600 signatures. But most of all, Naz has a loving and dedicated wife who will do whatever she has to do to get him home again.

"This is a pain unlike anything I’ve experienced in my life," Hope says. "And anyone who knows me can tell you, I’m no rookie. But God, God has a reason. A purpose. He’s doing something in and through us that is so much deeper and higher than we can wrap our minds around."

Don't let Naz lose everything he has worked so hard to attain. Tell D.H.S. to keep Naz in the U.S. with his wife and community.

Photo credit: wesupportnaz

Danny Rangel is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles who has worked for the International Rescue Committee and MEND.
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