A deaf-and-dumb immigrant who has lived 34 in the United States is deported from the country

Francis Anwan, born and raised in Nigeria, was only 14 years old when he came to the United States on a student visa. The teenager was deaf, could not speak and was distinguished by cognitive features when he was enrolled in the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint. Now 48-year-old Anwan, who lives in Detroit, they want to deport to their homeland.

Фото: Depositphotos

Anvana works at an adult shelter, helps mow lawns and sweep floors in a nearby church, tells Detroit Free Press. In a shock to immigration lawyers, the man is set to be deported to Nigeria, a country where he has not lived since he was a boy. Given his serious shortcomings, this would be something of a death sentence for him, said Susan Reed, an attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

Due to his disability, Anvana can only read at the second-class level and is unable to realize that he can be returned to Nigeria, lawyers say men. On Wednesday, US immigration and customs officials told Anwan that he would be deported on Tuesday, September 11. After the lawyers expressed concern, ICE representatives said that the deportation was postponed. Anvana is due to meet with ICE 21 September staff.

A few years ago, his visa was not extended because he often moved from house to house, and the guardians lost track of his business. More than once they tried to help him with citizenship, but nothing came of it. A man has no rights to DACA due to his age.

Help for people with special needs

Anwan was born in a small village in the Lagos area of ​​Nigeria, one of eight or ten children, says Diane Newman, an educator who helped Anwana over the years.

“They were a very loving family,” Newman says. “But they realized that they could not provide him with a life in Nigeria as a person with a disability.”

After immigration to the United States, he was able to learn sign language and lived in Flint for most of his life before moving to Detroit in January of this year as part of another group of people with special needs.

“About ten years ago, someone tried to help him by applying for citizenship,” says Reed, an immigration lawyer helping him. “He was rejected because he was incapacitated, placed in deportation proceedings, and denied the asylum he sought due to living conditions for people in his condition in Nigeria.”

Anvana fulfilled the requirements and appeared on regular checks. Last Tuesday he was again told to come, and then the next day, until he was informed about the date 11 September 2018. This move stunned even experienced immigration attorneys who said that such a decision did not take into account Anwan’s unusual circumstances related to disability and the fact that he lived in the US for so long.

On Friday, he said a few words to Detroit Free Press in sign language through translator Sarah Shaw, who has known him for many years. Both were students of the school for the deaf in Flint.

“I am happy living in the USA,” the man said.

Shaw, who is helping Anwan register with ICE, says he is unable to understand what deportation means and what his immigration proceedings are for. "He's a model citizen," Sarah Shaw said.

Reed said that “for many years he lived in houses with groups, in supportive circumstances, won the love and friendship of many, but he does not have a family in the USA. His elderly mother in Nigeria is unable to support him or cope with any of his medical needs. He needs treatment to live with his features. ”

Fatu Sadi Sarr from the African Bureau of Immigration and Social Affairs said that "in his condition, life in Nigeria will be very, very bad and could lead to death because he does not receive proper medical care."

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