Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Augsburg University President Paul C. Pribbenow, and the Minneapolis community have rallied around a professor who may face deportation next month after nearly three decades in the U.S. Dr. Mzenga Wanyama had been checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) every one to three months for eight years straight—this is worth repeating: every one to three months for eight years straight—and was considered “low priority” for deportation because he has no criminal record. But under Donald Trump, his family may now be ripped apart:
His wife has also been ordered to leave. Two of his kids are “dreamers.” The third is a U.S. citizen.
“The separation of the family, that has been a threat on our heads for a long time,” Wanyama said.
He is hopeful the backing of so many will sway officials. Aaron Wells, one of Wanyama’s former students, felt so strongly that he jumped on a plane from Washington D.C. just to make his voice heard.
“I can’t think of anybody who’s contributed more to the community and been more invested in Minneapolis,” Wells said. “This would be terrible for our community, and our state and our country to lose somebody like this.”
Mayor Frey has pledged to join in the fight to keep him here with his students and school. “Dr. Mzenga Aggrey Wanyama is a pillar in his community,” he said. “For over two decades he’s helped shape future leaders in Minneapolis and beyond. Our city and our region are better for his work. No President, no federal agency will deport Dr. Wanyama without a fight from me, from our partners in the state and federal delegations, and from the thousands of people in Minneapolis who share our values.”
But the clock is ticking for Dr. Wanyama and his wife. During his last visit with ICE officials, he was forced to turn over his passport and was given a month to prepare for deportation to Kenya, a country he hasn't called home in nearly 30 years. “He said his attorneys will fight this, and they are looking at all of their options.”
Like so many of the outrageous deportation stories from the past months, Dr. Wanyama’s imminent deportation not only challenges Trump’s claim that ICE is targeting so-called “bad hombres” for arrest and deportation, but also Trump’s quest to upend the legal immigration system to a "merit-based" one. As City Pages asks, if Trump wants to “welcome only the most educated, wealthy, and English-fluent people from around the world … does that mean tenured English professors are in the clear?” For black professors like Dr. Wanyama, the answer is “evidently not”:
Wanyama arrived in the United States in 1992, at a time when Kenya's transformation from a one-party state into a multiparty system provoked ethnic violence. Thousands were murdered and many more displaced.
After his wife and two children joined him in America, Wanyama began to write articles for a popular Kenyan newspaper criticizing the government and praising primary opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost a bid for the presidency last summer in an election that also erupted in violent clashes over accusations of election fraud.
Later Wanyama applied for asylum, claiming the Kenyan government had retaliated against his family members in Kenya, harassing his mother about his whereabouts and firing his brother from his job in a public development corporation. In 2009, an immigration judge ruled that although Wanyama had reason to have feared persecution, what he suffered really wasn't as bad as what other refugees experienced. (Prior court rulings had found that isolated attacks on family members isn't always enough to admit an asylum applicant, if he himself hasn't been sufficiently tortured.)
His asylum application officially denied in 2012, Wanyama was marked for possible removal and ordered to check in with ICE every 1-3 months. He's never missed a visit, and ICE has never tried to actually deport him. Under the Obama Administration, the agency's orders were to focus on deporting felons. Wanyama has no criminal record.
This administration is hellbent on an ethnic cleansing campaign, because a white man with Dr. Wanyama’s qualifications would be welcomed under Trump’s plan. Instead, he and his wife may be cast out, and with the administration also set on challenging the recent court decisions that have partially reinstated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, two of the their kids are also living in uncertainty. In addition to a recent rally, Dr. Wanyama’s supporters have also kicked off a petition that has already garnered more than 12,000 signatures.
”Dr. Mzenga Wanyama’s teaching and research in African-American literary history and in postcolonial theory and literatures play a critical role in our undergraduate curriculum,” said Augsburg University President Paul Pribbenow. “His work enriches the education that Augsburg provides, advancing students’ scholarship in writing and literature well beyond what this University would be able to provide without him. Dr. Wanyama is a role model for the professional aspirations and accomplishments of future leaders in our city and country. We strongly stand behind him and believe he should be able to stay in the United States.”