Just a few months ago, Syed Jamal was in the running to be a member of the Lawrence, Kansas school board. Now, less than a year later, he sits in a cell, divided from his family by more than a hundred miles, awaiting deportation.
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The research scientist and academic is among the 13 (and counting) applicants for the school board seat left vacant by Kristie Adair last month. Jamal, whose three children attend Lawrence’s Sunflower Elementary School and Southwest Middle School, says he’s been involved over the years with his kids’ classes, often visiting for science demonstrations or research presentations.
He says parents are often an untapped resource in the classroom, and he wants to use his position, if selected for the board, to foster that community connection.
“I think there are people like my wife, people from many different backgrounds and other cultures, formally and informally, who can bring a lot of experience, knowledge and innovative thinking to the classrooms,” says Jamal, 54.
Born in Bangladesh, Jamal had made a good home in Kansas, raising his children, being an avid school volunteer, and providing community services. His record was spotless — no criminal record, no instances that raised any red flags. His family was caught completely by surprise as Jamal began to walk his young daughter to school, only to be bound and arrested, taken away with what the family has said is a “less than 1% chance” he isn’t deported.
In a letter written on Facebook and republished at Change.Org, his son makes his case:
www.change.org/…
Hello,
My name is Taseen Jamal, and my father has recently been arrested, taken to the Morgan County, MO, jail, and is being considered for deportation. My little brother cries every night, my sister can't focus in school, and I cannot sleep at night. My mother is in trauma, and because she is a live organ donor, she only has one kidney, so the stress is very dangerous. She could die if he is deported. If my father is deported, my siblings and I may never get to see him again. He is an older man, and due to the conditions of his home country, he might not be able to survive.
My father called us, and he was crying like like a little child because he was thinking about what would happen to us if he got deported. If he gets sent back to Bangladesh, his home country, he will be in grave danger, and people of his kind are persecuted there. Just in 2014, nine people of his kind were burned alive. He has been in the US for 30 years, and the law has kept him from gaining citizenship. He has helped throughout our community, and has a lot breakthroughs in science, many of which are still being researched. If he is deported, that research may never be finished, making a great loss to the field is science.
We are the children of Syed Jamal, and we are requesting on behalf of our family for your kind help to get back our father. A home is not a home without a father.
Taseen Jamal, 9th grader, Naheen Jamal, 7th grader & Fareed Jamal, 1st grader
The family had believed they were doing the right things; being good parents, volunteering for services, donating organs, contributing to science and assisting in the classroom.
Now, the family may be divided. The truth about a ramp up in deportation is that for too many, it fits their world view.
Despite Trump’s claim, though, those deported are not dangerous murdering criminals. Too many are just like Jamal. PTA parents who work and pay taxes while representing their community.
Jamal had overstayed his VISA but was on a “Supervised Status” due to his work, providing he check in with ICE yearly, which according to family he had been doing.
www2.ljworld.com/...
Jeffrey Y. Bennett, a Kansas City lawyer retained by the Jamal family, said an immigration judge in 2011 put Jamal on “voluntary departure” notice as his visa status had become invalid. He was allowed to stay since then on a supervised basis, which meant reporting to ICE yearly to maintain a work permit.
President Donald Trump’s new immigration policies have since targeted immigrants who were granted supervised stays. According to a Public Radio International story in May, about 2.5 million immigrants fall under this category and almost 80 percent have no criminal record. Jamal’s story is similar to the one of the Detroit father who was deported to Mexico last month after living in the U.S. for 30 years.