***MEDIA ADVISORY***
Tuesday, November 21 at 2pm ET
DIAL IN: 877-888-4312; PASSCODE: “ICE”
Fatiha Elgharib – Whose Son Has Down Syndrome and Severe Medical Problems – Latest Caregiver to Face Banishment from American Son Who Needs Her
Ohio and Michigan – For the past 21 years, Fatiha Elgharib has built a life for herself and her family in Ohio, raising four children – including a DACA-recipient and a 15-year old U.S. citizen with Down Syndrome. Now, on November 27, just four days after Thanksgiving, the Trump Administration is insisting on deporting Fatiha to Morocco and splitting apart this Englewood family.
Decisions coming out of the Detroit ICE Field Office – which has jurisdiction over Michigan and Detroit – have grown alarmingly cruel as Director Rebecca Adducci implements the Trump Administration’s mass deportation policy. While Adducci had personally signed off on “stays of deportation” in these cases in years past – due to their compelling equities – she is now zealously implementing a “no tolerance” policy with severe consequences for American citizens like Fatiha’s son Sami, Lourdes Salazar Bautista and Jesus Lara’s children, and Pedro Hernandez’s adult son, Juan, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
On Tuesday at 2PM Eastern, Fatiha and her daughter Sara will join immigrant and disability rights’ advocates in decrying Adducci’s “rubber stamp” approach to life-altering deportation decisions.
WHO:
- Sara Hamdi, one of Fatiha’s daughters, who will be joined by Fatiha Elgharib as well
- Judy Mark, President and CEO, Disability Voices United and faculty member, UCLA Disability Studies Department
- Aresha Martinez-Cardoso, Doctoral Candidate, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan and leader in the effort to stop Lourdes Salazar Bautista’s deportation this summer
- Lynn Tramonte, Director of America’s Voice Ohio (Moderator)
WHEN: Tuesday, November 21 at 2pm ET
DIAL IN: 877-888-4312; PASSCODE “ICE”
For more information:
- Summary of Fatiha’s deportation case
- Blog on prosecutorial discretion and Fatiha’s case from Professor Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia
- Blog from Sara Hamdi, Fatiha’s daughter: “Is my story being erased?”
- Op-ed from Judy Mark on the deportation of caregiver Pedro Hernandez-Ramirez
Fatiha’s husband came to the United States legally in 1995 from Morocco. After a year, she and her two children came to the United States to join him. Their third daughter was born in the U.S. and is an American citizen, as is their fourth child, Sami, who was born with Down Syndrome and a hole in his heart. Read more about Fatiha and her family’s story here.
