Thursday, April 14, 2005

Why You Don't See More Information About A. (Yet?)

A number of people have asked why there isn't more information about A., the detained Guinean teenager, on this blog, given the amount of information and activity around T.'s situation. The short answer is that the people I'm in touch with are in contact with T.'s family and we haven't been able to develop the same connections with A.'s family yet. This is in part because T. is Bangladeshi; many of the groups that I'm familiar with and have worked with in the past are South Asian and/or Muslim groups that work on immigration and civil rights issues (among other things).

Here's what little I know of A.'s situation so far that's not from the articles in the sidebars (you should click on the "Teachers and Classmates..." New York Times article for a piece that's exclusively about her):

Both A. and her father are detained on the suspicion of immigration violations. A. has a lawyer (not sure about her father). Her family owes the lawyer money, so they're in need too. Additionally, I believe, although I'm not sure, that the father was the breadwinner in the family, so they've lost their income. Her family has been understandably reluctant to communicate with strangers, given that the media is constantly trying to score an interview. I don't know yet when her bond hearing is.

I'm sorry we can't provide more information, both for your sakes and because it probably speaks of the isolation that members of this family are experiencing. Hopefully they're in touch with a different network of people that I just don't know about.

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