Over two dozen people from Desis Rising Up and Moving, including some Bangladeshi asylum-seekers who were earlier detained by authorities, met with representatives of the Clinton Campaign in New York last week, demanding that the presidential contender speak out publicly to halt the imminent deportations of 159 Bangladeshi migrants.
Several of the former detainees expressed their concern to campaign representative Mini Timmaraju, who met with them March 29 to listen to their concerns. They said that with the mass deportation of hundreds of Muslim detainees potentially scheduled for next week, they are anxiously waiting for what the former Secretary of State will do to prevent their return to violence, repression, and potential death in Bangladesh. A letter was also sent to presidential contender Sen. Sanders who met with a former hunger striker to advocate on their behalf.
When the detainees began hunger strike last fall, their supporters rallied at Clinton’s office, seeking the former secretary of state’s support for the detainees release. With their removal believed to be scheduled next week, they returned to her campaign last week seeking urgent help to halt the deportation of these asylum-seeking migrants.
Former hunger striker and DRUM member, Jahed Ahmed, said that he left Bangladesh and traveled across a dozen countries to escape political repression and save his life. “Instead, I ended up rotting away in detention for over 10 months. The U.S. government gave the names of many of the detainees to the Bangladeshi government, and they then leaked them to the media. Our asylum cases and hunger strikes have become a political issue for the Bangladeshi government, and now the Obama Administration wants to deport me back to where I will be tortured or killed,” he said.
While a few of the detainees have been let out from the detention centers, most of them are still in detention at various centers.
Another detainee and DRUM member, Saiful Islam, said that “we know this problem is widespread. We have seen the Central American refugees, including women and children, deported back and killed. The same thing will happen to us if these deportations are not stopped.”
The impending deportations of hundreds of Muslim immigrants have raised concerns across the country, prompting over 15,000 people to sign online petitions with MPower Change.
“So, what is the difference between these two parties? The Republicans threaten to keep immigrants and Muslims out, and the Democrats are already doing it. We came here to ask the Clinton campaign if they support or oppose the current administration’s record of deportations and police of deportation to death,” said Sayma Khan of DRUM.
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