A Baptist minister and other refugee advocates in Tennessee are working to prevent the Trump administration from deporting an Afghan Christian asylum seeker to almost certain death in her native country.
They are seeking the release of Sakina, a 21-year-old who entered the U.S. with her family last year, from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas, said Stephen Cook, senior pastor at Second Baptist Church in Memphis.
Stephen Cook
Sakina’s parents and four siblings already have been released from the El Valle Detention Facility in Raymondville, Texas, Cook explained in a March 10 letter to U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn.
“However, we have now learned that ICE officials are ordering Sakina to sign her deportation papers without resolution to her appeal,” Cook said, adding the entire family has been targeted by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan for being Christians and because they are members of the Hazara minority group.
“Likewise, Sakina’s older brother, Jalil, converted to Christianity while in Afghanistan and was arrested and tortured by the Taliban. The entire family has been labeled ‘apostate’ by the regime and are subject to arrest and execution there,” Cook said.
Those intervening on Sakina’s behalf also were concerned the attorney handling her case had resigned and been replaced with one unable to attend a scheduled meeting in person, Cook said.
He added that Second Baptist has a longstanding partnership with Christ Community Afghan Church in Memphis in addition to Refugee Memphis and other faith-based humanitarian groups in the city.
Steve Cohen
Cook appealed to Cohen for support in preventing the woman’s deportation and for any assistance in providing due process in her case.
During a recent congressional hearing, Cohen described a face-to-face meeting he had with Cook, whom he described as “one of the most respected Baptist ministers in Memphis.” Cohen expressed revulsion not only about the immediate threats to Afghans refugees but also toward ICE and its tactics nationwide.
“There are reasons why cities don’t want to cooperate with ICE,” he said. “ICE is recognized as the worst agency in this government. They have no respect for citizens.”
The behavior of ICE agents is starkly different from the professionalism and restraint of law enforcement, Cohen added. “They do not act like law enforcement. Law enforcement acts with regard for people and to serve you. They wear badges. They have their names on their uniforms. They don’t have masks on. And they don’t just come up and break your window and pull you out. And they don’t shoot you in the face or shoot you in the back 10 times when you’ve done nothing wrong or certainly nothing violent.”