About two weeks before I started working for Refugee Resettlement, a young man filed an application to bring wife and baby daughter to the United States. He is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and arrived in the US this spring. For the last few years he’s lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania which is where he met his wife (though she's also from the Congo). This isn't his name, but I'll call him Ibrahim because it's less confusing to use a name.
A month ago Ibrahim received a letter telling him that his application was denied. He speaks English fairly well, but only reads a little English so he came in to have Marsha explain the denial letter to him. The reason Ibrahim's petition was denied was that when he went for his immigration interview to come to the United States, he told the officers he didn’t have a wife and daughter.
He explained to us that he was afraid to tell the officers about his family because when Ibrahim's brother was interviewed he told them about his wife and daughters, and then they were harassed and beaten in the refugee camp by the officers. When they asked Ibrahim the same question, he lied to protect his family. He didn’t know that this lie would make it difficult to bring them to the United States later on.
Ibrahim said that he misses his family and is afraid for their safety. He also said that they don’t get enough food in the refugee camps and he is worried about his daughter’s health. The refugee camps are not safe anymore. Recently refugees who are enemies of this man’s people in the Congo have been put into the same refugee camps. Now, there are fights in the camps between the two groups and rape is used as a weapon of war, just as it is in the Congo.
He showed us his wrist that had a big lump on it and pointed out the scar on his face. Before he left the Congo for Tanzania, militants came to his hut to kill his father. They beat Ibrahim with the back of a gun (which is what broke his wrist and it was never properly set, so it healed on its own) and cut his face with a machete. Then, they killed his father and uncle in front of him. The same group of people who did this to him are the people who are now in the refugee camp with his family.
He told us that he is so scared for his family that he cries every night. He said he doesn’t care what country he’s in as long as he’s with his family and they’re safe. He said he has no life without his wife and daughter, and then he started to cry.
Marsha told him to write a letter explaining why he lied to the officers when he was interviewed to come to the United States. This is not the first time Marsha has encountered this issue when family members—particularly husbands and fathers—apply for their family. Sometimes the letter works, and sometimes it doesn’t (Marsha thinks it depends on who is handling the case).
On Monday, the Ibrahim came in with a letter from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. I read it and it was simply informing him that they got the change of address form he filed a few weeks ago, but I decided to check the status of his case while he was in the office. I entered his case number into the USCIS website the status was “post-decision.” I didn’t know what that meant since I hadn’t seen it before. “Post-decision” can be either good news or bad news.
In this case, “post-decision” was good news: the petition Ibrahim filed along with the additional letter explaining why he said he didn't have a wife and child in his immigration interview were accepted. The USCIS website said a letter was sent to inform him of the decision on November 18th. Since it was the 22nd when he came in, he will probably receive the official letter very soon.
He asked me to print off the web page so he could have a copy and send another copy to his wife to let her know. I think he was shocked because he kept asking me to read that his petition was accepted over and over again. He thanked God and he said to me, “now every night I do not have to cry in my bed.”
His wife still needs to be interviewed at the US Embassy in Tanzania and then it will be a few more months before she comes, but his wife and daughter will be coming to the United States.
Obviously, Ibrahim was very emotion, and I felt very emotional too. I could hardly believe it when I read that his petition was accepted because I usually see denial after denial. I know I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for this man in the past seven or eight months he’s been away from his family when they’ve been in danger, but even just thinking about it and trying to imagine it is hard.
When he came in with the letter saying his claim was denied, I felt very sad and angry for him and I wondered if he’d be able to bring his family to America. I planned on writing about him and his story, but I’m glad I waited for today because now it is a happy story that comes at the perfect time for Thanksgiving.
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