His letters to her father weren't working, so a Brooklyn fifth grader set his sights on President Barack Obama's daughter, ten-year-old Malia.
Tween to tween, child to child, Chigozie Okorie asked President Obama's eldest daughter to help keep his father from being deported to Nigeria.
The letter, handwritten by the fifth grader, begs Malia to bend her father's ear on behalf of Okorie's dad, a Nigerian immigrant who spent eighteen months in prison twenty years ago on drug charges (he was the driver for a heroin ring in 1989). Chibueze Okorie, now forty-seven and a respected member of his Brooklyn community, where he is a minister who works with prisoners to help them re-enter society at the end of their sentences.
A federal law passed in 1996 targets all immigrants who have commited crimes for deportation - no matter the severity of the crime, no matter their current status. Okorie's name came up during the crackdown on illegal immigrants under President George W. Bush. His request for a pardon made big news last year when a pardon lawyer wrote to then-President Bush "This might sound racist, but [the applicant] is about as honest as you could expect for a Nigerian. Unfortunately, that's not very honest." The lawyer, Roger Adams, was canned for his racist remarks, but Bush took his advice - he denied Okorie's request for clemency.
Now Okorie is facing imminent deportation - and separation from his ten-year-old son, a United States citizen, after more than two decades of living in here and becoming a productive member of society. His son's letter congratulates Malia Obama on her father's election as president and notes that he's happy she and her sister have found a new school. He hopes their mom will have time to help them with their homework like his father does with him.
The senor Okorie is hoping that the appeal of a child to a father will help his cause. "A good father will understand the need of his child," he told the NY Daily News. "It is the need of
my son to see me get the pardon so that I can be free to continue to
take care of him."
I admit a bias here - my biggest gripe with the plight of illegal immigrants is the word "illegal." Regardless of what kind of life you are escaping, if you came here illegally, you still have that abuse of the law to contend with - and face. If they came here legally, however, I don't see why the government can't work with them - especially when there are children involved. And Chigozie Okorie did come here legally. He's hit his stumbling blocks, but he's more than made up for his mistakes. Is there any legally born American who can say they've never made a mistake? Is there any legally born American who can say they would take being separated from their child lying down?
I don't know that it's up to Malia Obama to speak to her dad about this; I'd hope for the children's sake that the Obamas keep their girls separate from these kinds of letters - if only because they're so young and explaining all of these issues is so complex. But I'd hope the president himself gets hold of this letter and takes a look at all the issues, and thinks not just as president but as a parent.
Image: NY Daily News
Related Posts:
