Students rally against detention of classmate
By: Jillian Levy /The Daily Cardinal - April 1, 2008
A rally was held Monday at Memorial Union in support of UW-Madison pharmacy student Tope Awe, who is currently being detained in Milwaukee and facing deportation.
Over 40 UW-Madison students, staff and community activists gathered Monday in Memorial Union to rally support for a student facing deportation.
Federal immigration officers arrested Tope Awe, a third-year UW-Madison pharmacy school student, and her brother, Oluwagbenga, in Milwaukee Thursday after summoning them to the city for questioning about their immigration status. Awe immigrated to the United States from Nigeria when she was three years old.
Several student groups joined together to fight Awe’s deportation, according to Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, a UW-Madison graduate student and a member of the International Socialist Organization, one of the groups working on Awe’s behalf.
“We’re saddened and outraged that a student of ours and classmate of ours could potentially be deported,” she said, adding students have expressed a great amount of support for Awe and willingness to help keep her in the United States.
Rally attendees and organizers listed her many accomplishments and contributions to the UW-Madison campus as reasons she should be allowed to stay.
“Tope is someone who is an absolute boon to the student community. She started the African Student Association, works with the Black Student Union, the Multicultural Student Coalition—she’s very active on campus,” Libby Belden, a UW-Madison graduate student and ISO member, said.
According to Belden, Awe will receive a hearing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Tuesday in Milwaukee, but Belden said the details of the hearing remain unknown and it could be rescheduled.
UW-Madison senior Nurilign Ahmed said Awe contributed to Madison’s community tremendously in the past three years and deserves to be allowed to finish her education.
“She is a very good asset for UW-Madison and for the health community,” Ahmed said in reference to Awe’s work as a pharmacy student. “I believe that [UW-Madison] losing her is like losing a very good resource.”
If deported, Awe would not be able to return to the United States for 10 years, according to Jawana Williams, a UW-Madison pharmacy school student and close friend. Williams also said Awe has not been back to Nigeria since immigrating and, if deported, would have nothing to return to.
“Her family hasn’t been back in 20 years, and they have no contact with any family. If she is deported, we don’t know where she will go.”
After the rally, students marched from the Union to the office of U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, to encourage Baldwin to join the efforts to help Awe.
Rally organizers said they believe students can secure Awe’s return to campus.
“I think we have the potential to actually prevent her from being deported and also set a precedent that ICE can’t come into the Madison community and deport anybody in the dead of night without people making a fuss about it,” Wrigley-Field said.
By: Jillian Levy /The Daily Cardinal - April 1, 2008
A rally was held Monday at Memorial Union in support of UW-Madison pharmacy student Tope Awe, who is currently being detained in Milwaukee and facing deportation.
Over 40 UW-Madison students, staff and community activists gathered Monday in Memorial Union to rally support for a student facing deportation.
Federal immigration officers arrested Tope Awe, a third-year UW-Madison pharmacy school student, and her brother, Oluwagbenga, in Milwaukee Thursday after summoning them to the city for questioning about their immigration status. Awe immigrated to the United States from Nigeria when she was three years old.
Several student groups joined together to fight Awe’s deportation, according to Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, a UW-Madison graduate student and a member of the International Socialist Organization, one of the groups working on Awe’s behalf.
“We’re saddened and outraged that a student of ours and classmate of ours could potentially be deported,” she said, adding students have expressed a great amount of support for Awe and willingness to help keep her in the United States.
Rally attendees and organizers listed her many accomplishments and contributions to the UW-Madison campus as reasons she should be allowed to stay.
“Tope is someone who is an absolute boon to the student community. She started the African Student Association, works with the Black Student Union, the Multicultural Student Coalition—she’s very active on campus,” Libby Belden, a UW-Madison graduate student and ISO member, said.
According to Belden, Awe will receive a hearing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials Tuesday in Milwaukee, but Belden said the details of the hearing remain unknown and it could be rescheduled.
UW-Madison senior Nurilign Ahmed said Awe contributed to Madison’s community tremendously in the past three years and deserves to be allowed to finish her education.
“She is a very good asset for UW-Madison and for the health community,” Ahmed said in reference to Awe’s work as a pharmacy student. “I believe that [UW-Madison] losing her is like losing a very good resource.”
If deported, Awe would not be able to return to the United States for 10 years, according to Jawana Williams, a UW-Madison pharmacy school student and close friend. Williams also said Awe has not been back to Nigeria since immigrating and, if deported, would have nothing to return to.
“Her family hasn’t been back in 20 years, and they have no contact with any family. If she is deported, we don’t know where she will go.”
After the rally, students marched from the Union to the office of U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, to encourage Baldwin to join the efforts to help Awe.
Rally organizers said they believe students can secure Awe’s return to campus.
“I think we have the potential to actually prevent her from being deported and also set a precedent that ICE can’t come into the Madison community and deport anybody in the dead of night without people making a fuss about it,” Wrigley-Field said.
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