A new piece in The New Yorker titled “Fighting for the Immigrants of Little Pakistan” looks at how a predominantly Muslim neighborhood in Brooklyn is coping with the presidency of Donald Trump, who, just seven days after taking office, issued a controversial travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries. Trump’s presidency also ushered in a rise in immigrant deportations and arrests. We speak with the author of the piece, Jennifer Gonnerman, who looks in part at the story of Shahid Ali Khan and his family, who are facing possible deportation. We also speak with Mohammad Razvi, founding executive director of Council of Peoples Organization (COPO), a community group serving Muslims, Arabs and South Asians.
Transcript
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Can the Brooklyn neighborhood of Little Pakistan survive the presidency of Donald Trump? That’s the question posed by a new piece in The New Yorker magazine. Writer Jennifer Gonnerman looks, in part, at the story of Shahid Ali Khan and his family, who are facing possible deportation. For years, they successfully received stays of removal, but this year appears to be different. On July 6, they have a meeting scheduled at the ICE enforcement and removal field office. That meeting could determine if the family can stay in the United States.
We’re joined now by two guests. Mohammad Razvi is founding executive director of Council of Peoples Organization. And we’re joined by Jennifer Gonnerman, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, who’s written the piece, “Fighting for the Immigrants of Little Pakistan.”
Jennifer, talk about this extremely poignant story of this family, who came to this country to save the life of their baby boy.
JENNIFER GONNERMAN: Right, they’re an — it’s an extraordinary story. The Khans came in 1997, two parents and a baby, who was not yet two. The father was a bank manager in Pakistan. He gave up everything, because his son was…