Ali

Country of Origin: Pakistan

Currently LIving In: Jackson Heights, Queens

'My name is Ali Raza. My friends call me 'Salami.' I have been in America for 13 years. I came here without any family when I was 16 years old. I was fleeing persecution in Pakistan.

In October 2002, I was cooking dinner at my friend's apartment. In the middle of the night 6 FBI agents broke down the doors. They did not show us a warrant. They ordered us to sit down and shut up. They turned the place upside down. But they found nothing.

So they asked for my immigration status. Because I have no papers, they called 2 INS agents to take me into detention. I asked the FBI agent why he came after us. He said someone reported that 'suspicious Muslims' live here. I asked him why the FBI destroyed the house. He admitted that he did not even know what they were looking for.

I spent 6 months in Passaic County Jail. I did not see a judge until after 2 ' months. Like most detainees, I could not hire a lawyer. The government does not give detainees lawyers. The FBI interrogated me. The INS told me that I would be in jail for 20 years if I did not sign the deportation papers. Jail officials used big dogs to search and attack detainees. They called us 'terrorists' and 'Bin Laden.' Lots of our friends could not visit us because they were afraid of being detained too. Most of us did not know why we were being held. We had no clothes, no beds, no information, no rights.

I am now out on bail and fighting my case. When I was inside, most detainees in my dorm were Arab, South Asian, Muslim. I thought the government was just detaining us because of September 11th. But now I see that detention affects all immigrants. The government has been detaining and deporting people from Latin American, African, Asian, even European countries for years. Detention is not new.

When I was in jail, I lost everything ' my home, my job, my health. It's not fair, and it doesn't make sense. And it's been happening to hundreds of thousands of people. I hope that stories like mine can teach people: detention and deportation need to stop now.'

No human is illegal.