Shabih & Razia

Country of Origin: Pakistan

Currently LIving In: Queens, NY

Shabih Ul Hassan, his wife Razia and three children have lived in Jamaica, Queens since 1995. Two of his children were born here. In December 2002 two men in plain clothes knocked on the family's door at dawn. They shouted, "Police, open up,' and flashed some badges. The officers entered the home on the premise of investigating a burglary that the couple reported two years ago, but then probed Shabih with immigration questions. He had no greencard, so they cuffed him and carted him off to detention.

According to the government, Shabih, Razia and their 9-year-old child who was born in Pakistan are "absconders." The family filed for asylum when they first came to the US in 1995. The bullet wounds on Shabih's leg and chest and the stitches in his head are remnants of the torture he suffered back home. But their attorney pocketed the cash, lost all of the family's legal documents, and then never informed them that their case was denied. Last year the attorney was criminally prosecuted and the Department of Justice itself suspended his license. He is currently serving time in a federal prison for stealing money from the government.

Shabih was at Hudson County Jail until he was deported back to Pakistan in the Winter of 2004. He has left behind a wife and three citizen children that do not know what their life will look like a year from now.