‘I will be killed’: After fleeing slavery and mutilation, refugees in R.I. now fear deportation
A man from Mauritania and a woman from Senegal
describe what’s at stake as the Trump administration targets immigrants
for deportation. “We are not criminals,” the woman said. “We are not bad
people.”
At the Refugee Dream Center in Providence, a refugee who says he escaped slavery in Mauritania cradled his head in his hands. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
PROVIDENCE — He escaped slavery in Mauritania. She escaped female genital mutilation in Senegal.
Both
managed to make their way separately to the United States, pursuing the
American dream, viewing it as a land of freedom and safety.
But now, everything they’ve worked for and sacrificed for is at risk.
“I
fled there because I was going to be killed,” the man from Mauritania,
whom the Globe agreed not to identify by name, said in an interview.
“Now, if I’m taken back there, that means I know what is going to happen
to me: I will be killed.”
A refugee at the Refugee Dream Center who says he escaped slavery in Mauitania fears revealing his identity. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
Mauritania, a country of 5.2 million people in northwest Africa, has been described as “slavery’s last stronghold.”
In 1981, Mauritania became the last country in the world to officially
abolish slavery. But, the man said: “The reality is the slavery still
exists. A lot of people that were protesting that condition got killed.”
He said he was enslaved, and when he protested against slavery, he was tortured.
The man, whose native language is Pulaar, spoke to the Globe through a translator, Omar Bah, the cofounder of the Refugee Dream Center who is a refugee himself, having fled Gambia.
The
man from Mauritania said that when he and other educated people
protested against slavery, hoping to draw the world’s attention,
government forces opened fire on them. While the government claimed they
used blanks, the soldiers actually used live ammunition, and people
died, he said.
“They
put all of us on the back of a truck, like in layers, and the soldiers
sat on top of us,” he said. “They threw us in jail. They refused to give
us food.”
He said he was lucky to have escaped the country, but he had to leave his wife and their young child behind.
From
Mauritania, he began a perilous journey that led him through Turkey,
Colombia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and
eventually, the United States.
“I
know America is a country of democracy and where people feel safe and
equal,” he said. “I thought of no other place to go to for safety and to
rebuild my life.”
He arrived in Rhode Island about nine months ago and, after sleeping on the streets, he found the Refugee Dream Center.
The center connected him with a lawyer, who has helped him apply for
asylum, and he has secured authorization to work as a caregiver.
“I take care of people who cannot take care of themselves,” he said.
He
said President Trump’s rhetoric and policies on immigrants are sparking
a lot of anxiety and fear among people who came to the United States to
escape suffering and brutality.
“We
are not here to cause any trouble,” he said. “We just want to be safe.
We are people — good people who came in to look for help and support and
safety."
After taking office on Jan. 20, Trump immediately paused refugee resettlement,
calling for the secretary of homeland security and secretary of state
to submit a report within 90 days to determine if it should be
restarted, and his administration cut off funding for resettlement
programs.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle blocked Trump’s suspension
of the refugee admissions system, saying that while the president has
broad authority over who comes into the country, he cannot nullify the
law passed by Congress establishing the program. The Justice Department indicated it would appeal.
Meanwhile,
the funding cut forced the Refugee Dream Center in Providence to let go
of five staff members devoted to refugee resettlement, bringing the
center’s total staffing down to 14, executive director Teddi Jallow said. But she said the center will continue its mission.
Teddi Jallow, executive director of the Refugee Dream Center, chatted with women at a meeting at the center in Providence.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff
“No
matter how hard it is, we are going to work with them, and we will help
them to be self-sufficient,” Jallow told the Globe. “That is what we
are going to do, no matter what message we get from D.C.”
She said volunteers are reaching out to help the center and making donations.
Many
refugees remain frightened, Jallow said. Students are afraid to come to
the center’s English classes, and about half as many refugees are showing up for a weekly food pantry.
The woman from Senegal, whom the Globe also agreed not to identify by name, said she is worried that she might get deported.
“It was all OK until Trump came,” she said. “Everything started to change.”
If she were deported, the woman said she would face female genital mutilation, or circumcision, which remains common in her home country.
She
said she came to the United States on a visitor visa and decided to
stay afterward. She managed to learn English, have two children, land a
job, and begin paying taxes.
“It
was the American dream,” she said. “I know it’s a free land. They
welcome people. And if I’m here, I don’t have to be worried.”
But
now, she sometimes cannot sleep because she is worried the immigration
officials will knock on her door and separate her from her children.
“What I’m going through now — I don’t wish any parent to go through
that," she said.
She
said her children are seeing things on TikTok that scare them. They
worry that immigration officials will come to their school and ask how
many people live at their house and if their parents immigrated legally.
“Sometimes
the younger one will be like, ‘I don’t want to go to school because I
don’t want to be apart from you. I will die from that,‘” she said.
“That’s emotional. Imagine your kids saying that.”
She
said she agrees that undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes
should be deported. But she said Trump should consider that many more
immigrants are working and obeying the law.
“We are not criminals,” she said. “We are not bad people.”
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