Nadia Habib, an undocumented Stony Brook University student who faced deportation to Bangladesh last year, was granted another stay of removal last week, which will allow her to remain in the U.S. for at least another year. Her mother’s stay of removal was also renewed for the same period.
Habib and her mother, Nazmin, met with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in New York City on Monday, Oct. 1, to try to renew the stay of removal they were given in 2011 after they were almost deported. Habib said the meeting took about 10 minutes and went “very smoothly.”
“I was actually really surprised,” Habib said.
Habib said the official took the fact that neither of the women has a criminal record into consideration.
The 21-year-old student came to the U.S. when she was only a year old and has never left the country since then. Habib also said she cannot speak Bengali and doesn’t know anyone in her home country.
Habib has recently applied for President Obama’s Deferred Action Program, which allows eligible undocumented students to stay in the country legally for at least two years.