HAMDEN -- A Bangladeshi woman living in Connecticut saw her son attend his first day college Monday.
Samir Mahmud is one of this year’s incoming class at Quinnipiac University, after his mom, Salma Sikandar, was facing deportation less than two weeks ago.
“They never had the opportunity to go to college like this, so it’s a big accomplishment and it’s a big thing for our family,” Samir said.
He and his parents have been fighting to keep mom Salma here since 2011, but an immigration judge has consistently denied her application to be a permanent resident. Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered her to self-deport back to Bangladesh.
After weeks of speaking out and attracting support from all over the country, ICE granted her a temporary stay.
“They started a petition and 44,000 people around the world saw and heard my mother’s case and supported her,” Samir said.
Samir is now a first-generation college student getting ready to major in software engineering. While he says the battle to keep his mom here permanently is not over, he is ready to work hard and make his family proud of him.