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Kenyan Immigrant Spends a Decade Fighting Deportation

Aline Barros

   Sylvester Owino is a small business owner in San Diego, California. His
   family owns Rafikiz Foodz -- an authentic African food vendor offering
   "Kenyan food for your soul," using fresh ingredients from the local
   farmers market.

   Those who encounter Owino's welcoming personality are not aware what
   happens once he is done working for the day. He is fighting to stay in
   the United States through an asylum case that has lasted a decade.

   Owino arrived in the U.S. from Kenya in 1998 on a student visa, leaving
   a country where he said he was beaten, jailed and threatened by the
   government.

   Five years later, an addiction to alcohol and gambling derailed him.

   "I was going to college, but I used to drink too much," he said. "And I
   just quit college because of what had happened in my path and
   everything. I found this job after leaving college. I was working with
   disadvantaged people. And then I met some friends through work, and we
   started drinking after work, go to the casinos, and they introduced me
   to gambling," he said.

   During one of his last visits to the casino, he found himself out of
   money and decided to rob a nail salon. He was convicted of
   second-degree robbery.

   "I thought I was going to get probation. And nobody never explained to
   me the immigration consequences. So I took a plea, which gave me three
   years," Owino said.

   He completed a two-year prison sentence and was transferred to the Otay
   Mesa Detention Center, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement began
   removal proceedings.

   While in detention, Owino fought his deportation, an ordeal that has
   taken nine years and four months.

   Inside detention

   Subject to mandatory immigration detention, Owino was not entitled to a
   bond hearing.

   "When I got there, I was in a complete shock. I thought, 'This was
   supposed to be better (than state prison,)' but actually it was worse.
   '¦ The officers treated us like we have no rights, like we are not
   human beings," Owino said.

   In a recent interview with reporters, David Fathi, director at ACLU's
   National Prison Project, said most people do not think about mass
   incarceration and unhealthy conditions when they think of immigration
   detention.

   "These are very vulnerable people. Many of them have suffered major
   physical and emotional trauma, beatings, starvation or rape, either in
   their home country or on their journey to the United States," Fathi
   said.

   Those who are "less" traumatized often suffer from cultural
   dislocation, family separation and the stresses of incarceration,
   including overcrowding and solitary confinement.

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