The writer of this letter, an Iowa City resident, would prefer to remain anonymous. Little Village has verified their identity.
I am a brown person living in Iowa City. I was not born in the U.S. but I have found a home here in Iowa City. I moved here to attend the Writers’ Workshop, where I was surrounded by a diverse group of writers and artists. I fell in love with the safety of this town.
When Fatou Traore was deported to Sierra Leone this week, her removal by force and without due process sent fear and terror through the immigrant community of Iowa City. If something like this can happen to someone who has not committed any crimes, who is a lawful and supportive part of our community, it can happen to you or someone you love.
When I was a child, I was separated from my mother at an early age — she moved to the U.S. and I was not able to join her until much later. This separation caused fractures in my life that still remain. Fatou’s separation from her four children is a trauma and will affect their lives much more than we can know now. Her youngest child is only 3 years old. His life will be difficult, emotionally and developmentally, without a mother for the foreseeable future.
For us to speak openly about Fatou and what the government has done to her family means that her life’s circumstance does not become a statistic or notification. We give humanity and reality to the traumatic experience she and her family are going through.
Publishing this letter with my name is not safe for me because I am afraid of ICE, even though I am in the United States legally. For many people of color in Iowa City, this has suddenly become a reality — living with fear of random detainment.
I hope that Fatou can return to the U.S. as soon as possible. I hope that people in this town do not ignore how due process and our constitution have been ignored and attacked.
I implore you, if you have the means, to support the immigrant organizations (Escucha Mi Voz Iowa, the Iowa City Catholic Worker, and the Immigrant Welcome Network) that are continuing to help Fatou’s family. Spread Fatou’s story in your circles, call your local and state representatives, and demand to know why she was deported before a ruling by a judge and why her request for a credible fear interview was denied.
To support Fatou now means to support your neighbors, no matter the color of their skin. In moments like this, when fear and panic rule, our imagination can still guide us — to imagine the conditions of Fatou’s deportation, to imagine her shackled and afraid on a plane to a country she has never known, incites in us a deeper empathy and call to act for her freedom.
To submit a letter, email it to editor@littlevillagemag.com with your name and city of residence.
