Still a hero: JK helps teacher threatened with deportation

Our guy pulls it off again!

:loveya: :bounce: :toast:

Teacher granted delay in deportation
By Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press Writer | March 3, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A Boston high school teacher facing deportation has gotten a 17-month reprieve, after members of Congress and state officials scurried to beat a Friday deadline.

In a rapid succession of events Thursday, a Senate subcommittee put the brakes on Obain Attouoman's scheduled deportation by requesting a formal background report from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The move came at the request of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who introduced legislation earlier in the day that would allow Attouoman to stay in the United States.

Attouoman, 42, a math teacher at Boston's Fenway High School, fled Ivory Coast to escape political persecution in 1992 and later applied for asylum in the United States. But he missed a hearing with an immigration judge in 2001 and was ordered deported. He lost his appeal.

Full story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/03/teacher_granted_delay_in_deportation/

Excellent work by all the Massholes who helped this teacher and another excellent job as always by Mr. John F. Kerry! You all should be proud and celebrating. :toast:


John F. Kerry :yourock:

I have been following this story. I hope that Kerry gets to visit the classroom and tell the kids how great their efforts were and how they were able to get the attention needed to allow their teacher to stay.

Way to go Big Guy!

:toast:

Such a good and honorable man - he does what's right not what's easy. He's been doing that his whole life. That fact that people accuse him of the converse tendency is so Orwellian that it boggles the mind.

I need to send an e-mail to his office telling him that I'm still proud of him and I always will be!

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

He didn't have to do this but he's such a good guy that he did anyway. Quite different from locking up American citizens in gawd knows where and denying them all their rights, the m.o. of certain people whose names I will not utter in this post.

This man had better be president on January 20, 2009.

Kudos, to JK for standing up for civil and human rights. :yourock:

In the Globe article, Kerry had a beautiful(as always) comment on bipartisanship. Cornyn's spokesman almost sounds like Cornyn is trying to distance himself from taking any credit.


Kerry:
"This is the right way to end a day spent by so many people fighting to keep Obain Attouoman at home in Boston," said Kerry. "Democracy works best when we work across party lines, and I'm pleased to say that tonight Sen. Cornyn has joined us in making it possible for a beloved teacher to stay with his students at least until 2007."

Cornyn:
"Cornyn's spokesman Don Stewart said the senator signed the request on Kerry's behalf as a matter of procedure. There is generally no review of the merits of the case by the subcommittee"

hollow as they come and the action probably didn't mean a drip to him.

Funny how some Democrats have become so jaded that, like bloodless Republicans, they have no tolerance for acts of graciousness, so they seize on every opportunity to dump on Kerry's natural grace.

Obain Attouoman was at an NAACP dinner as Sen. Kerry's guest tonight. They were celebrating his stay of deportation.

That was great. I was proud of my esteemed Junior Senator for this action. And it was good to finally see him on TV this week, after 3 speeches, a White House appearance and that SSI event. (Sigh! You guys think he's on TV here all the time, don't you. Not so.)

Class Act :).