In partnership with the ACLU PA, PAIFUP has been working on the case of Mr. Samba Niang, a Mauritanian political asylum seeker detained at Moshannon Valley Processing Center (and many other locations for over a year). NSC and ACLU PA filed a federal complaint with the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties regarding language access issues in ICE detention and centering a PAIFUP client and asylum seeker. Our client, who is fluent in only Mauritanian Pulaar and cannot read or write in any language, was never provided language assistance in order to present his claim in writing and in English as required, then ordered removed in a 3-minute-40-second hearing. 

NSC and the PAIFUP team were alerted to his situation last December by ACLU PA, and PAIFUP team members from NSC, Lilah and Som-Mai, entered their emergency appearances for Mr. Niang. Following immigration court and BIA actions to stop his imminent deportation, NSC and the ACLU PA, with the help of the national ACLU's Immigrants’ Rights Project, also filed a federal action in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, with NSC’s Jonah Eaton and ACLU PA’s Vanessa Stine appearing. Ultimately, we were successful in reopening Mr. Niang’s case, so he could have a full and fair hearing on his asylum claim. PAIFUP currently represents him in that matter, while he remains detained at Moshannon. 

Throughout this case we identified a number of due process and civil liberties violations, that gave rise to two complaints we filed with the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. With our client’s permission and specific request to use his name, ACLU PA has now published a press release, with a redacted copy of our filed complaint, to bring heightened and public awareness to ICE’s egregious actions against our client, and those similarly situated. 

The report can be found at the following link: Re Rights Violations Related to

Inadequate Language Access for Rare Language Speakers in ICE Detention | ACLU Pennsylvania (aclupa.org) 

Z faces likely torture in prison if he is returned to his home country. PAIFUP first got involved with his case in 2022, when he was about to be deported and his case was at the Third Circuit following a negative finding on his Reasonable Fear Interview. His PAIFUP attorneys were able to return his case to immigration court, and have now represented him in court for almost two years. Initially, his case was denied before the Immigration Court, but after an appeal of this decision to the BIA, his case was remanded in 2024. Finally, after a new hearing was held before the immigration court, the Immigration Judge granted his case after PAIFUP attorneys showed that Z faces danger if he is deported and that he should be allowed to stay in the US free from harm. Z will hopefully be released soon to live in safety in the US, without fear of deportation and the threats and danger that would befall him if returned to his home county.