‘I’m grateful people fought for us.’ Future uncertain for South Philly man deported to Africa

Christian M’Bagoyi has been deported from the United States in what supporters called an unnecessary act of government cruelty that shattered a family and took a good man from his friends and neighbors in South Philadelphia.

He was put aboard a flight to West Africa sometime after 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, after being held at an immigrant-detention center southwest of Dallas, and arrived in Angola on Thursday.

Appeals to President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — and the shouts and pleas of more than a hundred people who gathered outside the Philadelphia ICE office on Tuesday ― failed to stop his removal.

His wife, Sarika Kumar M’Bagoyi, said that her husband phoned after the plane landed, telling her, “I’m grateful people fought for us.”

“I’m in shock, I’m overwhelmed,” Sarika M’Bagoyi told The Inquirer. “I’m so elated he’s free, and can see the sun, and I’m so sad for his departure. … I feel like my arm has been cut off. They took away my love story. The country I was born in, they robbed me of my love story.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not offer immediate comment.

When previously asked about M’Bagoyi, the agency said it makes its determinations on a case-by-case basis in accordance with federal law and policy. All noncitizens who violate immigration laws may be subject to arrest, detention, and removal, the agency said.

M’Bagoyi was undocumented and living under a final order of removal, but was nonetheless permitted to stay, work, pay taxes, and raise a family — not unusual in the paradox of the U.S. immigration system. He spent more than 20 years in this country, reporting to ICE under an order of supervision.

He is married to a U.S. citizen and together they have two citizen daughters, ages 3 and 5.

Erika Guadalupe Nunez, executive director of Philadelphia-based Juntos, the Latino advocacy group, helped lead a days-long wave of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to halt M’Bagoyi’s deportation.

She and other local advocates appealed for help from Pennsylvania congressional leaders, and quickly gathered more than 11,000 signatures on an online petition. A legal motion was pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals when M’Bagoyi was deported, his attorney said.

“I’m heartbroken. I hate to see Christian and Sarika go through this,” Nunez said Thursday. “We fought the hardest we could. We had senators calling for us, people connecting with staff in the White House, the most public pressure we’ve been able to build in a long time for a case. … Against the unjust immigration system we have, it wasn’t enough.”

At the Center City demonstration, advocates joined M’Bagoyi’s neighbors to condemn what they called an inhumanity, an act that benefited no one but took a loving father out of Philadelphia.

Sheila Maddali, executive director of the National Legal Advocacy Network and a friend of the family, decried President Joe Biden’s unfulfilled campaign promises, which she said allowed ongoing injustice against M’Bagoyi and others.

“We were promised a more humane immigration system,” she said. “We were promised an end of family separation. … We were promised that there would be a real pathway to citizenship for immigrants.”

Instead, she said, “what we have is a continuation of the same racist and oppressive immigration system.”

Black people make up 7.2% of all noncitizens, but comprise 20.3% of those facing deportation on criminal grounds, according to research by the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services in Texas, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, and the American Friends Service Committee. They can face lengthier detentions, and higher denial rates when seeking asylum, the groups found.

South Philadelphia neighbors told how, at Christmas, the M’Bagoyi family delivered vegan cookies to friends on the block. They described the couple’s devotion to their daughters, and how the loss of M’Bagoyi hurts not just his family but the community.

He came to the United States about 22 years ago, at age 21, after his ethnic background put him at risk in Africa. He said he legally entered the country on a tourist visa, but then stayed after it expired. His request for asylum was denied.

He has worked as a union carpenter, and his wife, whom he married in 2016, is a marketing and advertising consultant.

M’Bagoyi’s removal is an example of how the immigration system can treat people in different ways even if they share nearly identical circumstances. M’Bagoyi had been issued a final order of removal, and according to ICE, had exhausted all forms of immigration relief.

But like some other undocumented immigrants who have been issued final orders, M’Bagoyi was allowed to remain in the country under supervision. That provided him with a Social Security number and permission to work. People can spend years under supervision, their day-to-day lives going forward, then be arrested without warning and scheduled for deportation.

On April 19, M’Bagoyi was met by ICE agents as he returned home after dropping his children at school. He was taken to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center northwest of Harrisburg, then sent to the Alexandria Staging Facility in Louisiana, and from there to the Prairieland Detention Center southwest of Dallas.

Supporters said it was unclear why M’Bagoyi was seized, as he had continued to make regular check-ins with ICE. His wife wondered if was because he recently renewed his work permit, which perhaps triggered a notice in the ICE system.

The family moved to Philadelphia from Bucks County in the last two years, believing a sanctuary city with an active immigrant-support network would be safer for them.

The Department of Homeland Security said it carried out 225,483 removals and returns in the first half of the 2023 fiscal year, up from 170,896 during the same period in 2022.

Deportations cannot be easily reversed. People who are removed generally are banned from returning for periods that range from five years to permanently, depending on circumstances. The system does permit for waivers that, if approved, can allow faster readmission.

On Thursday, Sarika M’Bagoyi said she was struggling to grasp the enormity of her husband’s deportation, to even communicate it to friends, yet grateful he was safe and free.

“At least he can walk unchained,” she said. “I’m so happy for his freedom in a country that doesn’t treat him this way, and terribly sad at this country, what they made him go through. And my kids.”

On the phone, she said, her husband told her to try to conserve her energy, so she can concentrate on their daughters. She has told the children that their father went to help a friend.

She’s not sure how he will manage, with no cell phone and no photo identification. Nor is she sure what’s next for her and the children.

“I haven’t got that far,” she said. “Today is for grieving. Tomorrow is for fighting.”