Prevent the Separation 💔 of Family

"I'm an American citizen fighting deportation from the only country I've ever known as HOME to a struggling country I've never lived in..."

-Shakoure P. Charpentier

This is the New York Family that ICE wants to Break Apart. . .

But We're Fighting to Stay Together

NYU's Immigrant Rights Clinic Defending Family in ICE’s Misguided Deportation Case

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Shakoure Pascal Charpentier is an award-winning writer, youth mentor, founder of a non-profit, business owner, and fiancé to a heroic nurse on the frontlines fighting the pandemic. On July 6th, 2020, eight armed federal officers from ICE entered his home, arrested him, and kept him detained without bail at the Bergen County jail in NJ. Despite having lived virtually his entire 53 years right here in the U.S., ICE falsely alleges that he was born in Haiti, and that he is a threat to public safety due to a felony conviction from 34 years ago. The reality, however, is that he was born on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany where his father served as a Sergeant during the war in Vietnam. He was just a few months old when he returned with his parents to the U.S.. After serving more than seven grueling months under ICE “detention,” Shakoure was finally released, thanks to the help and advocacy of an amazing range of people and community organizations. However, the fight continues as he wears an ankle monitor as condition of release since February 2021.

Despite the many unproduced documents and unanswered questions regarding his citizenship, Shakoure was issued an order of deportation to Haiti on August 9, 2022 by Immigration Judge Conroy. IJ Conroy treated Shakoure’s birth on a US military base to a US military family as irrelevant. He also ignored evidence that ICE (at the time INS) had reported to New York’s board of parole that Shakoure was a naturalized citizen of the United States. IJ Conroy has put Shakoure in an impossible position: requiring him to prove his citizenship with documents that the government possesses but has refused to release. The order of deportation is now on appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Shakoure’s case has gathered widespread attention since ICE agents arrested him at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020 in his home in Queens. His family and friends have mounted a spirited campaign for his freedom. The campaign included over 30,000 petition signatures calling for his release, several online rallies, and a support letter signed by 66 groups including faith-based organizations, and those that work on issues of immigration, justice, and civil rights.

The judge’s order deporting Shakoure to Haiti is a travesty. Haiti is a place in crisis with water, food, and fuel shortages, abject poverty, a fractured medical system, and growing political instability rife with armed gangs that have taken over much of the country's territory and infrastructure. Many human rights organizations, including the United Nations, IRAP, and NIJC, have repeatedly urged the U.S. to halt forced deportations to Haiti due to the grave instability and violence. This is particularly more ominous for someone who has never lived lived in Haiti and has no ties or resources there.

While we are hopeful that NYU Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic can help us prevail and overcome this ordeal, the legal process is extremely slow and quite often harsh and unfair. However, what makes this situation even more dire is the incoming Trump administration's promise to execute the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history, with little to no exceptions.

With your help, this absurd and unfair overreach by ICE to tear apart a long-standing American family can come to an end. Please join our Email Campaign to NYS Governor, Kathy Hochul, to grant our beloved brother a much needed pardon to countervail his impending deportation.