Further reporting by Tandy Lau, Report for America corps member
The obvious drowning deaths of two younger New York Metropolis college students—11-year-old Alfa Ousmane Barrie and 13-year-old Garrett Warren—are nonetheless below investigation, and nonetheless deliver many to tears. On the forefront are efforts to deliver Alfa’s father to the USA for the kid’s burial.
“We’re calling on the media to ask Governor Kathy Hochul, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, and Mayor Eric Adams to place stress on the State Division to grant the visa waiver rapidly to get Alfa Ousmane Barrie’s father Abdoul Barrie to the U.S. for his son’s burial,” Alfa Ousmane Barrie household spokesman Ahmadou Diallo advised the Amsterdam Information.
Brief on conclusive particulars, the households and town are nonetheless in search of solutions.
Barrie went to Democracy Prep in Harlem, and Warren attended the New Explorations into Science, Expertise, and Math (NEST+M) within the Decrease East Aspect. The boys went lacking on Could 12, first close to a Harlem fish store on 145th Avenue and later thought to have climbed via a gaping gap within the wire fence by the waterfront at 145th Avenue and fifth Avenue. Studies have ranged from one boy pushing the opposite, and each falling into the water, to each taking part in round and falling within the Harlem River.
On Thursday, Could 18, 2023, Warren’s physique was recovered from the East River. On Saturday morning, Could 20, 2023, a physique—recognized as Barrie—was recovered below the Madison Avenue Bridge over the Hudson River.
Whereas a funeral was held for Warren on Thursday, June 1, Barrie’s father is ready for phrase from the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone about whether or not he can come again to the U.S. and attend providers for his son.
As Barrie’s household and group are asking for a easy diploma of immigration compassionate consideration, the Amsterdam Information additionally reached out to their lawyer, Eric Wuestman, who filed an I-192 waiver on Monday, June 5, after Consul Part, U.S. Embassy, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, denied the preliminary visa utility 5 days earlier.
“In line with the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone, they’ve forwarded the waiver request to the right authorities, with a request for it to be expedited,” stated Diallo.
The Amsterdam Information spoke to Barrie household legal professional Ezra Glaser, who stated final week he was going to “file a discover of declare towards town.”
“We imagine that the disrepair of the park is the explanation why two children are actually lifeless,” Glaser stated.
He’s additionally submitting for discovery, Diallo stated.“Now the household is ready and hoping that Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, as effectively each Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, would step to the plate and help in (these efforts).”
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Immigration lawyer Brian Figeroux advised the Amsterdam Information that the ball is within the courtroom of elected officers to make sure Abdoul Barrie can ship off his son.
“Sen. [Chuck] Schumer is the one who needs to be intervening,” he stated. “He will get issues executed. The stress needs to be on him…the Legal professional Common and his employees are those who might make the selections for these waivers. Senator Schumer might name the Legal professional Common.”
Figeroux added that typical non-criminal deportations draw a decade-long re-entry ban. Waivers undergo the U.S. Legal professional Common’s Workplace—whereas approval charges are excessive, they’re additionally prolonged. Barrie needs to be buried as quickly as attainable as a result of household’s Islamic beliefs. At worst, an ankle monitor can be utilized if Abdoul Barrie’s whereabouts are a severe concern. Finally, Figeroux stated, elected officers must step up within the face of this tragedy, which he’s nonetheless ready for.
“A type that you simply fill out is… [just] a strategy of getting issues executed,” stated Figeroux. “Folks might transfer in the event that they needed to. The mayor and Sen. Schumer, who’s from New York, needs to be those that may get this executed. If there’s a will, there’s a approach, however should you’re Black, it’s completely different from being white.”
Final Thursday, June 1, seated in entrance of his son’s casket, crying that he was his solely son, Warren’s father, who has not been named within the press, was comforted within the chapel in the course of the wake, surrounded by his sisters and mom. Two males in good fits, who turned out to be from the Division of Corrections stood shut by as a line of mourners hugged the grieving dad, who was handcuffed the entire time. A short while later, escorted by the boys, he went again to an unmarked van. The household demanded that no photos be taken.
Kadiatou Diallo, the now-activist mom of Amadou Diallo, 23, a 1999 police taking pictures sufferer, advised the Amsterdam Information, “My coronary heart goes out to the household of Garrett, as a result of I understand how it feels to bury a toddler.”
She is gloomy for each households. “Now Alfa’s household wants assist for Alfa’s father to be granted a humanitarian visa in order that he will be right here to bury their son. I attraction to Mayor Eric Adams, and all of the senators and Congress representatives of New York to assist Alfa’s father’s visa utility.”
Authorized observers recommended that whereas Barrie’s waiver is being thought of, his supporters ought to take into consideration submitting an I134 affidavit of economic assist. A Go-FundMe web page raised tens of hundreds of {dollars} for the kid’s funeral, and 5 siblings and mom.
Ahmadou Diallo stated that he visited the fence with the gaping gap, that was reportedly the place the 2 kids have been final seen.
Ahmadou Diallo stated Barrie’s household is not going to bury him till his father is with the household. “Senator Schumer’s workplace by no means responded to my e-mail. I don’t know if he received in contact with the State Division or the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone. I attraction to the media to assist persuade Mayor Adams and Senator Schumer and Governor Kathy Hochul to press the State Division to get the U.S. Embassy in Sierra Leone to permit Abdoul Barrie to come back to New York to carry providers for his son Alfa.”Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public security for the Amsterdam Information. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps preserve him writing tales like this one; please take into account making a tax-deductible present of any quantity at the moment by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
