The Honorable Markwayne Mullin Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Re: Request for Immediate Intervention in the Deportation of Ms. Fatou Traore
Honorable Secretary Mullin,
I write to respectfully request your urgent intervention in the case of Ms. Fatou Traore of Iowa City, who was recently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and faces imminent deportation.
Ms. Traore has lived in our community for over twenty years and has resided here legally since 2011 under a withholding-of-removal order. She has raised her family here, lived peacefully, and has no criminal history. Her removal to Sierra Leone — a country with which she has no connection and where violence and human rights violations remain serious concerns — would place her at grave risk and cause profound harm to her family.
As Bishop of Davenport, I am deeply troubled that enforcement actions are proceeding despite the absence of any lawful or humanitarian justification. Proceeding with this deportation is grave violation of her human dignity and the rights that are intrinsic to each one of us. Public servants are entrusted with applying the law in ways that uphold human dignity and protect the vulnerable. In this case, removal would constitute a grave injustice.
I respectfully ask that you stay Ms. Traore’s deportation and permit her return to her family in Iowa City. Your intervention would prevent serious harm and uphold the principles of justice and compassion to which all of us are bound as citizens and persons created in the image and likeness of God.
Respectfully yours,
+ Dennis G. Walsh Bishop of Davenport
