How amazing is this?

In an earlier posting I noted that people who hadn’t read any Kafka instinctively understood the term “Kafkaesque.”  

Here’s an example.  After 9/11 the feds registered thousands of Muslim men to uncover links to terrorism.  Of the 85,000 registered, 11 were found to have possible links to terrorists.  The program was not ended until last month.

Among the people who registered was Mohammed G. Azam, who immigrated to the U.S. with his parents when he was nine.  The parents overstayed their visa, and he was here illegally.  His father applied for permanent residency in 2001 when Mr. Azam was 16.  The father paid the applicable $1000 fine in a program to clear visa violations for the entire family, including his wife, son, and daughter.  Unfortunately for Mr. Azam, the application wasn’t finally approved until 2007 because of backlog.  By that time Mr. Azam was 22, no longer a minor, and therefore no longer eligible.  Immigration authorities are now trying to deport him. 

An immigration judge ruled that a law passed in 2002 designed to keep families together should overrule the deportation.  Immigration authorities are attempting to overturn that ruling.

Mr. Azam graduated from Monroe College and manages a Haagen Dazs store.

You can read the full article in the on-line archives of the New York Times dated May 31. The author is Sam Dolnick.