The heated debate surrounding the deportation orders of Tope and Oluwagbenga Awe highlights the urgent need for immigration reform. The Awes came to the United States from Nigeria on a tourist visa in 1989 and in July of 2004 after their application for citizenship was finally denied, the Awe family was ordered to leave the country.
Samuel Awe, Tope and Oluwagbenga’s father, was undergoing kidney treatment at the time and the family failed to contact the immigration service in July. The lack of contact classifies the family as “immigration fugitives.”