AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

Longtime immigrant rights activist Ravi Ragbir faces deportation and detention Monday when he goes for a check-in with ICE — that’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement — here in New York. Democracy Now! has covered Ravi’s fight to stop his own deportation since 2006, his work as former head of the New Sanctuary Coalition.

He came to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago 30 years ago, but a 2001 wire fraud conviction made his green card subject to review. Both the judge and the prosecutor in his case said Ravi was a low-level employee who was a, quote, “casualty” of a con artist. And the judge told him, quote, “You’re not a criminal, and I know that I am never going to see you again,” he said.

Ravi Ragbir is married to a U.S. citizen and has a U.S.-born daughter. But ICE has refused to normalize his status or stop his required check-ins. In 2022, Ravi and his legal team reached a settlement in a First Amendment lawsuit that ICE would not deport him for three years as he worked to stay in the U.S.

On Wednesday, he rallied with hundreds of immigrant justice activists at the state Capitol in Albany to demand lawmakers enact legislation to protect immigrant New Yorkers ahead of Trump’s return to office. Ravi has also requested a presidential pardon. But the Biden administration has yet to respond. Faith leaders and others will speak at a vigil Monday outside the ICE office in Manhattan, that supporters can attend, as Ravi checks in. Others are being asked to sign an online petition.

Ravi and his lawyer Alina Das join us now, along with Ravi’s wife. Alina is co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law. Amy Gottlieb is U.S. migration director for the American Friends Service Committee.

And, Ravi Ragbir, I know it is awkward for you, because you’ve spent so many years working on behalf of other people, to be here in your own capacity requesting a pardon. Talk about what needs to happen at this point and why you fear on Monday that at your normal check-in, you could be taken.

RAVI RAGBIR: Well, this, you have to go back to 2018. When it was a normal check-in, we heard and we saw what happened. So, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, you’re never sure what is going to happen. Once you go into that building, your family, your friends, your community don’t know if you will walk back out. And that is a fear we all face — myself, especially on Monday, will be facing, on Monday when I check in.

Each day for the last few — since December 16, I’ve had to remember to breathe — right? — remember how to take one step forward. And — sorry, sorry. So, it’s — I’m an emotional basket case. I’ve been doing this fight for many years, right? Not about just about me, but about the humanity of the policy, the humanity of the agency, the humanity of how many lives have been destroyed. So, you asked me what is going to happen. I actually cannot answer that right now. I will throw it to my attorney, Alina Das, to respond.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Alina, it’s great to see you again. We’ve covered this case for years — I went to court in New Jersey when you were there on your free speech case — whether you’re being targeted as a migrant rights leader, in your own personal situation. Alina, I think you were pregnant at the time. And your kids are now growing up. Explain how Ravi can ultimately not be deported.

ALINA DAS: Absolutely. So, it’s been a privilege to be on this journey with Ravi for the past 16 years as his lawyer. And I have watched him fight tirelessly for other people, even when the law gave him so few options to fight for himself. And so, that’s why this pardon campaign is so important. I was there — excuse me — with Ravi and Amy in 2018 when ICE tried to take him away in retaliation for his activism. And —

AMY GOODMAN: All of the people marching outside the federal building, time after time.

ALINA DAS: Absolutely. And we had to have that community support and legal intervention just to get him some temporary protection from deportation. And that’s now expiring. So we’re walking into the check-in on Monday uncertain of how much time Ravi has left.

But the good news is that President Biden can be the one to end this once and for all. He has the power to give Ravi a pardon. And that pardon will ensure that, as a green card holder, Ravi will be able to remain here in the U.S., because he’s facing a double punishment for a conviction that he received 24 years ago, for which he’s already served his time.

And I’m proud to say that faith leaders, who have seen Ravi give to others, who have seen the sacrifices that he has made, they are leading this fight for the pardon. They believe, they have faith that Biden will do the right thing, that Biden will not allow us to face the next four years without the people who helped us survive the first Trump administration. They have faith that Biden will do this for everyone.

We submitted this pardon eight years ago. It’s been completely vetted and reviewed. The judge who presided over Ravi’s criminal conviction and his trial supports the pardon. And so many other elected officials, faith leaders have come out in support. This is a way that we can keep Ravi together with his family, to honor the sacrifices that Ravi, that Amy, that the entire community have made over the years, and to show — you know, Ravi is a beacon of hope for so many. And we need this victory right now.

AMY GOODMAN: Amy Gottlieb, you’re Ravi’s wife. You’re also head of, what, migration in the U.S. programs at American Friends Service Committee, a well-known lawyer yourself. I remember when you wrote the piece in The New York Times, when you were fighting for Ravi’s First Amendment rights. You two are married. You’re married to a U.S. citizen. You have a U.S. citizen daughter. How is this happening right now?

AMY GOTTLIEB: I mean, as Alina said, you know, we have a history of immigration laws that are unforgiving, right? We don’t allow people to be able to move forward in their lives if they’ve ever had even the smallest contact with the criminal legal system. And so —

AMY GOODMAN: And in your case, the judge said you are not a criminal.

RAVI RAGBIR: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: He sentenced you to the least possible he could, saying that you were collateral damage of a case. And even the prosecutor talked about you favorably.

AMY GOTTLIEB: Yeah. So, you know, we ask that question all the time: How is this happening? My family asks that question all the time. He’s here. You’ve been married for — we’ve been married almost 15 years, right? Ravi’s been in this struggle for so many years. We are surrounded by community. But we don’t know what’s going to happen on Monday. And it is unsettling, to say the least. It is exhausting. But we are in it because we truly continue to believe that there is light at the end of this tunnel. There has to be. There absolutely must be. It’s why I do the work I do. It’s why we all continue to be part of this struggle together, because there’s only one way forward.

AMY GOODMAN: Ravi, I give you the final word.

RAVI RAGBIR: The final word is, even during our fear and our anxiety and our uncertainty of what is going to happen, we still need to stand up. We still need to speak out. We still need to hold onto each other. We still need to be there for each other. Even as we go into the den of lions and of monsters, not knowing what is going to happen, I still have to walk in there. And the people that support me and surround me are walking with me, and that they need to walk with others who are going through the same. We need to stop what is happening.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you all for being with us. We’ll certainly report what happens on Monday. President Biden is in office for another, what, 10 days. And we will be there on every day, raising these questions. Ravi Ragbir, his lawyer Alina Das, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law, and Amy Gottlieb, U.S. migration director for the American Friends Service Committee.

That does it for our show. Democracy Now! is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Anjali Kamat, Deena Guzder, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Hana Elias. Our executive director, Julie Crosby. Becca Staley is our director. Jon Randolph, Paul Powell. I’m Amy Goodman. Thank you so much for joining us.