Columbus Green Card Holder Faces Deportation Despite Biden’s Favorable Immigration Rules
Authored by Yilun Cheng (Columbus Dispatch)
When Lansana Gottor filled out his information at a voter registration drive in 2016, the then-19-year-old high school senior had no idea that a simple form would lead to an immigration nightmare years later.
Gottor, 26, a Columbus resident, has been a permanent U.S. resident since he first came here from Sierra Leone at age 15 to reunite with his mother, who has since become a U.S. citizen.
In late 2020, however, Gotto was put in deportation proceedings after U.S. immigration authorities discovered that he cast a ballot in the 2016 primary election as a teenager. He said he did not know that green card holders are not eligible to vote.
Gottor, who has no criminal record, is a “poster child” for the type of noncitizens who should receive favorable consideration under President Joe Biden’s immigration enforcement priorities, according to Emmanuel Olawale, a Westerville immigration and civil rights attorney representing him.
