NY immigrant student case draws attention

NEW YORK - A university student and her mother will remain in New York for now as they fight deportation to their native Bangladesh, their attorney said Thursday.

At an immigration hearing on Thursday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to review the Habibs' case and decide whether to reopen it, their lawyer told The New York Times, giving the two a little more time on U.S. soil.

Supporters who feared Nadia Habib and her mother would be immediately deported cheered as attorney Agyul Charles announced that an immigration judge would review their case. No timetable was given.

The psychology and biology student said before the hearing that she is nervous while awaiting the final decision, but will return to classes Monday at Stony Brook University.

Habib, who previously attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science, was a toddler when she came to the U.S. in 1993.

About 100 supporters, some holding signs and chanting "education, not deportation," had rallied on a plaza outside the federal building in Manhattan where the closed hearing was held.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Tim Bishop and Joseph Crowley are also involved in the case.

Habib's father, Jawad Habib who has a green card, said previously that bad immigration lawyers failed to get proper documentation for his wife, Hazmin Habib, and their daughter.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Luis Martinez said the agency can't discuss the case without a privacy waiver.

Sara Martinez, 22, was among those who came out to support the family.

"The immigration system is broken and flawed," said Martinez, whose own family immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was a baby.

In Queens Wednesday night, Nadia prepared to leave her family and home.

"I'm scared," she told WCBS-TV. "I don't want to be like arrested and put on a random plane and then like deported to a country that I don't consider my own."