Niberd Abdalla and his wife Ellen McShane sit in attorney Buz Eisenberg's office in Northampton on Jan. 25 after Abdalla's release by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he was held for seven months. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
We join Niberd Alzendi Abdalla in celebrating his freedom after an immigration judge ordered that the undocumented Iraqi immigrant be released.
Abdalla walked away from the Suffolk County House of Correction on Thursday, a free man for the first time since June 8 when he was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a routine twice-yearly appointment.
Abdalla, who has no criminal record and has lived in the United States since 1975, was among 1,400 Iraqis caught by the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants whose scheduled deportations were blocked in July by a federal judge in Michigan. He remained in jail for another six months until a judge in Boston ordered him freed without restrictions.
On Thursday afternoon, Abdalla returned to Hampshire County, where he has lived for two decades, with his wife, Ellen McShane, and lawyer, Buz Eisenberg. Abdalla used a sports analogy to describe his feelings: “It feels really like winning the Super Bowl for the Patriots last year — coming from two, three touchdowns back and still winning. It feels amazing. God sent me my angel and his team.”
Abdalla has said that he faced likely death if deported to Iraq because of his Kurdish background. Eisenberg, with the help of Northampton immigration lawyer Megan Kludt, will take the necessary legal steps so Abdalla can remain in the U.S. without fear of deportation.
For now, Abdalla and McShane, who met 38 years ago while horseback riding in New York City’s Central Park, are living in Danbury, Connecticut. They were married Jan. 4 at the jail’s chapel in Boston, and look forward to a proper wedding and honeymoon, years after their families forbade them from marrying because of their ethnic differences.
While Abdalla’s life has taken a positive turn, other immigrants across the country remain in custody after being detained by ICE during regular check-ins. McShane says of her husband, “He’s not the only one, and it’s important for people to know these are human beings, and not a number.”
That’s a message that needs to be heard in the White House.
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Congratulations to the seven young men, including three brothers, who became Eagle Scouts during a ceremony in Hatfield this month.
“The pathway to be an Eagle can be described as a steep path leading up the peaks,” Troop 104 Scoutmaster Bill Englehardt said during its Eagle Court of Honor. He added that seven Scouts being honored as Eagles at one time is a rarity, and to have three brothers celebrate the achievement together is a first in Hatfield’s more than 100-year-old Scouting history.
That trio are twins Spencer and Harrison Bardwell, and their younger brother Collin. Each took on his own Eagle project: Spencer maintained a tree stand and replaced diseased trees in Hatfield, Harrison built an outdoor classroom for the Hatfield Elementary School, and Collin cleaned headstones at the Main Street Cemetery.
“More than the physical aspects, the psychological aspects affected me,” Spencer says of the Boy Scouts. “In Scouting, you learn about leadership and how to work in a team setting, and it’s always about challenging yourself.”
That’s a valuable foundation that we expect Hatfield’s newest Eagle Scouts will put to use throughout their lives.
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Thanks to Historic Northampton for demonstrating that history doesn’t have to be tucked away in museums.
Last Wednesday, that past came alive on Bridge Street as a team of oxen, Rock and Star, were led by Westhampton forester Tom Jenkins as they pulled a sled bearing part of the trunk of a white pine tree. It had been cut down to let sun through to the roof of Historic Northampton’s educational center, where solar panels will be installed.
The oxen, each weighing about 2,500 pounds, moved briskly onto Hawley Street to the Northampton Community Arts Trust. The wood was given to sculptor Michael Tillyer, who said he is contemplating using it for an installation depicting Sisyphus, who in Greek mythology was condemned to a life of pushing a boulder uphill and watching as it rolled back down.
Last week’s event had a much happier theme, said organizer Laurie Sanders, co-director of Historic Northampton. “It exceeded all my expectations. I really love seeing how much interest there still is around Northampton for how things were done in the past.”
