TIJUANA (Border Report) — Nabeel Younis and a gaggle of pals left Panama for the U.S.-Mexico border in November.
A number of weeks later, the Pakistani nationwide texted pals that he was about to go over the border barrier into Calexico, California.
However that was the final anybody heard from them, and pals feared the worst.
Final week, Younis managed to textual content a good friend in California and let him know that he was being held at a detention heart in Tijuana.
“Nabeel’s cellphone had been confiscated,” mentioned Fitzgerald Kelly, Younis’ good friend. “He’s counting on different folks in jail to get info out to me in a textual content and stuff like that.”
Kelly mentioned Younis was detained by Mexico’s Nationwide Guard as he tried to cross the border.
A spokesperson with Mexico’s Nationwide Institute of Migration confirmed Younis is presently at its Tijuana detention heart as a result of he couldn’t show he was a Pakistani nationwide, and that his identification has but to be confirmed by the Pakistani authorities in Mexico.
Younis can be accused of not having authorized paperwork permitting him to be in Mexico.
His pals, each within the U.S. and Panama, have been desperately attempting to free him with none success.
“He’s been there since December 8, everybody else is out in two to a few days, my concern is he’s misplaced within the system,” Kelly mentioned, including that Younis is attempting to remain constructive after nearly a month in captivity.
“He’s been utilizing a Bangladeshi telephone for some time. I don’t know whether or not that’s gotten confiscated,” Kelly mentioned. “I do know he has talked about Somalis, Indians, so it’s fairly a world group there who’re in jail.”
Kelly said Younis has been given the choice of going again to Mexico Metropolis or remaining in Tijuana, the place he must search asylum in Mexico.
However based on Kelly, the 27-year-old Younis is adamant about going to the U.S. to hunt a brand new life.
“It is a actual individual desirous to do precisely what we’ve been in a position to do,” Kelly mentioned
A detention heart spokesperson mentioned Younis’ case is being reviewed and he could possibly be launched inside a number of days, particularly if the Pakistani authorities can affirm his nationality.
Younis first arrived in Panama in 2019 when he traveled to Central America to be a part of Pope Francis’ World Youth Day festivities.
He remained in that nation for 2 years and realized Spanish and made pals.
“In Pakistan, he was crushed by a gang, and when he advised police, they checked out his paperwork and noticed that he was Catholic. They mentioned they wouldn’t do something, that was the final straw and he determined to return to america by way of Panama.”
