Soccer dream becomes an immigration nightmare
Brooke Gemmell, Buba Jobe and Don Gemmell (Courtesy of Gemmell family)
This story is nothing less than an immigration nightmare! .
Bubacarr Jobe was born in Gambia, a tiny West African nation where a third of the population earns less than $1.25 a day. His passage to his soccer dream consisted of flights to Senegal, Morocco, Newark (N.J.), St. Louis, Memphis and finally Houston. Jobe, or “Buba” as he’s known, misses those Houston skyscrapers. There’s a chance he won’t see them again, because Bubacarr Jobe is a young man has an immigration crisis. He is an athlete with a team but without a country.
Buba Jobe’s journey to the United States began in 2011. When he arrived in Texas, just 16 years old, he found himself stunned by luxuries like hot water and electricity and baffled by animals who lived inside people’s homes.
Soon after he got to Houston, Buba tore his ACL. The coach of the Rush, Don Gemmell, along with his wife, Brooke, took him in. Through the rehab, the three became close.
Gemmell hoped to help Buba stay in the U.S., and a lawyer advised him to obtain a Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa. The family went ahead. But before that process was complete, Buba turned 18 and his visitor’s visa had expired.
“He became unlawfully present,” says John Sandweg, a former general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. “He became illegal.”
The family wasn’t aware of this mistake until they traveled to Canada to apply for the new visa at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. Officials there looked at his case, immediately saw that Buba was in the U.S. without a valid visa, and banned him from returning to the States for 10 years.
“We were horrified,” Gemmell says. “My wife was in tears. So here we are in Ottawa. We have to put him on a train to Toronto to my hometown. Buba has never set foot on a train. It was so gut-wrenching saying goodbye. He was supposed to come back and play in the USL (United Soccer League).”
The Gemmells went back to Texas. Buba went to London, Ontario, to stay with Gemmell’s extended family.
“We all go to Canada and then I get rejected and they have to go back to the USA,” Buba says. “It was scary.”
Buba remains separated from his only family in the US while he lives in Canada.
KJ