Biden Urged to Pardon Immigrant Rights Leader Ravi Ragbir, Who Could Soon Be Deported

Immigrant rights activists are urging the Biden administration to pardon longtime activist Ravi Ragbir, who has been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for potential detention and deportation since 2001. Ragbir has been subject to regular ICE check-ins for over two decades, each time facing the possibility of being taken into custody by the agency. “Once you go into that building, your family, your friends, your community don’t know if you’ll walk back out,” says Ragbir. We speak to Ragbir, his wife Amy Gottlieb and his lawyer Alina Das about his case and why they are calling on Biden to take action before the new Trump administration, with its promises to carry out mass deportations, has the opportunity to pose an even bigger threat to immigrants like Ragbir. A presidential pardon “will ensure that as a green card holder, Ravi will be able to remain here in the U.S.,” says Das.