by B. R. GOWANI
While awaiting deportation, French citizen Irene Bamenga, a heart patient, died in a New York county jail as a result of not getting proper treatment. PHOTO/WHDH
Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE
from undocumented people exacts a heavy price
tens of thousands of them in jails end up
with little contact with the outside world, yup
Irene Bamenga was one such person in a county jail
whose plight was miserable behind the ICE’s veil
that’s where an untimely death became her fate
for her required medicine, more she couldn’t wait
while leaving the United States she was caught
and was put in belly chain, handcuffs, and what not
as if she had committed Abu Ghraib kind of crime
she was put behind ICE bars to serve her time
her husband, Yodi Zikianda, had tried to help her
but the official phone recordings, how could he stir
on the twelfth day, her heart stopped to work
and so it was useless to expect her body to jerk
if she had been accused of committing a crime
the law wouldn’t have ignored her plea-chime
but in deportation cases, the law acts deaf and dumb
and in the process, makes its victims life-numb
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com