(4/12) “The bus was stopped twenty minutes south of Canada. The...

(4/12) “The bus was stopped twenty minutes south of Canada. The agents were looking for Rahim when they boarded. When he arrived at the detention center, he was given one phone call. And there was nobody to call but me. I was devastated. I felt responsible for what happened. I could never tell my mother. But I made a call to my father, and he broke down in tears. ‘I threw away my son,’ he said. There was nothing I could do. I was seventeen. I had no money. And I was undocumented myself. I called everyone we knew in America, all my father’s friends, even random people. But nobody would vouch for my brother. Rahim was held for over twelve months in juvenile detention. In the beginning I could tell that he was extremely scared. He kept saying: ‘Bro, you’ve got to get me out. There are real criminals in here.’ But after a few weeks he began to make peace with the situation. He spent all his time in the prison library, reading as many books as he could. He taught himself to type faster. His English became better than mine. Every night he got a single phone call at 5 pm. No matter what was going on in my life, I made sure I was by the phone. Those conversations were important for both of us. I’d do everything I could to calm him down. To keep him sane, and entertained. We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, and our childhood. We talked about our family. We talked about how one day we’d bring Fatou here for treatment, when we were more stable. When he got out of prison, and both of us were legal. We talked about businesses we could start together. Most of them were teenage ideas: music stores, and clothing stores. The last thing I was thinking about was actually starting a business. I could barely afford to eat at that time. My only goal was to keep Rahim positive. To give him something to look forward to, and keep his mind out of the thing. But you have to be careful with Rahim. He’s the most determined person I know. When he sets his mind to something, watch out. He began working out in prison. When he first went in he was 230 lbs. But he exercised every single day. And by the time he came out, he was down to 160. He wasn’t my chubby little brother anymore.”