At 16, The Government Thought I Was a Suicide Bomber

Adama Bah immigrated to the United States with her family when she was two years old. At 16, she was arrested and labeled an imminent threat to national security by the FBI. Although there was no evidence presented, Adama spent six and a half weeks in a juvenile detention center in Pennsylvania. When she was released, her father was deported back to Guiana, and she dropped out of school to become the main breadwinner for her mother and siblings. This is how she was eventually granted asylum.