We have a couple of options here when it comes to helping this team out legally, both seem to have been suggested in so many words. First we can get a lawyer (presumably with ties to the FIRST community) to take the case pro-bono. Second we can set up a legal defense fund for him.
There might also be legislative routes to attacking this problem. Representative
Charles Rangel represents most of East Harlem, and based on where he stands politically should be a strong advocate for Amadou. State and local officials do not have much say in immigration hearings but it can't hurt to contact them as well. The NY Assemblyman representing Harlem,
Adam Clayton Powell IV, posts almost all of the articles on his website in both English and Spanish, the latest of which is titled "Immigrants Rally for More Rights". The relevant state senator is either
Jose Serrano or
David Paterson (or both). East Harlem's city council representatives are
Inez Dickens and
Melissa Mark Viverito. There is also Mayor
Michael Bloomberg.
Organizations already aligned with the team include the affiliated
Central Park East Secodary School and
East Harlem Tutorial Program, and the title sponsors
NASA and
Bloomberg LP.
Weichert Realtors Peters Associates also sponsors the team and provides several mentors.
New York City First is the regional FIRST organization. According to the article, the team's founding mentor Kristian Breton is a FIRST Alum from Mountain Home AR, which means that he probably knows somebody on
FRC Team 16 Baxter Bomb Squad and somebody on Team 16 knows him.
Finally, there is
City Tech, the college that accepted Amadou.
Petersons puts the annual estimated cost at $9922 for in-state residents as of the 2002-2003 school year. Amadou lives in New York and attended high school there for two years, so he is eligible for in-state tuition rates according to the
New York Immigrant Coalition FAQ. According to the same site, to claim in-state residency he must file an affidavit stating intent to file an application for legal residency, and he must demonstrate proof of domicile (a high school transcript will do). The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has a
list of scholarships that are available to the undocumented.
The team has a
newsletter up on their webpage.