SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (Border Report) — Nabeel Younis needed just three semesters to graduate from Cuesta Community College in California’s Central Coast.
Younis, from Pakistan, received his diploma on Friday, about a year after a judge granted him asylum, and several years after he began his journey to the United States.
As Catholics, Younis and his friends say they fled Pakistan after being beaten and persecuted by Muslim extremists.
They ended up in Panama for a youth conference attended by Pope Francis.
In 2021, Younis and his friends left Panama for the U.S.-Mexico border.
Their journey took them on foot through northern Panama, Central America and Mexico where they were robbed, assaulted and jailed.
After a stay at a migrant shelter in Tijuana, they set off for Mexicali, about 120 miles to the east, where they crossed into the U.S.
The group was detained by Border Patrol agents who eventually took Younis to the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico, California. He would become separated from his friends.
But last May, after several court appearances and having to wear an ankle monitor, a judge granted him asylum.
During the asylum process, Younis lived with a sponsor, Fitzgerald Kelly, in San Luis Obispo, and that’s where he began taking college courses.
“Since I arrived in the United States it was always my dream to study in the U.S.,” Younis said. “I remember that when I first moved here the first thing I asked how can I go to college.”
Younis enrolled at Cuesta Community College where it would take him three semesters to graduate when most students need four.
“San Luis Obispo has become a second home for me, but I owe everything to Fitzgerald Kelly,” Younis said.
Kelly provided him with a home and stability but he stepped away from that role when a judge granted Younis asylum a year ago.
“His biggest advantage was that his English was so well-spoken, so he started off with a tremendous advantage over other immigrants,” Kelly said.
Once Younis got asylum, and with a work permit lined up, he got not one, but two jobs including a night shift at a Home Depot.
“I was riding my bike everywhere, two jobs and then to school, I was exhausted,” Younis said.
Eventually, Younis saved enough for a car giving him more independence.
But the first thing he bought with his savings was an expensive pair of tennis shoes, something he always wanted.
“The first money that he got, as soon as he amassed enough, he got Air Jordans,” Kelly said.
He didn’t wear them at his graduation, but he was definitely walking on air.
“It just seems like a dream, I still remember the day we were trying to enter the United States and all the difficulties that we had getting beaten up by cartels then getting detained, not only in Mexico, but also in the United States,” Younis said. “I just wanted to find a sanctuary where I could live a very peaceful life where I could practice my religion — let alone go to college and graduating.”
He says whenever he tells people his story, they always have the same thought in mind.
“They always ask why I haven’t written a book yet. When I tell them what’s happened to me, they say it’s totally unbelievable.”
Younis’ next chapters in life will be written at Cal State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California, about a two-hour drive south of San Luis Obispo.
“I’ve decided to attend there to continue my school work.”
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