Mazahir Salih, the Immigrant Welcome Network director, speaks during the “Bring Fatou Home Now” rally Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Iowa City. Speakers demanded the release of Fatou Traore, an Ivory Coast native who has lived in Iowa City for more than 20 years. Traore, a legal U.S. resident, was detained by ICE on Sept. 24 while on her way to work. Michael Baniewicz/The Gazette IOWA CITY — Hundreds of people showed up Wednesday night to demand the release and return of Fatou Traore, a legal resident of the United States who was detained by federal agents in Iowa City and is now awaiting deportation to an African country she’s never visited.Traore, 43, has lived in the U.S. for 20 years. She was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on her way to work at the University of Iowa on Sept. 24.Originally from the Ivory Coast, Traore has been told she’s being deported to Sierra Leone, leaving behind a husband and four sons: Yousouf, 3; Boubacar, 8; Mamadou, 14; and Esoumaila, 19.Esoumaila Diallo held back tears Wednesday night as he told the story of his mother’s detention. His 3-year-old brother squirmed out of his dad’s arms and tried to climb through the banister below.“I get down, baba,” he said, using the Arabic word for dad.“This is Fatou’s son,” Fatou Traore’s brother-in-law Boubacar Diallo told those gathered for the “Bring Fatou Home Now” rally. “Look at him. How old? How old? Just guess. Not even 4.”“I want my sister back,” shouted Haby Diallo, who was with Traore when she was detained by unidentified ICE officers in unmarked cars last week. “I need my sister back. I want my sister back now.”Traore is in the United States legally on a 2011 “withholding of removal” order, which grants recipients legal protection from deportation to a country where they face harm or torture. She has no criminal history.Her husband, Oumar Diallo, 56, is from Guinea and in the U.S. legally on the same order.“I’m still worried,” Diallo said about his own safety from ICE detention. “I’m still scared.”Miller-Meeks’ letter Fatou Traore (center) and her family pose in Iowa City. Submitted During Wednesday’s rally, the speakers and crowd called on Iowa Republican U.S. Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks to use their power to help bring Traore home.Miller-Meeks’ office sent a letter Wednesday to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose daughter on Sept. 22 committed to wrestle for the University of Iowa in Iowa City.“Fatou is currently in the United States legally under a 2011 withholding of removal order and is a wife and mother of four children, with no criminal history,” Miller-Meeks wrote. “Deporting Fatou would deprive a young family of their mother and would violate the withholding of removal order, which allows Fatou to work and reside in the United States legally.”Again, Miller-Meeks said in her letter, “Stay the deportation of Fatou Traore and return her to her family.” People chant “Bring Fatou Home” during a Wednesday rally at First United Methodist Church in Iowa City. Michael Baniewicz/The Gazette ‘You are not alone’Before the rally, Esoumaila told The Gazette he spoke over the phone Wednesday with his mother — who is being held at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana.“I gave her an update on what’s going on right now and what we’re doing right here to try to get her freedom,” he said. “And she started crying, which I understand. She was definitely trying to hold in her tears at first, but they came out. She’s thankful for everyone that’s helping her.“She told me to make sure that we know that she’s really thankful.”And while Traore is sitting in a facility nearly 800 miles from her family, the friends, family, clergy and community leaders who spoke at Wednesday’s rally sent a clear message that she’s not alone, and her family is not alone.“We cannot pretend to know everything you are feeling tonight,” Heecheon Jeon, lead pastor of First United Methodist Church, said to the family. “But we want you to hear this clearly. You are not alone. Your mother matters. Your family matters. And we are here because we believe our community has a responsibility to stand beside you in this moment and in the days ahead.“Fatou is our neighbor. She is a mother of four children, beautiful children. She is a worker who has made her life here for more than 20 years. Now she faces a deportation to Sierra Leone, a country she has never known, away from her children, away from her community, away from the people who love her.”And it’s OK to be angry, said Iowa City Council member Oliver Weilein.“I want us to gather in anger, too, at what is being done to our community — not just Iowa City, but all over our country,” he said. “This is not normal. We should not be up with this. We should fight back.” Mazahir Salih, the Immigrant Welcome Network director, speaks during the “Bring Fatou Home Now” rally Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Iowa City. Speakers demanded the release of Fatou Traore, an Ivory Coast native who has lived in Iowa City for more than 20 years. Michael Baniewicz/The Gazette Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette. She can be reached at: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com