Who would want to deport cats?
Posted on 11/15/2002 2:06:20 PM PST by grimalkin
SEATTLE – A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Immigration and Naturalization Service from returning five immigrants to Somalia, after their lawyers argued that the INS can't deport them to a country that effectively has no government.
The five men, who have been convicted of crimes or immigration violations, had been scheduled to be moved from Seattle to El Paso, Texas, on Thursday, before being deported to Somalia sometime later.
But at the request of the civil liberties group Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington, lawyers from the Seattle-based firm of Perkins Coie took on their case, filing an emergency petition in U.S. District Court on Wednesday. Late in the day, Judge Marsha Pechman granted a temporary restraining order barring the INS from deporting the men. She scheduled a hearing for Nov. 22.
"When people are deported, the INS has to follow some basic steps," said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the Hate Free Zone Campaign. "You can't deport somebody back to a country without getting permission from the country. There is no government in Somalia to give permission."
The U.S. State Department acknowledges as much in its description of the country on its Web site: "Somalia is a developing country in the Horn of Africa. It has had no government since the onset of civil war in 1991."
Somalia does have a transitional government, but it is not considered effective.
The attorneys pointed to a case in Minneapolis last March, when a federal judge ruled that a Somali man convicted of assault could not be deported, as Somalia lacked a government to accept him. That case is on appeal in the 8th Circuit.
Seattle INS spokesman Garrison Courtney said Thursday that the agency's policy in deportations is to follow guidelines for international travel. Since Somalia doesn't require travel documents for entry, he said, the INS doesn't have to seek permission to return the men.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis rejected that argument, saying "the silence of a nonfunctioning government in a lawless territory – with grave risks to the deported alien – cannot constitute acceptance."
But Courtney said that ruling has no immediate bearing on the Seattle cases because it's in a different jurisdiction.
"At this time, we're preparing to deport them, but obviously we're going to do whatever the court recommends," Courtney said.
The five men, all of Seattle, are Yusuf Ali Ali, 32; Gama Kalif Mohamud, 24; Mohamed Hussein Hundiye, 22; Ahmed Noor Yusuf, 36; and Mohamed Aweys, 25.
They entered the United States between 1992 and 1997, Jayapal said. Three were convicted of drug, drunken driving or assault charges; the other two were found to be violating immigration laws.
"Regardless of the convictions, the same laws apply," Jayapal said. "Somalia's a war zone. There's no way for these people to be taken back. They'll be killed."
One of the men, Aweys, said he came to the United States seven years ago from Finland, where his family was granted refugee status. His father, he said, had been the chief engineer in the Somali Air Force under President Mohamed Siad Barre, who ruled from 1969 until civil war broke out in 1991.
In a telephone interview from the federal detention center in Seattle, Aweys said he graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Seattle and had been attending South Seattle Community College when the INS picked him up – for the third time – Nov. 7.
He has no criminal record; worked for about two years at Trim Systems, a company that makes parts for heavy-duty trucks; and was seeking asylum in Seattle, where his grandfather and several other relatives live.
"It's very, very dangerous to be in Somalia," Aweys said. "I don't ever want to pick up a gun, and if you don't have a gun, there's no way you can live in Somalia. If I go back to Somalia I will lose my life.
"Instead of wasting time by sending me back, why not execute me right here?" he asked.
Who would want to deport cats?
Send them to another muslim country, asap. We have too many Somalis here already.
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