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City liaison to Islam caught in INS snare
gomemphis.com ^ | David Waters

Posted on 01/15/2003 9:39:43 AM PST by Sir Gawain

City liaison to Islam caught in INS snare

By David Waters
waters@gomemphis.com

January 15, 2003

To many Christians and Jews in Memphis, Dr. Nabil Bayakly is the face of Islam.

Bayakly, born and raised in Lebanon, is a soft-spoken, studious and prayerful man who has lived in Memphis since 1991. He and his wife have four Memphis-born children, ages 8 months to 10 years.

Bayakly (pronounced by-OCK-uh-lee) earned a doctorate in biology at the University of Memphis in 1995. He's taught at the U of M and at Memphis Theological Seminary. He speaks fluent English and Arabic.

"Nabil is our go-to guy," said Jim Foreman, executive director of the National Conference for Community and Justice, which organizes many interfaith gatherings.

"Whenever we need someone to represent or explain Islam, we turn to Nabil. He's rational and highly educated. He's very committed to reaching out and helping all of us understand each other.

"In the past few years, Nabil has emerged as one of the leading voices of our interfaith community."

None of that mattered last Wednesday when Bayakly walked into the local office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

For several hours, Bayakly was photographed, fingerprinted and questioned about his family, his associations and his finances.

Later that evening, he was taken out in handcuffs and driven to a nearby prison, where he was detained until his attorney posted a $7,500-cash bond the next morning.

"I had this happen to me once before, years ago in Lebanon, when I was arrested and detained by the Syrian secret police just because I was a Muslim," Bayakly said.

"The attitude of the INS agents last week was the same as the Syrian police. The only difference is that the INS agents didn't beat me."

INS agents won't talk about Bayakly's case. They won't talk about anyone's case.

But it's clear Bayakly is another victim of the federal government's "special registration" fiasco for men from Muslim countries, which began last November.

More than 500 men have been detained. Fifty are still in custody. Religious and civil liberties groups have criticized the process and say that good, law-abiding, pro-American people are being penalized for INS screw ups.

"Basically, what this has become is an immigration sweep," Juliette Kayyem, a terrorism expert at Harvard University, told The Washington Post.

"The idea that this has anything to do with security or is something the government can do to stop terrorism is absurd."

What happened to Bayakly is absurd.

Bayakly, 42, came to America in 1979 on an F-1 student visa. He earned degrees at Boston University, the University of Louisiana and the U of M.

In 1996, he got an H-1 professional worker visa and began teaching biology and Arabic at the U of M. That visa expired May 19.

Bayakly had hoped to get a tenure-track position at the university, which would have allowed him to apply for a green card.

But last April, Bayakly was told the university didn't have enough funding. So, before his H-1 visa expired, Bayakly applied for an R-1 religious worker visa.

Bayakly is a founder and director of Masjid AnNoor, a small, quiet mosque near the university. He teaches the Koran and Arabic.

Bayakly didn't hear from the INS until October, when he was asked to send more documents. He did and kept waiting.

In December, the federal government ordered male foreign nationals from Lebanon and 11 other Muslim countries to register with the INS by Jan. 10.

Bayakly, who has held valid visas since 1979, already is in the INS computer system. Didn't matter. He had to go get in line and register.

He waited as long as he could in hopes the INS would let him know about a new visa. He was nervous about showing up with an expired visa. He went anyway. He wanted to follow the rules.

For his trouble, he was photographed, fingerprinted, questioned, and finally, arrested for having an expired visa.

Bayakly said he tried to explain that his visa application was pending.

He tried to tell the agents that he had lived here since 1979 and paid his taxes and supported his family and had never been in trouble with the law.

He showed agents letters of recommendation from the NCCJ and the Memphis Mayor's Office.

He told them he had helped the FBI translate bio-terrorism manuals after Sept. 11.

None of that mattered.

"I was insulted and ridiculed and humiliated," Bayakly said.

"They told me I was illegal and I had no rights."

Which isn't true, of course.

INS officials in New Orleans said they couldn't comment on Bayakly's case. They did say that an expired visa isn't necessarily grounds for an arrest or detention.

"If you reapply for a visa before your visa expires, you have a legal pending status," said Sarah Mouw of the INS office in New Orleans.

Bayakly hopes his attorney can cut through the bureaucracy and get his status cleared up.

Until then, all he can do is wait and hope that the country that has embraced him since 1979 won't turn its back on him now.

"I haven't told my children yet. I don't want them to know that their father was in jail like a common criminal," Bayakly said.

"I don't want them to know that this can happen in America."

Do we want to know this can happen in America?

Contact columnist David Waters at 529-2399 or E-mail waters@gomemphis.com. Faith Matters runs on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.


TOPICS: Government
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1 posted on 01/15/2003 9:39:43 AM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: Sir Gawain
Boo hoo. And may I add hoo.
2 posted on 01/15/2003 9:42:55 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Sir Gawain
Why would a nice Muslim boy want to live in Dar al Hab? (The land of the infidels)
3 posted on 01/15/2003 9:48:32 AM PST by Mamzelle
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To: Sir Gawain
I always feel that I am in a 3rd world country when I am in Memphis. I guess this proves I am right
4 posted on 01/15/2003 9:52:27 AM PST by sticker
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To: Sir Gawain
"The attitude of the INS agents last week was the same as the Syrian police. The only difference is that the INS agents didn't beat me."

And that's all the difference in the world, isn't it?

There's more to this story, I don't know what it is but, there's definitely more to it.  My wager is that he lipped off at some point, or he didn't actually apply for the new visa when he says he did.

Something else is involved.

5 posted on 01/15/2003 9:55:05 AM PST by Psycho_Bunny
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To: Sir Gawain
"I was insulted and ridiculed and humiliated," Bayakly said.

You can tak'em out of the culture but you can't take the culture out of 'em

6 posted on 01/15/2003 9:56:25 AM PST by Diana Rose (4GOT10)
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To: Diana Rose
"Do we want to know this can happen in America?"

The Sept 11 thing that is...

7 posted on 01/15/2003 10:15:57 AM PST by observer5
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Sir Gawain
"I had this happen to me once before, years ago in Lebanon, when I was arrested and detained by the Syrian secret police just because I was a Muslim," Bayakly said.

Ya, those Buddist Syrians can be vicious. Laughing out loud!!

9 posted on 01/15/2003 12:38:24 PM PST by aimhigh
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To: Sir Gawain
"I was insulted and ridiculed and humiliated," Bayakly said.
"They told me I was illegal and I had no rights."

INS officials in New Orleans said they couldn't comment on Bayakly's case.

The confidentiality laws need to be fixed. Once a person goes public about their dealings with a government agency, the agency should be free to let the facts out.

10 posted on 01/15/2003 12:41:31 PM PST by aimhigh
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To: Psycho_Bunny
"Something else is involved"
Lets hope you are correct; otherwise it sounds like this guy is getting treated pretty shabbily. If it happened to me I would be fighting mad.
11 posted on 01/15/2003 12:42:54 PM PST by Adder
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To: thinden; honway; Shermy
This might interest you...
12 posted on 01/15/2003 12:57:32 PM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: Adder
Shabbily? Lets see he came on a student visa in 1979 and then in 1996 got an H-1 visa, what did he do in the meantime, was he still in status as a 16 year (lifelong) student when he got his doctorate in biology in 1995?

He has been out of status for over 8 months. He should have left the country when his Visa expired. He should have left to his fatherland which treats him so well and waited for a new visa. He was never admitted as an immigrant only as a non-immigrant according to the article.


We need to change the law allowing children born in the US of foreign parents to be US citizens, it is a time bomb.
13 posted on 01/15/2003 1:08:18 PM PST by rolling_stone
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To: Lion's Cub
http://www.newgomemphis.com/newca/local/waters/e4faith.htm

Last week, I stopped over at the Masjid AnNoor, home of the Muslim Students Association of Memphis.

I sat and talked to Sheikh Mohammad Zaghloul, the mosque's spiritual leader, and Dr. Nabil Bayakly, who teaches at the University of Memphis and LeMoyne-Owen College.

14 posted on 01/15/2003 1:18:29 PM PST by honway
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To: Sir Gawain
"The idea that this has anything to do with security or is something the government can do to stop terrorism is absurd."

Well I don't agree. I have read at least a dozen paragraphs, and although the author took great pains to describe this man's "Memphis-born" children, he has yet to mention whether the subject is here legally or not.

What columnists omit often speaks as loudly as what they choose to include.

I hope my question will be answered before reaching the end of the article, but being "mean-spirited" I expect it will not be.

15 posted on 01/15/2003 1:34:51 PM PST by Publius6961
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To: Lion's Cub
Muhammad Iqbal Shafi, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology &
Chair, Division of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science

LeMoyne-Owen College

16 posted on 01/15/2003 1:36:28 PM PST by honway
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To: honway
Thanks for your #16. I'll freepmail you about the other later, as I have to get off-line shortly for a while.
17 posted on 01/15/2003 1:46:49 PM PST by Lion's Cub
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To: Lion's Cub
From: Muhammad Shafi
Date: Sun Nov 18, 2001 5:58 pm
Subject: Re: [Memphis Dawah] Ramadan Mubarak
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18 posted on 01/15/2003 1:51:30 PM PST by honway
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To: rolling_stone
I believe I read in the article that he has an application pending and that it has been pending for some time. It would be nice if the INS at least knew that the man was telling the truth but ...and again this is only from the article....that they did not know. I think it is wrong for him to be arrested, handcuffed, and thrown in jail because the INS had not acted on his application apparently for MONTHS. There have been several incidents like this where the INS keeps these folks in a red-tape limbo and then cracks down on them for not being in compliance. It more like a catch-22.
19 posted on 01/15/2003 2:03:43 PM PST by Adder
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To: All
National Day of Silence for the Children of Iraq
Veterans Day, 2000
Nov 11

National (U.S.) Mission Statement

We the undersigned, as Americans of conscience, insist that the economic sanctions targeting Iraqi civilians be lifted immediately. We further insist that the Iraqi people who have suffered from the sanctions be duly assisted and compensated for the cruelty to which they have been subjected. We assert that the voice of the American people has not been heard in this regard, nor is it being represented. We pledge to honor the Hour of Silence (12-1 p.m. pacific standard time, November 11, 2000) in prayer and reflection of the plight of the Iraqi people.

Signatories

Sign up

1275. Nadeem Shafi, Memphis, TN

______________________________________________________

American Airlines Flight 587 crashed on Veteran's Day 2001.

20 posted on 01/15/2003 2:20:23 PM PST by honway
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