Adna Posted April 13, 2003 U.S. DISTRICT COURT: Judge blocks deportation of 4 Somalis BY TODD NELSON Pioneer Press A judge has blocked the deportation of four Minnesota Somalis, including one arrested in June during an interview with federal agents seeking leads to help counter possible terrorist plots. U.S. District Court Michael Davis also ordered the immigration service to release three of the men and left the fourth an opportunity to gain his release next month. "We're just happy that the system worked as well as it did, and they're overjoyed they're going to be released soon," said Kevin Magnuson, who with Minneapolis lawyer Jeffrey Keyes represents the four Somalis. The decision is the latest in a series of federal court rulings in Minnesota and other states that have found that removing Somalis to their homeland is illegal because the country has no central government, as U.S. immigration law requires. Somalia has been without a central government since civil war broke out in 1991, and an estimated 20,000 refugees who fled the fighting have settled in Minnesota. The Somalis who face deportation are subject to removal because of criminal convictions or immigration law violations. The rulings include a nationwide ban on Somali deportations ordered in January by a federal judge in Seattle. The ban, however, does not cover Somalis who already had gone to court to challenge the legality of the government's plans to deport them to Somalia, such as the four in the case before Davis. Citing a Supreme Court ruling that prevents the indefinite detention of aliens facing deportation, Davis ruled that the immigration service could not continue to detain three of the Somalis — Ali Gama Omar, Abdulkadir Sharif Abdi Mohamed, Mohamed Abdi Mohamed — because each had been in custody for more than six months and none was likely to be deported in the foreseeable future. The fourth, Mahad Mohamed Omar, can return to court to seek his release next month. According to court documents, Abdi Mohamed was arrested in June when he showed up for a voluntary interview with FBI agents, one of hundreds of such interviews authorities conducted with men from Muslim countries in the hopes of gathering information that might forestall future terrorist attacks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
