Thread: Ala-Palestinian couple in Alabama fights deportation

Palestinian couple in Alabama fights deportation

Jan. 28, 2009, 3:45PM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An immigrant couple with six children are trying to block the government's attempt to deport them and their oldest son from Alabama, arguing they are stateless Palestinians with nowhere else to go.

Mohammad Mohammad said he and his wife, Sana Alsayed, and their 18-year-old son, Imad Mohammad, were arrested Jan. 12 at their home in Hoover as the couple's five younger children — all U.S. citizens — watched. They were detained on warrants for failure to depart the country after being denied asylum in July 2001.

The father, who works as a handyman, has since been released from custody to care of the younger children — ages 6, 7, 13, 15 and 17. But the mother and son, a former track captain at Spain Park High School, are being held in a Louisiana jail.

A judge in Birmingham set a Thursday deadline for the government to show the mother and son should continue to be held.

The Birmingham News reported Wednesday on the plight of the Mohammad family. They have been in the United States since 1993.

A spokesman with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately return a message Wednesday.

Court documents show the family entered the United States with travel documents from Jordan and Egypt, and that Imad was born in Saudi Arabia. But as Palestinians, none has a passport or official nationality, the family claimed.

The Mohammads argued in court documents they should be released from jail because they are "not criminals, but only the victims of the world political circumstances as Stateless Palestinians."

Their attorney, Douglas Cooner, said in the documents that after the asylum denial the government "could not locate any country that would take this family and they would have left the U.S. on their own if they had a country to go to or that would take them."

Faculty at Imad's former high school have written letters to their congressmen urging his release. He is currently a student at Jefferson State Community College.

"I'm not exaggerating when I say that he is among the top, top students I've ever taught or expect to teach," said English teacher Burgin Mathews. "I am always inspired by the idea of where he's going to be in 10 years, so then to know how much in jeopardy that is, is so distressing."

Mohammad apologized to his son for bringing him to the United States in a phone conversation Tuesday.

"I said, `If I had known this would have happened to you, I would never have brought you here,'" the father said, his voice cracking. "My son came to this country at 2 years old. He doesn't know what he did. He's supposed to be in the college studying, not in the jail."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 35022.html

Mohammad apologized to his son for bringing him to the United States in a phone conversation Tuesday.

"I said, `If I had known this would have happened to you, I would never have brought you here,'"

Now that's what all IAs should be thinking...Pass the word!

Palestinian mom, son released from federal custody

Jan. 29, 2009, 9:32AM
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Federal immigration authorities have freed a Palestinian woman and her 18-year-old son to return to their Alabama home.

Sana Alsayed and her son, Imad Mohammad, had been in custody since Jan. 12 when they were arrested by immigration agents at their home near Birmingham. They were released from a Louisiana lockup late Wednesday after an inquiry by Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama.

The woman, her husband and their son came to the United States in 1993 and failed to leave after losing an asylum appeal in 2001. They claim they are stateless Palestinians with nowhere to go.

The couple has five other children who are U.S. citizens. The father was previously freed to care for them, but the woman and the oldest son had remained in custody.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 36469.html