Thread: IRAN Refuses Felon Deportee

http://www.dicksonherald.com/apps/pbcs. ... 297/MTCN02

Saturday, 11/18/06

Iran-U.S. chill keeps felon free in Nashville
Some nations block deportations

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer


Local authorities thought Abbas Nejat would be deported after he shot a man in a south Nashville bar and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Instead, the 24-year-old is once again walking the streets of Music City after federal immigration officials released him from a holding center in Louisiana.




Legal experts say his return to Nashville illustrates a challenge faced by U.S. government officials who often can't deport citizens of some countries, even when those people break serious laws here.

"They said Iran didn't want me back," Nejat said of the reason he was not deported. "They said Iran didn't want to have no talking — nothing with this country, with America."

Federal immigration officials said Nejat, a Kurd who was born in Iran and came to the U.S. from Iraq 10 years ago, is not alone.

"There are countries that will not provide travel documents for their citizens to be returned," said Temple Black, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He declined to elaborate.

Nashville has an estimated 8,000 Kurds, the largest concentration in the U.S. Nearly all of them, authorities say, are law-abiding citizens.

Nejat has been arrested eight times since February 2002 and is on probation for burglary and possession of marijuana. The manslaughter case stemmed from a fight in December 2004 during which Nejat shot a man to death in a south Nashville pool hall.

Under a plea deal, he was given five years' probation and the year in jail that he had already served, court records show. His lawyer said in an interview this week that his client is not a danger to the community.

"My client was injured that night and his head was split open," said Nashville criminal defense attorney Paul Walwyn. "If he hadn't shot him, I don't know what would have happened. My client could have ended up in a coffin."

Walwyn, who often represents Hispanics and Kurds, said he was not surprised that Nejat was not deported.

"I knew he wasn't going to be deported," the lawyer said. "He's Kurdish. If he had been Hispanic, they probably would have deported him."

Iran is among a number of countries whose citizens cannot be deported, experts said. For example, Cubans and many Palestinians who are ordered deported from the U.S. cannot be returned to their homelands.

Under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, such deportees also cannot be kept indefinitely in federal custody. As a result, they are released in the U.S. until circumstances change.

"He is deported," said Rehim Babaoglu, a Memphis-based immigration attorney. "He's just paroled temporarily out into society right now because of the Supreme Court decision, but he can never get a green card."

The most vexing aspect of Nejat's case, local authorities said, was the lack of communication from federal immigration officials about the release.

On Oct. 10, Nejat walked into a Nashville probation office and told an officer that federal officials had released him from a holding center, according to a letter from an officer with the state Board of Probation of Parole.

"He furthermore explained that he was released on Oct. 6, 2006 because according to an immigration law no detainee can be held at the center for more than 180 days," the probation officer said in a letter written to Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier.

The lack of communication between immigration officials and local authorities has been an ongoing source of frustration, Dozier said in an interview.

"The problem I'm seeing is you can't get" federal immigration officials "to cooperate with us —when they deport, who they deport and at what point they deport," the judge said. "We're in the dark.

"You hear about somebody being deported for a drug charge. And now you hear they didn't deport somebody that's charged with a manslaughter. So, it's … kind of fly-by-night, hit-and-miss program, it seems, with the federal people."

Federal authorities had a duty to report Nejat's release to local officials, said one vocal critic of U.S. immigration policy.

"That, I would say, probably is bureaucratic incompetence," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who chairs the House Immigration Reform Caucus. "It is not unique to this case. Unfortunately, it is rampant."

In addition to checking in regularly with his probation officer, Nejat must check in with immigration officials every two weeks. He said he's working and doing everything he's supposed to.

"I'm not dangerous to the community," he said. "Right now I'm just trying to help my family. I live with my family and I'm trying to work for my family."

Davidson County District Attorney General Torry Johnson said he would rather not rely on convicted probationers to do the right thing.

"The good thing is, the ironic thing is, he's actually been pretty responsible, but that's no thanks to" Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson said. •





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He should be deported & just put off the plane @ the Tehran airport.

My head is swimming, with seeing the posts regarding border security from Mom & Taxbuster! Can we assume that you believe the democrat controlled congress will enact the kind of border security & handling of the illegal alien issue we want???

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:07 pm

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They want you to believe that it would be too expensive to remove all the illegals. But they fail to tell you how expensive it is going to be to keep them here!

During WWII we built Internment camps for German-American & Japanese-American citizens as a matter of National Security.

We need to use all this illegal work force to build new ones. The ones who are trying to become legal citizens, could recieve the help they deserve. The ones who need to be culled could be deported back to where they came from. It could be done in fair & organized manor. America could get the labor we need and we could keep the garbage out!

Put this Iranian trash on a plane back to Iran, who cares if they want him or not?

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:31 pm

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Actually we didn't fall for the fake "we'll build a wall without funding" prank before the election. Sorry Republicans, lie to me thrice, or however it goes...

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:11 pm

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Democrats have run the old bait and switch routine, they were tough on illegals before the election now that they are in power the border wall will be cancelled. Live and learn suckers!

Posted: Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:08 pm

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I wonder how many of these situations we have that their homelands don't even want them back?

THAT IS WHY .... we have to stop the flow immediately. Whatever it takes by all means necessary.

The UN needs to establish an international island prison, kinda' like Devil's Island. Then all we'd have to do is parachute drop all the perverts, crumbs, criminals, international rejects, et al., and tell their families to take care of them -- only by air of course. And to decimate the Mexican scourge, we could select every tenth Mexican and drop him there too. I'll bet the word would get around fast. Any country that wants them could simply visit and take the pick of the litter.