Thread: Ordered to leave, but forced to stay

Ordered to leave, but forced to stay
Diplomatic fights, red tape land many criminal immigrants back on the streets in the U.S.
By SUSAN CARROLL
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 13, 2008, 12:49AM

Rebecca Harrison clutched a red folder of court papers detailing her ex-husband's molestation conviction from 16 years earlier, waiting for her case to be called by a Harris County family court judge.

"I just can't believe it," she said, warily eyeing her ex-husband, Mohammed Malekzadeh, a native of Iran, as he sat on a wooden bench in the hallway outside the courtroom Tuesday. "We always assumed he would be deported when he finished his sentence. Everyone did. It's scary."

Malekzadeh was, in fact, ordered deported from the U.S. in 2001 while still serving a 30-year sentence in a Texas prison for drugging a teenage employee of his auto repair business and molesting her. But because of a diplomatic and bureaucratic stalemate with Iran, immigration officials were unable to secure travel documents needed to formally deport Malekzadeh after he was released from prison last year.

The repatriation problem is not unique to this case — or even one country.

An estimated 139,000 immigrants from eight countries — China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jamaica, Laos and Vietnam — have been ordered removed from the U.S. but have not been deported because of delays or refusals by foreign governments to issue the required travel documents. Of those 139,000, about 18,000 have criminal convictions, according to estimates provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to the office of U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.

Dent has co-sponsored a House bill that mirrors legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prohibit providing aid to countries that deny or unreasonably delay attempts to send back their citizens. The bills also contain provisions that would prohibit U.S. officials from issuing visas to people from countries that block the repatriation of immigrants.

Dent said the delays and denials by foreign governments have put convicted criminals eligible for deportation back on America's streets and have cut into the nation's immigration detention budget.

The House bill still is in the committee stage. The Senate bill is on the legislative calendar but has not yet been heard on the floor.

Even Malekzadeh, 59, is trying to understand why he's still in Houston. He was paroled from prison into the custody of immigration officials on June 28, 2007, and held in an ICE detention facility in Houston for about nine months until he was released this spring.

"I want to go. The (U.S.) government wants me to go," Malekzadeh said, adding that ICE officials contacted the Iranian Embassy nine times about his case. "There is no question about it."


Agreement with Vietnam
For immigration officials, sending immigrants back to countries reluctant to accept them is legally complicated.

In June 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an immigrant with a final removal order of deportation should not be detained longer than six months. To hold someone longer, the federal government must show that a foreign government will issue the detainee travel documents in the "reasonably foreseeable future" or certify that the person meets stringent criteria to be classified as a danger to society or national interest.

The decision came amid concern that the U.S. government was indefinitely detaining immigrants in detention centers, raising "serious constitutional concerns."

"We do everything we can to return individuals to their home country," said Gregory Palmore, an ICE spokesman in Houston. He said that includes trying to negotiate new repatriation agreements such as the one brokered in January with Vietnam. That is expected to lead to the deportation of 1,500 Vietnamese immigrants under final removal orders.

Immigration officials said they try to periodically review detainees' cases to comply with the Supreme Court decision. Attorneys and human rights advocates charge, however, that ICE still allows some detainees to languish in detention.


'Overwhelming' evidence
The situation is complicated by certain countries' paperwork requirements and political concerns when accepting deported citizens, according to an April 2006 report by the federal Office of Inspector General. Iran requires "overwhelming" evidence of nationality, while China, Jamaica and India have a "slow and problematic" process for issuing documents, according to the report.

Soponh Prashasouk, a refugee from Laos who was convicted of murder in Dallas County in 1995, was turned over to immigration officials in Houston in September 2007 after serving 10 years in a Texas prison. He was ordered deported by an immigration judge in 1999 but sued for his release from U.S. immigration detention in March, citing the lack of a repatriation agreement with Laos. Prashasouk was released from custody in April and now lives in Dallas.

Yebio Petros, a citizen of Eritrea, was transferred to the Houston ICE detention center on May 3, 2007, after he was released from prison. His East African homeland will not grant travel documents to anyone who lacks a passport or "blue identity card" issued after the country gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1991, according to the Inspector General.

Petros, who was convicted in Harris County in 2001 of aggravated sexual assault of a child and bail jumping, filed a lawsuit in June against ICE seeking release. His petition is pending.

Malekzadeh came to the U.S. on a visa from Iran in 1984 and married Harrison three years later. In February 1989, he was charged with indecency with a child for giving the 16-year-old secretary at his auto repair business sleeping pills and then molesting her while she was unconscious, according to court records.

He was convicted and sentenced by a Harris County judge to 20 years for the molestation and 10 years for fraudulent possession of prescription forms.


A desire to leave
When Malekzadeh went to prison in 1992, Harrison was eight months pregnant with their son, and the couple had a daughter who was still a toddler. The couple tried to reconcile while he was in prison, but their divorce in 2000 led to bitterness on both sides.

Harrison didn't realize Malekzadeh was still in Houston until Aug. 20, when she received a letter notifying her that her ex-husband was seeking a court order to have contact with their children.

The couple's 16-year-old son checked the state's sex offender registry and found that Malekzadeh lived about eight miles from Harrison's daughter from a previous marriage, a 24-year-old college student.

Harrison called Andy Kahan, director of the Houston Mayor's Crime Victims Office, asking for help. On Tuesday, Kahan stood with Harrison in the hallway of the family court and promised to call Specter's office to lobby for legislation on behalf of victims and their families.

Associate Family Court Judge Meca Walker called Malekzadeh's case and denied a request that the court question his son about the possibility of starting visitation. Walker said the parole board had prohibited Malekzadeh from having contact with anyone under 17. The judge said Malekzadeh would have to get permission from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to amend his conditions and then return to court.

Malekzadeh retreated to his attorney's office and took out stacks of files and old love letters from his ex-wife, offering them as evidence of a conspiracy against him. He said he wished to return to Iran.

"I don't want to stay here with this kind of life," he said, gesturing to the piles of paper at his feet. "This is not a life."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6054919.html

OPEN THE FEMA CAMPS FOR THE CRIMINAL"S ....

Red tape releases criminal immigrants to streets
Convicted deportees freed in U.S. because home countries won't take them

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Posted: October 13, 2008
5:08 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A federal report estimates 139,000 foreign nationals – 18,000 of them convicted criminals – who have been ordered deported remain in the U.S. because their home nations won't take them back.

The estimate from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials was provided to Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who told the Houston Chronicle many of the convicted criminals, without legal means to be held, have been put back on America's streets.

For example, Soponh Prashasouk, a refugee from Laos who was convicted of a Texas murder in 1995 was ordered deported in 1999, reports the Chronicle. After serving 10 years in prison, he was released to immigration officials. But after six months of waiting for Laos to reach a repatriation agreement, Prashasouk successfully sued to be released from immigration detention.

He now lives in Dallas, a free man.

Mohammed Malekzadeh, a native of Iran, was convicted of drugging a teenage employee of his business and molesting her 16 years ago. He was later released from prison, and, unable to be deported to Iran, he took up residence in Houston.

"I just can't believe it," his ex-wife Rebecca Harrison told the Chronicle after she was surprised by Malekzadeh suing for visitation rights with their children. "We always assumed he would be deported when he finished his sentence. Everyone did. It's scary."

Andy Kahan, director of the Houston Mayor's Crime Victims Office, has offered to help Harrison keep the illegal immigrant sex offender away from her family.

"Nobody can do anything to him, and he knows that," Kahan told the Chronicle. "He knows he's not going back, no matter what he does. He got the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card."

Immigration officials who hope to enforce deportation of criminal immigrants consistently face two obstacles.

The first is a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that an immigrant under deportation orders cannot be detained longer than six months without certifying that strict criteria are met classifying the alien as a danger to the national interest.

The second is the consistent practice of eight countries – China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jamaica, Laos and Vietnam – to drag their feet beyond the six-month time limit.

According to a 2006 report from the federal Office of Inspector General, Iran requires "overwhelming" evidence that a deportee is an Iranian citizen before the country will issue travel papers to return. China, Jamaica and India meanwhile, have a "slow and problematic" paper trail that tangles immigrants in red tape until after they are required to be released.

"We do everything we can to return individuals to their home country," said ICE spokesman Gregory Palmore to the Chronicle.

Palmore told the paper the agency's efforts include seeking new repatriation agreements with foreign countries, such as one brokered with Vietnam earlier this year that may enable ICE to deport up to 1,500 Vietnamese immigrants under removal orders.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle reports, lawyers and human rights advocates criticize and challenge the agency for allowing some immigrants to languish in detention beyond the six-month limit.

For some of the criminal immigrants, going back to their native land is preferable to living in the U.S. after prison.

"I don't want to stay here with this kind of life," Malekzadeh told the Chronicle.

"I want to go. The U.S. government wants me to go," he said, adding that ICE has contacted the Iranian Embassy nine times about his case. "There is no question about it."

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