http://www.statepress.com/issues/2006/09/14/news/697683

Alamoodi locked in deportation battle
Former USG president says Saudi roots played part
by James Kindle
published on Thursday, September 14, 2006
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Yaser Alamoodi was supposed to host a party Friday.

Instead, two unexpected visitors came to his house two days before. They were Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and they were there to detain him.

Alamoodi, a former Undergraduate Student Government president and State Press columnist, is being held in the Eloy, Ariz. detention center awaiting an immigration hearing that could end in his deportation.

"I didn't expect this. I didn't ask for this," Alamoodi said in a telephone interview from the detention center. "I'm a law-abiding resident of this country."

Alamoodi first came to the United States from Saudi Arabia in fall 2001 to attend ASU. He married a U.S. citizen, ASU alumna Joy Hepp, in 2003.

In 2004, on Alamoodi's most recent entrance into the U.S., he entered on parole, a distinction that provided him time to become a permanent resident, said Russell Ahr, a spokesman for ICE's Phoenix District Office.

"[He was] paroled for the purpose of applying for [permanent] residency based on marriage to a United States citizen," Ahr said.

Alamoodi's residency application, however, was dependent on a petition of support from Hepp, Ahr said.

But earlier this year, Hepp filed for divorce, and on Aug. 9, she revoked her petition, she said. Without it, Alamoodi's pending residency application was denied.

Customs and Border Patrol was notified and they revoked Alamoodi's parole, Ahr said.

If his residency application - which he said he filed in 2003 - had been handled more quickly, the petition of support wouldn't have been an issue, Alamoodi said.

"To process my immigration [papers] promptly, it should only have taken two years. It [has taken] three and they're still not done," he said.

Alamoodi also said he believed his Saudi heritage played a role in his detainment.

"[There's] heightened scrutiny given to individuals of Middle Eastern backgrounds," he said.

Customs and Immigration Services, which handled the application, would not release information to anyone but Alamoodi's lawyer.

Ahr said that three years "is a long time," but said the processing time varies.

Alamoodi said he was never notified that he was going to be detained, but Ahr said the ICE unit that detained Alamoodi works on a "catch-as-catch-can" basis.

Because Alamoodi's parole was revoked, Ahr said he did not think Alamoodi would be eligible for bond. Ahr said he expected the trial to begin in the next few weeks.

"The government attorney and the counsel for the alien meet with the immigration judge ... to determine when's the earliest they can get together to argue the merits of the case," he said.

Alamoodi has been in contact with his lawyer through third parties, he said, but he did not know when his trial would begin.

Alamoodi could be deported to Yemen, where he holds a passport, or back to Saudi Arabia, Ahr said.

Deedra Abboud, director of the Freedom Foundation at Phoenix's Muslim American Society, said her organization is working to provide Alamoodi with legal counsel on his case.

Mae Innabi, current president of the Arizona chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said her group also has an attorney willing to take on Alamoodi's case pro bono.

Innabi, an integrative studies sophomore, said her group was currently looking into the details of Alamoodi's detainment.

"As of [Tuesday], ADC has put in an inquiry with ICE to find how long he's been detained and on what grounds and when his hearing will be," she said.

Alamoodi said both groups were providing him with legal advice.

"I'm going to be fighting it as long as I can," he said.

Reach the reporter at: james.kindle@asu.edu.