U.S. informant, Lebanese national deported after Essex County detainment N.J.

U.S. informant, Lebanese national deported after Essex County detainment

Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 7:00 AM
By Eunice Lee/The Star-Ledger

Courtesy of Veronica GarciaCharbel "Charlie" Chehoud was deported Wednesday, after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Essex County Jail since October 2010, agency spokesman Harold Ort confirmed.

A Lebanese national who had been a tipster for law enforcement, but then became tangled in green card issues when his marriage fell apart, has been deported.

Charbel "Charlie" Chehoud was deported Wednesday, after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Essex County Jail since October 2010, agency spokesman Harold Ort confirmed.

Chehoud’s status in this country came to question with the collapse of his marriage to an American woman, and now the willingness of another woman to marry him may determine if he can return.

Carla McBeath, Chehoud’s attorney, said Chehoud, 44, accompanied by two ICE officers, was sent back to Lebanon on Wednesday night.

Ort would not say where Chehoud had been deported or any other information.

Earlier that day, a group of immigrant advocates, community activists and local faith leaders held their 14th annual Ash Wednesday pilgrimage from the footbridge of Ellis Island in Jersey City to the Elizabeth Detention Center to protest immigrant detention, among other issues.

Chehoud’s fiancee, Veronica Garcia, has been an outspoken advocate calling for Chehoud’s release and was among the marchers who trekked 12 miles on the same day authorities deported Chehoud.

A resident of Jersey City since 1989, Chehoud arrived in the U.S. on a valid visa. He ran into trouble with immigration authorities after his marriage to a U.S. citizen fell apart and he did not have a green card.

Chehoud is still in divorce proceedings and McBeath petitioned for his release so he could finalize his divorce and marry Garcia, a Jersey City resident and his longtime partner.

Garcia said Monday she would visit Chehoud in Lebanon in March. Whether a marriage to Garcia would allow Chehoud to return to this country is uncertain, said McBeath. He would have to apply for a new visa, she said.

It was Chehoud’s tip in 2006 that cracked open a closed case and resulted in the arrest of two men, who were charged with aggravated manslaughter.

Chehoud tipped off authorities after a coworker told him about a fishing trip at Sandy Hook Bay in 1999 that resulted in the death of Michael Augulis. Augulis had been thrown overboard to make it look like an accidental drowning and the case had been closed, authorities said.

Chehoud also worked with the Jersey City Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit. In two separate letters, Sgt. Anthony Musante and Lt. Frederick Younger of Jersey City police, and then-Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin wrote to ICE officials saying how Chehoud had been an asset to law enforcement.

U.S. informant, Lebanese national deported after Essex County detainment | NJ.com