Deporting Immigrants After 9/11 Tore Families Apart and Shattered Communities
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Worlds Apart: How Deporting Immigrants After 9/11 Tore Families Apart and Shattered Communities Published December 2004 THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION is the nation’s premier guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS Nadine Strossen, President Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director Kenneth B. Clark, Chair, Executive Advisory Council Richard Zacks, Treasurer NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 125 Broad Street, 18th Fl. New York, NY 10004-2400 (212) 549-2500 www.aclu.org Paid for by the ACLU Foundation. Cover: Benamar Benatta at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center, Buffalo News Photo. Table of Contents Introduction . .1 Ahmed Abualeinen . .3 Ansar Mahmood . .4 Anser Mehmood . .6 Charities . .6 Benamar Benatta . .8 Shattered Communities . .10 Khaled Abu-Shabayek . .13 Khaled Albitar . .15 Khurram Altaf . .15 Mohamed Elzaher . .17 Naeem Sheikh . .18 Noor Hussain Raza . .19 Sadek Awaed . .20 Conclusion . .21 WORLDS APART An ACLU Report WORLDS APART: How Deporting Immigrants After 9/11 Tore Families Apart and Shattered Communities States filed a petition with the United Nations Introduction Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The petitioners alleged that: heir stories vary widely: some men • drove cabs, some delivered pizzas and The United States detained petitioners as Tstill others pumped gas. Some spoke suspected terrorists even where there was Urdu and others Arabic. Some came from tiny no evidence– let alone credible evidence – villages, others from major, cosmopolitan that they had engaged in criminal activity cities. Some had children who attended public of any sort. schools, speaking perfect English and playing • basketball with American friends. Others sup- The United States imprisoned petitioners ported their families in Pakistan or Jordan, under a “hold until cleared” policy that sending money for school fees, home repairs or effectively imposed a presumption of life-saving medicines. Many had been here for guilt. Under the policy, detainees were years, others for only a few months. held until the FBI decided that they were innocent. Compounding the injury, But the stories of these men are similar in some petitioners were detained even important ways. All came to the United States after the FBI had affirmatively cleared seeking a better life for themselves and their them of all charges. families. All were Muslim, from South Asia or • the Middle East. After September 11, all were The United States’ arbitrary and haphazard caught in a government dragnet that swept up arrest and detention policies were directed hundreds of Muslims indiscriminately. And all almost entirely against Muslim men of were denied basic rights normally afforded to South Asian or Middle Eastern descent. those detained in the United States and other • democratic countries. The United States denied petitioners access to counsel, failed to inform them In January 2004, represented by lawyers from promptly of the charges against them or to the American Civil Liberties Union and the law bring them before a judge, and categorically firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, a group of thir- denied them release on bond. teen men who had been detained in the United 1 WORLDS APART • The United States incarcerated petitioners All but one of the petitioners have now been in degrading and inhumane conditions. deported. And that is where this report comes in. Although the immigrants generally were detained on non-criminal immigration Many have been deported to countries where they charges, many were kept in cells for 23 haven’t lived in years, and where unemployment hours a day and were made to wear hand rates are high and salaries are low. Many have and leg shackles when leaving their cells. been harassed because of their connections to Some were kept in solitary confinement the U.S. or taunted for being deported. for extended periods with no explanation. Lights were left on 24 hours a day, immi- None of them were found guilty of any terror- grants were denied the use of blankets, and ism-related offense or connected in any way many were denied telephone calls and visits with the September 11 attacks. But the stigma with family members. remains. Sadek Awaed’s friends in Jersey City, New Jersey stopped speaking to him after the The UN Working Group has acknowledged FBI questioned them and suggested that he receipt of the petition and, at the Working was involved with terrorists. Asylum-seeker Group’s request, the State Department has Benamar Benatta, who is still behind bars in provided a formal New York, wor- response to some ries that the of the petitioners’ Although none were found to have a charges will haunt allegations. A connection to September 11, the him if he ends up decision from the Justice Department still boasts being returned to working group is Algeria. Anser expected in the that hundreds of immigrants “linked Mehmood’s next few months. to the September 11 investigation” young sons were have been deported. threatened and An earlier ACLU teased in their report, America’s New Jersey school Disappeared, discussed the roundups and for having a “terrorist” for a father. Although detentions. For many, the nightmare began none of the detainees were found to have a with their arrest. FBI and immigration offi- connection to September 11, the Justice cials dragged some people out of their houses Department website still boasts that hundreds in the middle of the night in front of fright- of immigrants “linked to the September 11 ened wives and children. Others were picked investigation” have been deported. up for being in the wrong place — like Ahmed Abualeinen, who was arrested by agents who The petitioners are not the only ones who are had come looking for his roommate but took still suffering the effects of the roundup. Their him instead. Still others were arrested after families, too, have been traumatized by what routine traffic stops. For many, it would be happened. Just ask Haneen, the 14-year-old days before they could contact their families U.S.-born daughter of petitioner Khaled Abu- with their whereabouts and weeks before they Shabayek. Her family moved to Jordan in 2002 could access legal help. The government after her father was detained and deported. “I refused to release the names of people it had can’t take it anymore, and I’m very angry,” she detained. Behind bars, many suffered from said. “Everyone [in my family], they’re always harassment and even physical abuse. angry, they’re not happy.” 2 An ACLU Report Or ask Anza, the nine-year-old daughter of Khurram Altaf. For the first time this year, she will not be able to attend the special school that accommodates her hearing disability — such schools don’t exist in Pakistan, where she moved after her father was deported. Their communities in the U.S. were nega- tively affected, too. Neighborhoods that were vibrant and full are suddenly half-empty and quiet. Merchants are struggling; many have been forced out of business. And people are scared that they could be the next to be awak- ened in the middle of the night by immigra- tion officials. With the help of the Pakistan Human Rights Ahmed Abualeinen working as a carpenter. Commission, the ACLU located some of the men who had been deported and went to His nephew, Hosni Abualeinen, lives in Pakistan to hear their stories. At a press confer- Raleigh, NC, and recently visited his uncle in ence in Geneva when the petition was filed, the Amman. He said that about a year ago, his men had another opportunity to tell their stories uncle opened a tiny grocery store next door to to the world. his house. “He’s making a living…barely,” said his nephew. He estimates that the store This report shares the stories of their families and communities. “If you gave him the opportunity to come back here, he would do it.” Ahmed Abualeinen brings in less than $1000 a month, which is not enough to support a family of five. (One of Abualeinen’s older sons and his wife and A voice in Arabic tells callers that Ahmed two children also share the home. The son Abualeinen’s telephone has been cut off. It works as a carpenter and sometimes helps out doesn’t say that it’s because he has no money in the family store.) Abualeinen’s wife is also to pay the bill. The family’s cell phone just working there — it is her first job outside of rings endlessly. It’s been cut off, too. the home. Abualeinen, 60, agreed to “voluntary” depar- But even after two years, said the younger ture to Jordan in May 2002, after spending five Abualeinen, his uncle is “really suffering months in detention. He had been living in the from the way he has been deported. He’s U.S. for nearly six years before that, supporting thinking for the last two years about being in his wife and their nine children by working as jail for five months.” a carpenter. 3 WORLDS APART His uncle, he said, is a simple man. He cannot “I’m a famous read or write, even in Arabic. He’s a family celebrity,” man, who stayed in the city where he first Mahmood arrived, and held the same job for six years. said, laughing at the irony. His nephew said that he is still hoping to come “That’s why back. “There is no other option whatsoever,” they’re going said Hosni Abualeinen. “If you gave him the to deport me. opportunity to come back here, he would do it.” More bad publicity.” Mahmood’s wide eyes and Ansar Mahmood baggy orange Ansar Mahmood jumpsuit After nearly three years in detention, Ansar make him look Mahmood was deported to Pakistan on Aug.