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Thursday, November 14, 2002

Deportations of five Somali men postponed
Sending them home to war-torn nation is equivalent to death sentence, supporters say

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Five Seattle men who were scheduled to be deported today to Somalia, an African nation torn by a decade-old civil war, received a temporary reprieve yesterday, thanks to free help from the region's largest law firm.

Attorneys from Perkins Coie sought to keep the government from deporting the men, who were in custody for criminal convictions or for violating immigration law.

Some of their supporters said sending them home would be tantamount to a death sentence, given the lawlessness in Somalia.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service also is failing to abide by a federal law that requires the INS to have acceptance from the government of the receiving country before deporting someone to that country, the lawyers contended.

Somalia does not have a functioning government.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman yesterday granted a temporary restraining order, setting a hearing Nov. 22 on a preliminary injunction.

The INS did not have an opportunity to respond yesterday in court, but a spokesman said the agency follows legal requirements for deportation, including receiving permission from the deportee's home country.

"We deport people every day," INS spokesman Garrison Courtney said. "From an agency point of view, (the case of the five Somalis) is not an atypical thing."

It is to Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the Hate Free Zone Campaign, a civil liberties watchdog group in Seattle.

"In the case of Somalia, there's . . . no way for these people to be taken back," she said. "If they're dropped off in Mogadishu, they're going to be killed -- it's a war zone there."

The five Somali men, who range in age from 22 to 38, entered the United States between 1992 and 1997. The youngest and one of the oldest -- a community college student studying psychology and an AT&T employee -- had outstanding warrants for deportation.

They were "charged with lying to the INS and ordered deported," said Karol Brown, one of three Perkins Coie attorneys working the case pro bono, or without compensation.

The other three Somalis -- ages 24, 25 and 38 -- were convicted of drug charges, drunken driving and assault, she said. All had served their time and were eligible for deportation.

The Seattle attorneys are citing a federal case earlier this year in Minnesota, in which a judge ordered immigration officials not to deport a Somali man convicted of assault.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim ruled that it was illegal to send Somalis back to a country without a functioning government.

That case is under appeal in the 8th Circuit.

"If these guys were Kenyans, we wouldn't have a problem," said Kevin Magnuson, the Minneapolis lawyer who represented Keyse Jama in the Minnesota case.

"Kenya has a functioning government. (To be deported to Somalia) is really an added punishment. They're basically sentenced either to death or certainly a persecution they experienced before coming to the U.S."

The Minnesota case is only binding for Jama.

Still, "we've cited that to the court in our case, and suggested that this court should follow that same reasoning," said attorney Nick Gellert, who is working with Brown.

Gellert wants the men released and the government to make "efforts to find a country willing to take them."

Under federal law, a person could be deported to a country other than his native land, as long as that country accepts him.

A Somali man who is friends with one of the five men, most of whom have been held for the past week, said the scheduled deportation is causing fear to sweep through the local Somali community.

The lives of those deported are "at risk 100 percent for so many reasons" because of anarchy in Somalia, said the man, who did not want his name published. "People ask for money. (If) they don't have any, they will be killed."

Somalis also face danger if they come across those from a different tribe, he said.

The man has heard thirdhand from Somalis in Seattle that their relatives faced injury or death after being deported.

The instability of the country makes communication difficult and such anecdotes difficult to confirm.

Gellert said that some of his Somali clients told him that another group of Somalis were deported in February.

"By the time other attorneys heard about it, nothing could be done," he said.

Courtney, the INS spokesman, could not say yesterday how many Somalis have been deported this year.

He reiterated that nothing is unusual about the circumstances or timing of the pending attempt.

"When we're ready to deport somebody, we could be ready at any time," Courtney said. "Anybody is afforded their legal process."

P-I reporter John Iwasaki can be reached at 206-448-8096 or johniwasaki@seattlepi.com

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