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Ninth Circuit Decision Blocks Deportation of Somalis, On
September 17, 2003 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a January
decision that effectively bans the removal of Somalis to their country of
origin. This ruling affects more than 2,700 Somalis in the United
States who are facing deportation. The ruling
settles—at least temporarily—the uncertainty that ensued following an
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in May, when a three-judge panel
ruled that the United States could deport Keyse Jama, a Minnesota Somali
man, back to Somalia. At the
time, it was unclear whether the decision would have broader consequences
for other Somalis in removal proceedings in the United States.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
ruling overturned an earlier decision by Minnesota District Judge John
Tunheim, which stated that federal statutes prohibited Jama’s deportation
in the absence of a functioning Somali government.
This ruling provided the basis for a class-action suit filed in
November by Perkins Coie, a Seattle-based law firm, which sought to impose a
nationwide ban on Somali deportation. The
Western District of Washington Court Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle ruled
in favor of the deportation ban in January.
The most recent opinion by Ninth
Circuit Court in September found that the U.S. deportation statute required
acceptance by the government of the country to which an alien would be
deported. The ruling came as a
relief to many Somalis residing in the United Sates and represents an
important victory for immigrants’ rights. Hundreds of Somalis residing in the
United States have already been returned to their homeland.
Between 1997 and 2002, the former Immigration and Naturalization
Service (now divided into three agencies administered under the Department
of Homeland Security) deported some 200 Somalis, according to an INS
document released in November 2002. In February 2002, roughly a year
before Western District of Washington Court Judge Marsha Pechman decided to
ban Somali deportation, the United States and Canada deported more than 30
Somalis in a joint operation. At
the time, immigration officers transported the deportees from their homes
and detention centers across the United States and Canada to Niagara Falls
before transporting them on a chartered flight to the Somali capital of
Mogadishu. Immigration service agents left the deportees in a hotel in
Mogadishu. Many did not know
the capitol city any more than they knew the U.S. cities they had arrived in
more than a decade ago. Background Protracted civil conflict has mired Somalia in political
turmoil since 1991, leaving the failed state without a functioning
government for more than a decade. Fighting
between rival, clan-based factions and drought–induced food shortages have
claimed over a half million lives, displaced hundreds of thousands of
Somalis internally, and forced hundreds of thousands more to flee to
approximately two dozen countries, including the United States.
The security situation in Somalia
remains tenuous despite continued efforts to install a new transitional
governing body and stabilize the country.
Even in Somaliland, which declared independence from the rest of
Somalia in 1991 and has enjoyed a measure of stability and a functioning
government, incidents of violence have grown more frequent and security for
foreigners has deteriorated. In October, Italian aid worker
Annalena Tonelli was fatally shot in her home in Borama.
In another incident, an unidentified gunman shot two British teachers
working in a school compound. The
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator condemned the murder of the two
British international aid workers, saying that such acts of violence not
only threatened the lives of aid workers, but also jeopardized Somalis’
access to aid. The 2002 U.S. State Department Report
on Human Rights Practices reported that Somali UN workers were frequently
kidnapped for ransom in Mogadishu, and numerous civilians were killed in clashes
between factions in the capital. Many
of those knowledgeable of the human rights situation in Somalia feared that
Somalis removed from the United States to their home country would face
accusations of espionage or fall victim to kidnapping and extortion, possibly
resulting in death. In May 2002, the body of a Somali man recently deported from the United States was discovered near a Mogadishu factory. According to reports, the man had been kidnapped the previous evening. Future
Uncertain The Ninth Circuit ruling provides some relief, but the future
remains uncertain for Somalis facing deportation.
The U.S. government will likely appeal the decision to a larger group of
judges on the Ninth Circuit Court or to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Furthermore, while the class action lawsuit prohibits the deportation to
Somalia of people living anywhere in the United States, it excludes those
Somalis who have previously filed petitions challenging the legality of their
removal under the federal statute that requires acceptance by the country of
removal. Finally, while the ruling also upheld the decision to release four
Somalis who had previously been detained by the Immigration Service in
Washington State, the ruling does not extend to release all Somali class members
who are being detained. Authorities released two Somali
detainees, Issak Abdull and Ali Farah, from detention in Louisiana on October
23. A third Somali man remains in
custody. The three Somali detainees
filed petitions in mid-November 2002 that were still pending when Judge Pechman
issued her ruling in January. Some Somalis may still be held in immigration detention in locations throughout the United States. The Immigration Service has not been forthcoming with information regarding class members, despite repeated requests. A declaration submitted to Judge Pechman in January 2003 by David Venturella, Deputy Director for Detention and Removal Operations at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), indicated that there are over forty Somali detainees in roughly a dozen Service Districts in the United States. Venturella’s declaration did not provide information such as names and locations of the detainees. Action Many Somalis in detention may not be aware of Judge
Pechman’s ruling, which prohibits the government from indefinitely detaining
people who face deportation but whose countries of origin will not accept them.
Once Somalis in detention learn of the suit, they may be able to obtain
their release. However, the Bureau of Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s
refusal to provide the names and locations of the detainees impedes advocates’
efforts to seek release for Somali detainees. Somalis held by the Immigration
Service may be able to seek release from detention by filing a petition with a
federal court. To report
information on any Somali currently held in immigration detention, contact the
Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington at 206-723-2203 or by e-mail at liza@hatefreezone.org. (Milo Sybrant is Resource Center Coordinator at Somali Family Care Network) |
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