TITLE: Palestinian Man Spends Three Years in INS Detention for Being Stateless

AUTHOR: Carol F. Khawly & Kareem W. Shora

ORG: American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

DATE: January 3, 2001

The ADC Legal Department is monitoring the immigration case of Mohammad Bachir, a stateless Palestinian , who has been in INS detention for the past three years. Mr. Bachir was forced to serve an indefinite sentence in INS detention as a result of a 1996 immigration law called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA). IIRAIRA requires deportation for non-citizens convicted of certain criminal offenses. However, this law fails to take into account those deportees who are stateless because they have no country to which they can return. Thus, when a stateless person is confined to mandatory detention pending a deportation, the result is a potential life sentence because the deportation cannot take place. Many of those affected have been Palestinian and Iraqi nationals. Mr. Bachir, an accountant by profession, immigrated to the United States in 1981. In 1985, he married a US citizen, had a son and became a legal permanent resident. Mr. Bachir was later charged and convicted of a criminal offense (parental kidnapping). Mr. Bachir was arrested by immigration officials and ordered deported in 1996. Unfortunately for Mr. Bachir, he is a stateless Palestinian. His family moved to Lebanon in 1948 and like most Palestinian refugees, was not given citizenship in Lebanon. Thus, when Mr. Bachir left Lebanon he lost his legal residency and Lebanon refused to issue him travel documents to return. Consequently, immigration officials cannot deport him. Mr. Bachir now faces a potential life sentence for being a stateless Palestinian who has no country to which he can be deported. Mr. Bachir's wife and ADC have made every attempt to have INS release him but have faced numerous obstacles. At one point, immigration officials attempted to justify his detention by accusing him of being a terrorist. In another instance, immigration officials attempted to blame his detention on his wife and informed ADC that if his wife requested his release that they would release him. His wife immediately contacted immigration officials and informed them that she wants her husband released, but INS refused citing that he "might retaliate" against them for "trapping him". Recently, INS officials informed and assure Mr. Bachir that he would be released before Christmas so that he can spend the holidays with his family. However, at 6 a.m. on the day of Mohammad's intended release and with his bags packed, the INS changed its mind again, citing without evidence, that he is a "danger to society." Mr. Bachir is now on a hunger strike in Etowah Detention Center, in Gadsden, Alabama. The ADC Legal Department urges attorneys, law students, and all those who oppose indefinite detention to call Mr. Dave Venterella, INS Assistant Commissioner for Detention at (202)-514-1970 or write him at the US Department. of Justice, INS, 425 I. Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20536 and demand the release of Mohammad Bachir (A-41-796-593). Carol F. Khawly, J.D., Kareem W. Shora, J.D. Legal Advisors, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination, Committee Legal Department, 4201 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20008, U.S.A. Tel: (202) 244-2990, Fax: (202) 244-3196 E-mail: legal@adc.org END top