Congressman says US detention of Palestinian activist is "inhuman act"

January 19th, 2018

Awake Goy

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, left, congratulates Amer Othman Adi in early January after Adi’s deportation was postponed. The joy was shortlived as Adi was detained by US immigration authorities on 16 January, a setback Ryan called an “outrageous, inhuman act.” (via Facebook)

Activists are calling for urgent action to stop the deportation of Amer Othman Adi, a leader in the Palestinian American community.

Adi, a businessman who has lived in Youngstown, Ohio, for decades, is married to a US citizen and has four US-citizen daughters.

He was “inexplicably ripped away from his loved ones and detained the morning of 16 January while attending a scheduled meeting with Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” an action alert from the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) states.

Adi, who owns a convenience store and hookah bar, has also been a long-time activist with USPCN.

“Treated like an animal”

Adi was accompanied to the ICE meeting by a member of Congress who has supported his case, and who expressed outrage at his constituent’s detention.

His imminent deportation marked an unexpected and frightening turn in what had until recently been a relatively good news story.

USPCN had invited community members to a farewell gathering for Adi on 6 January when it appeared there was no hope his removal from his community of 30 years could be avoided.

But then USPCN announced that “in an incredible turn of events, massive community pressure and the important work of US Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio” had succeeded in winning a stay of Adi’s deportation and a review of his case.

The planned farewell would instead be a celebration in a community that has shown Adi enthusiastic support.

Calling Adi a “pillar of our community,” Ryan welcomed the decision to let him remain in the US for the time being:

But elation turned to anger and shock, following Adi’s detention during what was expected to be a routine meeting with immigration officials. The congressman had accompanied Adi to the meeting in a show of support.

2/ The Administration didn’t even give him a chance to say goodbye to his family. I accompanied Amer to his meeting this AM in the hope that what is clear to the City of Youngstown would be clear to ICE: his case deserves a day in court & Amer is a valued member of our community.

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) January 16, 2018

3/ Instead, I witnessed firsthand the destructive consequences of President Trump’s willfully negligent immigration policies. A country that punishes those who wish to contribute will not find prosperity.

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) January 16, 2018

4/ We must do better. Not only for Amer, but for the countless other families in similar situations. For the 800,000 DREAMers who live in a state of limbo, wracked with fear and uncertainty, because of this Administration’s lack of empathy.

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) January 16, 2018

5/ Every American should be angered by what I witnessed today and what individuals are experiencing every day under the Trump Administration. This fight is not over.

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) January 16, 2018

Ryan called the government’s decision to detain Adi “the most outrageous, inhuman act I’ve ever seen in my entire career.”

“To see a man who has an American wife, four American daughters, lifelong businessperson, pays taxes, job creator, passes out 300 turkeys on Thanksgiving to the poorest people in our community, get treated like an animal today is disgusting,” the congressman said.

“Spectacle”

Ryan told local public radio station WOSU that there was no possible justification for the detention, as Adi had been prepared to leave the country if his legal options ran out.

“He had flights, he had his passport, he had an itinerary, all of which he submitted to the immigration service,” Ryan said. “And he would leave. If they said he couldn’t stay and he had to go, he would go. But instead, they make a spectacle out of it.”

“We were ready to go before,” Adi’s wife Fidaa told media. “We sold our house, we had plane tickets and were prepared to leave [for Amman, Jordan] when they said we did not have to. Then they do this. Are they deliberately trying to be cruel?”

While Ryan is a Democrat who has been critical of the administration’s high-profile immigration crackdown, WOSU noted that the local Republican Party vice chair, a Trump supporter, had also expressed her outrage at Adi’s detention:

I am all for appaled at what I just saw here at the Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) America should be better than this. My God I thought we were better than this.

— Tracey Winbush (@traceywinbush) January 16, 2018

The government accuses Adi of entering into a sham marriage to get permanent residency when the Jordanian citizen came to the United States almost 40 years ago.

Despite his offering evidence that his nearly three-year first marriage was genuine, he was first ordered deported in the 1990s, a decision he and his family resisted for years.

According to Adi’s lawyer David Leopold, the only issues reviewed by the government were “technical.”

Leopold maintains that the government has not looked at the evidence, which includes an affidavit from Adi’s first wife saying she was coerced into declaring the marriage had been a sham.

American entertainer Alyssa Milano has helped raise the profile of Adi’s case by tweeting about it to her 3.4 million followers:

WE NEED TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT PROTESTING THESE ACTIONS. THIS IS NOT ONLY UNAMERICAN IT IS INHUMANE.

“Adi is the owner of the Downtown Convenience Store and Deli and has been in the United States for 39 years.” https://t.co/fJ3IkwJ2Yl

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 17, 2018

Breaking up families

Adi is one of a number of longtime US residents who appear to be victims of the Trump administration’s determination to demonstrate its anti-immigrant bona fides.

On Monday – Martin Luther King Jr. Day – immigration authorities deported Jorge Garcia, who had been brought from Mexico to the US as a child 30 years ago, separating the 39-year-old from his wife and two children.

Garcia arrived in Mexico this week, a country he hasn’t been to in decades, leaving behind a traumatized family in Michigan.

On Tuesday, immigrant rights activist and father of four Jean Montrevil was deported to Haiti after living in the United States for more than 30 years.

That came just days after Trump reportedly referred to Haiti and African nations in a White House meeting with lawmakers as “shithole countries.”

And in Detroit, a church is offering sanctuary to Ded Rranxnurgaj, an immigrant from Albania who if deported would be separated from his wife who lives with multiple sclerosis and depends on him.

The US deportation machinery, which set new records during the Obama administration, has apparently kicked into even higher gear.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the federal government is planning a massive sweep aiming to deport 1,500 undocumented persons in Northern California, “while sending a message that immigration policy will be enforced in the sanctuary state.”

As one consequence of the US anti-immigrant crackdown, the number of deaths in ICE detention facilities last year hit the highest number since 2009.

Many of the detention centers are run by the GEO Group, the largest operator of private prisons in the US.