Somali lands back in U.S.

[Paragon]

Posted on Sun, Apr. 24, 2005

 

Somali lands back in U.S.

 

Puntland officials turn Jama away; he ends up in jail in St. Paul

 

BY TODD NELSON

 

Pioneer Press

 

 

The government's four-year effort to deport Keyse Jama, a Somali national from Minnesota, has taken an unexpected U-turn after authorities in his homeland refused to admit him.

 

Justice Department attorneys disclosed only that Jama was on his way back to the United States when they addressed Jama's status Saturday during a teleconference with Jama's attorneys and U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.

 

Jama and private contractors that immigration authorities hired to fly Jama from Kenya to Somalia landed in the autonomous state of Puntland only to have local officials reject the deportation as illegal, according to a Somali-language report monitored by Abdirizak Bihi, a Somali activist in Minneapolis.

 

Another Somali activist, Omar Jamaal, reported receiving a call from Jama from the Ramsey County jail near downtown St. Paul late Saturday night, although jail officials could not be reached to confirm his presence. His Minneapolis lawyer, Kevin Magnuson could not be reached either, although he said he'd talked to Jama on Thursday and said his client sounded optimistic.

 

Tunheim issued an order last week prohibiting immigration authorities from changing their deportation plan without his review.

 

That plan initially called for immigration agents to accompany Jama on a chartered flight to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. The agents were to turn Jama over to a private security company that had contracted with the government to fly him into Somalia.

 

Jama, 26, was deported because of a 1999 conviction in Hennepin County for a third-degree assault that left a man injured. He challenged the government's authority to deport him to a country with no functioning central government. Somalia has been without a central government since a 1991 civil war left much of the country in the hands of feuding warlords.

 

The U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, rejected Jama's challenge in January, ruling that the government did not need a foreign government's advance consent to carry out his deportation.

 

Jama's case is being closely watched in the Somali community. Jama is the only one of 4,500 Somalis nationwide believed to be subject to deportation who is in custody. None of the others has been deported since the Supreme Court ruled against Jama in January.

 

 

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[NASSIR]

Jamaal-11, I can't seem to understand the title?

 

Is this the way the article was published?

 

Other than that, i am glad that Somalia turned down to grant refuge for the deported man. It deters other acts of unfair deportation.

[nuune]

^^^^ caaamir, the way I understood the title is it refers to Keyse Jamac,

 

Somali(keyse jamac) lands back in U.S.

 

I could be wrong!

 

 

back to the topic, I think Jamac is only few who are in a long list of deportation, so, we wish them for the best as forcing them back to Somalia is not a good option

[NASSIR]

lol, i can't figure out a subject and a verb.

 

My excuse for failing to discern the title is that I have been bombarded by the neo-terms of identity that people nowadays employ to identify themselves. I can't believe how pre-tuned audience some of us, including me have become. I am beginning to realize that our ways of thinking have been distorted by pre-recorded views.

[Nephissa]

I thought Somaliland was joining back Somalia. :confused: Tricky title!

 

Somali authorities never should have rejected him. Better be killed by a flying bullet in Somalia then sit in U.S jail and become someone's wife. People are getting deported for minor violations lately. They put you away faster than you can blink. Careful!

[NASSIR]

Originally posted by Bishaaro:

I thought Somaliland was joining back Somalia. :confused: Tricky title!

 

That is what i thought in my spar of thinking.

[Sky]

good!! we dont want dalkeena hooyo to be dump for somali criminals.

 

3500 other somalis in the us are gonna get deported too.

[Paragon]

Lol Caamir. I understand the title is confusing. It means Keyse was put on a plane to Somalia off the USA, but after refusal, he was brought back to US soil. So thats where the 'lands back' comes from, I guess!