seattlepi.com
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."
Posted by Suzanne at November 14, 2002