ICE starts proceedings to deport Iraqi man cleared by magistrate of murder accusations
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Omar Ameen in 2014 shortly after immigrating to the United States. He has been in federal custody since August 2018.Courtesy U.S. District Court
Immigration officials began court proceedings Thursday to deport a Sacramento man to his native Iraq, where he faces trial, and most likely execution, for a terrorist murder that a federal magistrate says he didn’t commit.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement accuses Omar Ameen, who was granted U.S. refugee status in 2014 as a target of persecution and terrorist threats in Iraq, of defrauding the government by lying about his own alleged terrorist connections. Despite the magistrate’s findings, government attorney Sean Kersten told an immigration judge Thursday that Ameen “poses a danger to the community and a high risk of flight” if released on bond during the court proceedings.
ICE still seeks to deport Iraqi refugee despite conclusion of innocence in killing
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Omar Ameen, formerly of Iraq, as he appeared in 2014 shortly after moving to the United States.U.S. District Court 2014
After 2½ years behind bars, refugee Omar Ameen was ordered released to his Sacramento home last month by a federal magistrate, who said he was innocent of the terrorist murder of a police officer in his native Iraq.
But Ameen was instead handed over to immigration officials, who have locked him up and are seeking to deport him on the same charges to a country where, his lawyers say, he would be tortured and executed.