The Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. --
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said the case of a Pakistani
immigrant detained after taking pictures of a reservoir was
"disturbing."
Clinton, in a letter sent Monday to federal immigration officials, asked that
they consider requests from Ansar Mahmood's former neighbors in Hudson, N.Y. to
release him and allow him to stay in this country.
Mahmood, a pizza deliveryman, was questioned by authorities after taking
pictures by an area reservoir about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Mahmood, 26, said he was taking pictures for his family in Pakistan. No
terror-related charges were filed against him.
But investigators found he co-signed an apartment lease and registered a car
for an area Pakistani couple with expired visas. He was convicted in January
2002 of illegally harboring aliens and ordered deported.
Mahmood's fight, waged from a detention facility in western New York, has
attracted sympathy from people who feel authorities improperly rounded up
immigrants after the terror attacks.
Clinton, in her letter to Michael Garcia, assistant secretary for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, said "the facts as my constituents have relayed
them to me are disturbing."
Last month, Sen. Charles Schumer said he supported the "supervised
release" sought by Mahmood, under which he would avoid deportation and
check in regularly with the immigration bureau.
Bureau spokesman Michael Gilhooly said the agency would review and respond to
Clinton's letter.