|
(Ansar
Mahmood Defense Committee, May 18) Ansar has been detained administratively
for over 2 years. His fight in the courts is over. The Department of Homeland
Security must decide in the next few days whether to ship Ansar to Pakistan,
or let him rejoin his community here by granting him deferred action (a
status that allows him to return to his life & work in upstate New York).
Please help us by calling the officials who decide Ansar's fate. Stop Deportation of
Political Detainee Ansar Mahmood (Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee, May 18) Thanks to your help, the
campaign against Ansar Mahmood's deportation (see fact sheet below and www.chathampeace.org)
has gained the support of elected officials including Congressmen Rangel
and Hinchey,
and Senators Schumer and Clinton.
The Washington Post, the Guardian, and NBC are among the
dozens of domestic and international media outlets that have spoken out
against the detention and deportation of this young Pakistani man who was
caught in the post 9/11 dragnet. We have collected hundreds of letters of
support, asking Homeland Security to free Ansar. Now we need to step up the
pressure - one last time. Ansar has been detained administratively for over 2 years. His fight in
the courts is over. The Department of Homeland Security must decide in the
next few days whether to ship Ansar to Pakistan, or let him rejoin his
community here by granting him deferred action (a status that allows him to
return to his life & work in upstate New York). Please help us THIS THURSDAY, MAY 20th FROM 2-4 P.M. by calling the
officials who decide Ansar's fate. (If it's impossible for you to call during
those hours, please call at another time during that day.) Below are the
numbers to 2 key officials, and a statement you can read to express your
support: *** I urge the Department of Homeland Security to grant deferred
action to Ansar Mahmood, a young Pakistani man caught in the post 9/11
dragnet. Before being detained he was living and delivering pizza in Hudson,
NY. His community and his supporters around the world have been fighting for
his freedom for 2 years. I am outraged that the government is pouring my tax
dollars into the detention and deportation of our neighbors and friends. Give
Ansar back! *** CALL IN TO: · Victor Cerda, Detention & Removal
Office, 202.305.2734 or 202.514.4922 · Bill Cleary, Buffalo Immigration &
Customs Enforcement, 716.551.4741 x 2530 For more information on how to support this campaign,
contact: · Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee: Susan
Davies @ 518.392.9477 or Bob Elmendorf @ 518.766.2992 · Families for Freedom: Aarti Shahani @
212.898.4121 Also see: www.chathampeace.org And, please, pass this on to others who might be sympathetic to Ansar
Mahmood's cause. Thanks! --------------------------------------- ANSAR MAHMOOD FACT SHEET Ansar Mahmood is from Moinud-Din-Pur, Pakistan. He was born on August 4,
1977. He has five brothers and three sisters. The family is a low-income
family--they have a small two to three room house. His father was in the
military, a non-commissioned officer and also did some agricultural work. His
father is now in fragile health having suffered a stroke. Because his family
highly values education, Mr. Mahmood attended college and one of his central
goals in helping his family financially is to make it possible for his
sisters to get a decent education. Mr. Mahmood came to the US on April 22, 2000, when he won a green card in
a diversity "lottery." He settled first in Salisbury, MD and then
moved to Hudson, NY. In Hudson, he got a job working for a pizza parlor. He
worked overtime in order to send $400 to $500 monthly to support his parents
and younger sisters in Pakistan. He loved Hudson because of its beauty and
because he felt he was treated as an equal whatever his economic background. Mr. Mahmood's Arrest and How His Case Developed On October 9, 2001, Mr. Mahmood stopped in his pizza delivery rounds at
the water treatment facility center in Hudson, NY. He asked a worker there to
take his picture in front of the facility because there was a beautiful view
of the Catskill Mountains behind him. He wanted to send home a picture to his
family in Pakistan. But the guards--suspecting that this young Pakistani man
might be planning to poison the water system--called the police. At one of
his next deliveries, he was called back to the pizza parlor where a policeman
questioned him and he was put in the Hudson jail overnight. On October 10, 2001 10-12 law enforcement officials from the FBI, the New
York State Police and other agencies interrogated him without benefit of an
attorney. From Oct 10 to 16 he was locked up in the county jail. For his last forty
hours in jail he received no food. His apartment was searched and papers were
found showing he had helped two fellow immigrants from his hometown get a job
and a car, and co-signed on a lease for them. They had come into the US
legally but had overstayed the terms of their visas. They were picked up by
the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on October 10 2001 and
deported. On October 16 Mr. Mahmood was cleared of any terrorism charges. On October 18 Mr. Mahmood was released on $10,000 bond and required to
appear in court once a week. On January 25, 2002 Mr. Mahmood's court-appointed public defender advised
him to plead guilty to "Illegal Harboring of Aliens." By doing this
he gave up his right to appeal. He was sentenced to time served and 5 years
probation. Immediately after his conviction Mr. Mahmood was kept in the Albany County
jail for twelve days, and then shipped to Buffalo Federal Detention Center
(Batavia, NY). INS charged Mr. Mahmood as being removable from the United
States in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. On July 17, 2002 the INS ordered him deported. His immigration lawyer
Rolando Velasquez appealed the decision. The Board of Immigration Appeals
denied his appeal. In April 2003 Judge David Hurd of the Northern District of
New York dismissed Mr. Mahmood's move to vacate the underlying Community Support and Media Interest Since the summer of 2002 the Hudson Peace Vigil has been advocating for
the release of Ansar Mahmood. In late April 2003 citizens from across
Columbia County began to form a committee to work to stop the deportation of
Ansar Mahmood. By the end of June 2003 a committee of 30 people had formed to
support Mr. Mahmood. Their work has included a petition drive, community
meetings, talking to politicians, talking to the media and networking with
other organizations and individuals across the country. Mr. Mahmood's case has received extensive national and local press
attention including: 1. Hanna Rosin. Ansar
Mahmood's American Dream, Washington Post, September 28, 2003 (This is her
third article about Mr. Mahmood) 2. Ellen Wulfhurst. New
York Town unites to help immigrant fight deportation, Reuters, October 28,
2003 3. Brian Mann. All
Things Considered Profile, National Public Radio, August 5, 2003 4. Gabe Pressman. WNBC,
NYC aired a two-part piece on Mr. Mahmood. October 14 and 16, 2003 5. Free Ansar Mahmood.
Washington Post editorial. March 27, 2002 (The Post wrote two editorials
supporting Mr. Mahmood) 6. Time to Free Ansar
Mahmood. Hudson Register-Star editorial. June 26, 2002 (The Register-Star has
published 8 editorials in support of Mr. Mahmood and many more news
articles.) 7. Michael Hill. Pizza
delivery man hopes to stay in US, Associated Press (This story ran in over 40
media outlets nationwide) 8. Other media coverage
has included reports in the Los Angeles Times, Democrat and Chronicle
(Rochester, NY), The Guardian (UK), The Journal News (Westchester), The
Independent (Columbia County, NY), The Chatham Courier (Chatham, NY), and
Metroland (Albany, NY), CNN's Newsnight and WHEC (Rochester, NY). 9. The second Washington
Post editorial on Mr. Mahmood, published on January 17, 2003, states:
"If the INS looks hard enough, it can find a technical violation by many
if not most immigrants, particularly through the ever-shifting prism of the
immigration bureaucracy. When these rules are enforced with exceptional zeal
for a selected group, the message becomes: Terrorist or not, even legal or
not, we're better off without you. And that's not true of people such as Mr.
Mahmood." The Solution As of December 2003 Mr. Mahmood is still in the Buffalo Federal Detention
Center and is now the longest held Pakistani detainee in the facility. Over
the past two years Mr. Mahmood's parents and sisters have suffered because he
has not been able to provide for them. Mr. Mahmood has exhausted all legal
remedies within the courts. His supporters have petitioned Acting Field
Director Bill Cleary, Buffalo Department of Homeland Security, to: (1)
release Mr. Mahmood under an order of supervision pursuant to INA 241(a)(3);
and (2) grant him deferred action. Congressional support would greatly
strengthen this effort to persuade DHS to exercise its discretion favorably. You can help by contacting: Mr. William C. Cleary, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Senator Charles Schumer U.S. Representative John Sweeney The Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee This message distributed by / Este mensaje distribuido por: |