Rally for Detained Immigrant

(Ansar Mahmood, WROC-TV)

Video:  Low

3/13/2004 11:00 PM
(WROC-TV)

A rally today called for the release of a Pakistani immigrant who has been detained at the Batavia Federal Detention Center since October 2001.

Protesters came from around the state to demand the release of Ansar Mahmood, 26, a former pizza delivery man in Columbia County.

"This is sort of the last ditch effort to try and get him out, to try and really show a lot of people love and care about him," said Aarti Shahani, of New York City-based Families for Freedom.

Mahmood, a legal immigrant, was arrested shortly after the September 11th attacks for taking a picture of a resevoir. The feds decided he's not a terrorist, but kept him locked up because he gave money to friends who were in the country illegally.

"Immigrants help people. I don't think they understand that," said Carole Barnabas, a protester from Rochester. "You just help people. You don't check for immigration papers."

Mahmood faces deportation. He wants to stay and work in the U.S. to help support his family in Pakistan. Two U.S. Congressman have written federal officials asking for his release.

"I talk to him once a week on the phone, so I feel like he's my friend. We've been talking about a year now, and he's a really lovely person and unusually generous and kind," said Columbia County resident Susan Davies, of the Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee. "I think it helps him when he knows people care about him and he's not alone."

The government has yet to rule on a request for his release.