Suit says ICE Cops Unlawfully Arrested a Longtime US Citizen from Somalia, Locked Him Up for 1 Year and Kept Him Imprisoned Even After a Judge Dismissed Gov Deportation Case

From [CNS] and [HERE] A longtime naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia claims in a federal complaint that Immigration and Customs Enforcement imprisoned him for nearly a year despite knowing he is a citizen and kept him in jail after an immigration judge terminated his deportation proceeding.

According to the complaint:

Plaintiff Ali Abdalla is a citizen of the United States. He entered the United States as a refugee from Somali. He attained derivative citizenship through his father in 2003. Notwithstanding Mr. Abdalla’s status as a United States citizen, officers of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a part of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), acting within the scope of their office or employment, directed and carried out an unlawful arrest and nearly year-long imprisonment of Mr. Abdalla commencing in July, 2017.

This imprisonment continued even after an immigration judge terminated deportation proceedings against Mr. Abdalla by finding that he had been a United States citizen since 2003. Mr. Abdalla secured his release from unlawful detention only by seeking and obtaining a federal writ of habeas corpus.

Prior to Mr. Abdullah’s arrest and during his detention, ICE officers, acting within the scope of their office or employment, also failed and refused to investigate his claims to citizenship, a violation of the agency’s own internal guidelines that were controlling all during in effect throughout Mr. Abdalla’s imprisonment. A 2009 memorandum from John Morton, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE, to all Field Office Directors, Special Agents in Charge, and Chief Counsels of ICE stated that claims to U.S. citizenship must “receive immediate and careful investigation and analysis” (emphasis added).

The United States Government lacks the authority to deport one of its citizens. It is the obligation of the government, both at the state and federal level, to protect the liberty and security of its citizens. In this case, the government failed to protect Mr. Abdalla, while individuals who lacked the proper training and oversight, acting within the scope of their office or employment, violated Mr. Abdalla’s constitutional rights.

As a result of the actions of ICE officers acting within the scope of their office or employment, Mr. Abdalla was unjustly and unlawfully deprived of his liberty without due process for nearly a year. While imprisoned, Mr. Abdalla suffered serious and substantial emotional distress.

The suit specifically alleges:

In 2010 Mr. Abdalla was apprehended by ICE and unable to hire an immigration attorney to explain his naturalization. He was ordered deported to Somalia. The United States was unable to deport individuals to Somalia at that time, and Mr. Abdalla was released.

On July 14, 2017, Mr. Abdalla was arrested by an unknown ICE officer acting within the scope of his office or employment. Mr. Abdalla was again told that he would be deported to Somalia. He again informed ICE that he is a United States citizen. Upon information and belief, Mr. Abdalla alleges that this ICE agent did nothing with this information.

Instead, Mr. Abdalla was handcuffed. He was taken to Freeborn County jail. Other prisoners taunted him because he was a United States citizen, but was going to be deported. Mr. Abdalla told the guards that he was a United States citizen, but they did nothing about it. From July, 2017, to roughly March, 2018, Mr. Abdalla was moved between Freeborn and Nobles County jails several times. In March or April, 2017, he was moved to Sherburne County jail until his release through a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. During his confinement, staff in both Sherburne and Nobles county jails knew that he was a United States citizen.

During his stay at Nobles County jail, jail personnel diagnosed Mr. Abdullah with anxiety and provided with medication. Following his transfer to Sherburne County, jail personnel refused to let him take his medication.

After being arrested by ICE, Mr. Abdalla hired an immigration attorney, Kim Hunter, who recognized he was a United States citizen. Ms. Hunter filed a motion to reopen his immigration case with Immigration Judge Ryan Wood based on Mr. Abdalla’s deriving citizenship through his father’s naturalization in 2003.

On January 26, 2018, Immigration Judge Wood ruled that Mr. Abdalla was a United States citizen and terminated his removal proceedings. In his order, Judge Wood noted that ICE policy, as set forth in the Morton Memo referenced above, states that “if the evidence indicates a person is a USC [United States citizen] or if the evidence outweighs contrary evidence, the individual should not be arrested or taken into custody.”

Knowing that Mr. Abdalla was a United States citizen, ICE nonetheless appealed Judge Wood’s decision to the United States Bureau of Immigration Appeals. Despite Judge Wood’s ruling, its knowledge of Mr. Abdalla’s United States citizenship, and its own internal guidance, ICE refused to release Mr. Abdalla from immigration detention.

By Mr. Abdalla’s own admission, being detained even after he was declared a United States citizen “messed me up.” Mr. Abdalla could not understand how ICE could continue to hold him after learning he was a United States citizen. It was at this time he was given medication for anxiety by Nobles County.

Because of ICE’s unlawful actions, On May 1, 2018, Mr. Abdalla was forced to file a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to secure his release from detention. In ordering Mr. Abdalla’s release, the Court noted that while “Respondents have appealed the IJ’s decision, they have cited no authority for the proposition that they may detain a judicially-determined U.S. citizen while that appeal is pending.” Abdalla v. Sessions, No. CV 18-1186 (PAM/DTS), 2018 WL 7504841, at *1 (D. Minn. May 25, 2018).

No such authority exists. Defendants, acting within the scope of their office or employment, detained Mr. Abdalla unlawfully for nearly a year, and for over five months after Judge Wood ordered his release as a United States citizen. His imprisonment was unjustified and completely unlawful. At no time during the detention was there any lawful basis to imprison Mr. Abdalla. Nor was there any basis to substitute the Immigration Judge’s conclusion regarding Mr. Abdalla’s citizenship with ICE’s own conclusion. ICE’s conduct and failure to protect the rights of Mr. Abdalla, a United States citizen, carried out by its officers and employees acting within the scope of their office or employment, shocks the conscience.

Mr. Abdalla’s national origin as a Somali and his Muslim religion undoubtedly contributed to the unlawful and heedless disregard of his rights as a United States citizen. It is not hard to conceive that Defendants would have treated him better had he been white and Christian.”