Pinkpig
08-17-2007, 05:39 PM
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070816/NEWS01/308160028
Immigrant gets 18-month reprieve
BY DAN HORN | DHORN@ENQUIRER.COM
Maha Dakar will stay in the United States for at least 18 months while Congress decides whether to permanently halt deportation proceedings against her.
The Green Township woman received notice this week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take no action on her case until at least March 2009, by which time Congress will have made a decision.
Dakar’s case stirred a public outcry last month and prompted the intervention of two Ohio lawmakers because she was facing a forced separation from her husband and four young daughters.
She was scheduled for deportation to Jordan in October, but she would have been unable to leave with her husband. Her daughters, all U.S. citizens, either would have gone with Dakar to Jordan or stayed behind with their father.
The decision to halt deportation ensures they won’t have to make that choice in the immediate future.
“We are so happy,” Dakar said Thursday.
She and her husband, Bassam Garadah, are here legally but are in an immigration netherworld because, as Palestinians, they are considered “stateless.” They were not born in the Palestinian territories and cannot move there, and they are not citizens of Kuwait, where they were born.
Garadah has Egyptian travel papers but cannot move permanently to that country or to any other. Dakar has a Jordanian passport, so she can be sent there.
They were deemed deportable in 2005 after they were denied asylum. Dakar has applied for status as a permanent resident, but there is at least a five-year waiting period for a visa that would allow her to stay here legally while her application is processed.
U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced “private bills” on Dakar’s behalf earlier this month.
The bill, if approved by Congress, would essentially make an exception for Dakar and grant her permanent residency.
An ICE spokesman said Thursday the agency will take no action – including deportation – until at least March 2009.
Dakar and her lawyer, Douglas Weigle, said they will continue to seek a long-term solution to her immigration problem because private bills are rarely approved.
“We’ll keep exploring other avenues,” Weigle said.
Other options could include finding a third-party country, such as Canada, that would be willing to take the entire family before the March 2009 deadline. So far, they have had no luck.
Immigrant gets 18-month reprieve
BY DAN HORN | DHORN@ENQUIRER.COM
Maha Dakar will stay in the United States for at least 18 months while Congress decides whether to permanently halt deportation proceedings against her.
The Green Township woman received notice this week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will take no action on her case until at least March 2009, by which time Congress will have made a decision.
Dakar’s case stirred a public outcry last month and prompted the intervention of two Ohio lawmakers because she was facing a forced separation from her husband and four young daughters.
She was scheduled for deportation to Jordan in October, but she would have been unable to leave with her husband. Her daughters, all U.S. citizens, either would have gone with Dakar to Jordan or stayed behind with their father.
The decision to halt deportation ensures they won’t have to make that choice in the immediate future.
“We are so happy,” Dakar said Thursday.
She and her husband, Bassam Garadah, are here legally but are in an immigration netherworld because, as Palestinians, they are considered “stateless.” They were not born in the Palestinian territories and cannot move there, and they are not citizens of Kuwait, where they were born.
Garadah has Egyptian travel papers but cannot move permanently to that country or to any other. Dakar has a Jordanian passport, so she can be sent there.
They were deemed deportable in 2005 after they were denied asylum. Dakar has applied for status as a permanent resident, but there is at least a five-year waiting period for a visa that would allow her to stay here legally while her application is processed.
U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Westwood, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced “private bills” on Dakar’s behalf earlier this month.
The bill, if approved by Congress, would essentially make an exception for Dakar and grant her permanent residency.
An ICE spokesman said Thursday the agency will take no action – including deportation – until at least March 2009.
Dakar and her lawyer, Douglas Weigle, said they will continue to seek a long-term solution to her immigration problem because private bills are rarely approved.
“We’ll keep exploring other avenues,” Weigle said.
Other options could include finding a third-party country, such as Canada, that would be willing to take the entire family before the March 2009 deadline. So far, they have had no luck.