Imam agrees to be deported

Associated Press
June 2, 2006

Abrahim Sheikh Mohamed appeared in immigration court here, and Immigration Judge Victoria Young ruled that he had no legal basis to remain in the United States, according to a news release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

During the hearing, Immigration and Customs lawyers presented evidence that Mohamed has Kenyan citizenship. Young ordered him deported to Kenya or, if that cannot be done, to Somalia, the agency said.

Mohamed was an imam of the Abu-Bakr Mosque in Seattle's Rainier Valley area.

He was arrested Nov. 14 at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as he returned from a trip to Dallas. Federal officers said he lied to obtain legal asylum status after coming to the U.S. in 2000.

He has been detained by ICE without bond since his arrest, as agency attorneys argued that his ties to terrorist organizations in the horn of Africa made him a national security risk.

Among other things, federal agents believed he came to the country to help raise money for the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which wants an independent state for ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia, FBI Special Agent David Rubincam said during a February hearing in the case.

The outcome of the case "underscores ICE's commitment to protecting the integrity of our nation's legal immigration system," said Dorothy Stefan, the agency's chief counsel in Seattle.

Mohamed's defense attorney could not immediately be reached for comment after business hours Thursday.