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After drug case, he fears for life in Afghanistan

Breaking the law didn't seem to mean that much when Mirwais Ali was a teenager. He was a kid and made some dumb mistakes, he says now. He never thought he'd get sent to a shattered and dangerous country as a result.

Ali, 25, has lived in the United States since he was 3. Immigration authorities, citing his criminal record, want to deport him to Afghanistan, the war-torn country he and his parents fled when he was 1. Ali said the worst crime he ever committed was having a few grams of marijuana, although that was not his only offense.

Ali knows very little about Afghanistan or the Afghan culture, has no friends or relatives there and can barely speak Farsi, his parents' native language. He worries that if he goes to Afghanistan, he'll be viewed as an American spy and persecuted. He also worries about leaving behind his 61-year-old mother, Saleha Ali, who has a variety of ailments and recently had surgery for breast cancer.

So far, U.S. courts and immigration authorities have denied Ali's appeals, mostly recently the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 11. On Jan. 18, the day he buried his long-ailing father, Najaf, Ali received a letter saying he would be deported. It didn't say when.

"I'm not a drug dealer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a murderer," said Ali, a Madison East High School graduate. "It's a death sentence. When they sentenced me for the marijuana, they might as well have sentenced me to death."

But what happens after the deportation is not something that can be considered in Ali's case, immigration authorities said.

Several convictions

Ali had multiple brushes with the law between 1997 and 2000, according to court records, including convictions for receiving stolen property, bail jumping and possession of marijuana.

A 1998 conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver was originally an aggravated felony, making him deportable, even though he is a legal permanent resident of the United States.

U.S. citizenship would have provided him more protection, but Ali said he didn't know he wasn't a citizen until immigration authorities pursued him. His mother, who became a citizen in 1991, said she thought the status automatically conferred to her son.

"If my son is not here, I'm going to die," said Saleha Ali, speaking Farsi, in a recent interview. "They are killing me."

Ali's case is not unique. In 2004, nearly 83,000 criminal immigrants were deported, according to statistics from the federal Department of Homeland Security. The rate of deportations, both criminal and non-criminal, reached record levels last year, according to information from U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

"The point is these are sound laws on the books," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which argues for tighter immigration controls. "We don't go advocating the repeal of every law on the books because somebody found him or herself in one of these uncomfortable situations."

The question in Ali's case is whether authorities will carry out the deportation order.

The U.S. government has to secure a travel document for Ali to send him to Afghanistan, which just recently installed a new government after more than two decades of civil strife and a post-Sept. 11, 2001, war led by the United States. Ali insists he has no documents, such as a passport or a birth certificate, that prove he is an Afghan. Without some proof of his nationality, the country might not take him.

If he can't go to Afghanistan, the United States might try to deport him to a third country. He has family in Canada, but it's unclear whether any country will accept him because of his criminal record. For now, Ali, a tall, dark-haired young man who dresses in baggy clothes and speaks basic Farsi to his mother, is bent on staying in America.

Family left Kabul

Saleha Ali, her late husband and their son left Kabul, Afghanistan, to avoid political persecution around 1980, right about the time the Soviet Union invaded the country. Before that, Saleha Ali spent years working as a flight attendant. Her husband was a businessman.

The family spent two years in Pakistan and India before being granted passage to the United States. Their small apartment on Madison's east side is the only home Mirwais Ali can remember. The living room is filled with plants, Islamic and Afghan art and family pictures. His mother, who relies on Social Security income, proudly displays awards her son won as well as pictures of him as a boy.

According to court records, Ali was taken into the custody of immigration officials in November 2001 after several months in prison for the marijuana conviction.

He said he was moved from facility to facility and state to state during his immigration detention. He stayed in a small cell, often reading the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book, for comfort. He prayed a lot and worried about his family. His father, who was partially paralyzed because of a stroke, was despondent over his son's absence. Najaf Ali was in a nursing home for much of his son's detention.

During his three years in federal custody, Mirwais Ali's case was considered by multiple immigration and court authorities. An immigration judge denied his claims in May 2002, saying under statute he had to be removed because he lacked citizenship and had committed an aggravated felony. That decision was affirmed later that year by the Board of Immigration Appeals, according to court records.

In March 2003, Dane County prosecutors agreed to amend Ali's marijuana conviction, reducing it to a misdemeanor. But the immigration board, citing a recent case, said it didn't matter. For immigration purposes, the earlier conviction stood. The appeals court, citing various reasons, upheld the immigration board's decisions. The various judicial authorities said Ali could not prove one of his key claims, that he might be tortured in Afghanistan, which under federal law could have blocked the deportation.

Since being released under supervision late last year, Ali has enrolled in Madison Area Technical College, studying construction and remodeling. He works full time at a moving company. He also has a fiancée, though he doesn't expect her to move to Afghanistan with him. He is glad he had some time to spend with his sick father before he died of liver cancer.

Ali has not done much research on Afghanistan and is not sure how he'd fit in the deeply religious Muslim population. He tries to stay calm and strong, especially in front of his mother. He said he doesn't cry because there's no use in crying. He also said he is upset with the justice system.

"Of course I'm scared, but I don't like to show it," he said.

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Burninbrooke

Every day my faith in this counrty is shattered more and more. We fueled this countries hate for American's for what three years now. Then we turn around and try to send the people who came here because of what our "values and morals" are, back into the very country they sought refuge from. And for what? Because the kid choose to smoke some pot, instead of a cancer stick or getting drunk and running a family down. What's with the news lately? It all seems so depressing!!

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"We need to change our ethic and aspire to be more Canadian-like,"

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biglo

This is simply to get rid of that "excess immigrant" problem we face today. Its too bad that the majority of these problems arise south of the border. Oh well, if they can't conform to our standards, ship them back! It's not like we'll miss them and there's enough bodies to replace them! Immigration is full of crap and they are more than happy enough to get rid of people. Smoke the american death stick and drink liver rot, it's all about giving profit's to America's corporations, and if you're not white and can't afford legal protection by a well established and greedy firm, "You're ooooooooooooooooout!!!"