A Green Card for Saman Kareem Ahmad?

Saman Kareem Ahmad is back in the green card line up.  Maybe getting around the “red tape” and “B.S.” only takes pressure from people with common sense.

According to recent reports

The U.S. immigration service said yesterday that it will temporarily stop denying green cards to refugees and other legal immigrants tied to groups that sought to topple foreign dictatorships, placing their cases on hold while it determines more “logical, common-sense” rules for judging them.

The decision will potentially affect thousands of pending applications for permanent U.S. residence. The cases of hundreds of others who have been denied green cards since December will also be reexamined, said Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen, deputy director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. All the applicants are living in this country under refugee or other visa provisions or political asylum.

This comes following the outrage concerning Sadam Kareem Ahmad being denied a green card.  He was brought to the U.S. on a Visa with some fifty other persons who had assisted the U.S. in Iraq in the “war on terrorism.”  In the case of Mr. Ahmed, he had served our country for four years as a translator for the military, risking his life and very likely the lives of family and friends.  The top U.S. military officials have said that Mr. Ahmad’s service was invaluable. 

Mr. Ahmad applied for his green card and was denied because at one time, as a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Ahmad had tried to topple the government of Saddam Hussein.  (Does anyone see the irony?)  According the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, membership or association with the dissident party caused Mr. Ahmad to fall into the category of “undesignated terrorists.”

On February 6, Mr. Ahmad received the letter denying him his green card.  It took six weeks for the story to take hold but at last, not only concerning Mr. Ahmad but others who have applied and been denied for similar reasons, the citizenship status will be reviewed and reconsidered.

Most of the applications involve people linked to groups that U.S. immigration and counterterrorism laws have defined as “undesignated terrorist organizations” because they took armed action against a foreign government. The groups include U.S. allies that fought against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Taliban government in Afghanistan, as well as Burma’s military junta and Sudan’s Islamic leaders.

Scharfen said that USCIS recognized the illogic of admitting immigrants under one provision of the law and then labeling them terrorists for green card purposes, calling it a “very good question.” At the same time, he said, the restrictions are “written so that the definition of a terrorist organization and activity is very, very broad.” Even groups that have been “closely associated with the United States,” such as Montagnard tribesmen who fought with U.S. forces in Vietnam, “fall under the definitions.”

In addition to the Immigration and Nationality Act, restrictions are contained in the 2001 USA Patriot Act and the 2005 Real ID Act. The laws, Scharfen said, “cover groups that are opposed to the government. Any government.”

There are ways around the issue, a waiver being in place for people like Saman Kareem Ahmad, but because of the cumbersome paperwork the waivers are usually ignored. 

Taking a stand on the issue, Senator Edward Kennedy said

 ”It would be tragic to prevent such people from receiving the full protection of our immigration laws because of a harsh interpretation of laws that should be used to go after true terrorists.”

For now, the green card applications for those who fall into the “undesignated terrorist organizations” will be reviewed, and perhaps Saman Kareem Ahmad will at last receive citizenship.