Abdikadir Abdulahi Mohamed v. Nielsen et al.: Muslim Exclusion
While the Executive Order barring Muslim travelers from entering the United States – Muslim Ban 3.0 – only took effect on December 5, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security has long discriminated against Muslims traveling to or attempting to normalize their status in the United States. CLEAR regularly represents individuals held up by DHS at every stage of the process, from immigrants facing deportation, to individuals detained at the border, to folks with severe delays in their green card or naturalization applications.
In December 2017, our client Abdikadir Mohamed arrived at JFK Airport with a green card visa, ready to join his U.S. citizen wife and their daughter in Columbus, Ohio. After thorough screening, a Customs and Border Protection officer admitted Abdi by stamping his travel document, and Abdi hurried to catch his connecting flight. On his way, a pair of roving agents from a shadowy group within CBP called the Tactical Terrorism Response Team accosted him, asked if he was from Mogadishu (Abdi is Somali), demanded to search Abdi’s phone, and proceeded to conduct a 15-hour interview in English without an interpreter.
After they were unable to convince Abdi to leave on his own, the TTRT agents made false claims about his membership in a political organization, and put him in removal proceedings on that basis. They transferred him to ICE detention at the Elizabeth Detention Center, a privately-run facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Students and attorneys from CLEAR and CUNY Law’s Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic represented Abdi as he endured 19 long months in immigration detention, both in immigration court and in Mohamed v. Nielsen, a habeas petition brought before the District of New Jersey seeking Abdi’s release. While detained, Abdi missed the birth of his second daughter and developed life-threatening tuberculosis.
Abdi and his legal team joined arm-in-arm with organizers from the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Color of Change, Families for Freedom, Freedom to Thrive, and UndocuBlack to build a broad-based campaign for his release, #BringAbdiHome, including media and legislative advocacy, an action at Elizabeth Detention Center and a petition with nearly 20,000 signatures.
Ultimately, a judge determined that the claims about Abdi’s affiliation with the political organization were baseless, and released him to his family and community on July 10, 2019. Abdi now lives with his wife and two daughters in Columbus, Ohio.
KEY DOCUMENTS:
4.10.2019 - Complaint, Mohamed v. Nielsen
4.5.2019 - Color of Change Petition (now has 19,330 signatures)
PRESS: