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Imad Hamad of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee counsels Fatme Zahr and her sons Rasha and Mahmoud, 8, and daughter, Nour, 11. Zahr and her children are all U.S. citizens.Dearborn family seeks answers in deportation
Family, Arab-American leaders are angry over how a man convicted in '87 drug case was treated.
Fatme Zahr of Dearborn and her son, Rasha, 10, tearfully bemoan the fate of their husband and father, Mosbah Mahmoud Zahr, who was deported to Lebanon after spending five months in U.S. custody.
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When federal agents arrested businessman Mosbah Mahmoud Zahr at his Dearborn home as he left for work early one morning in April, it was the last time his four terrified American-born children saw their father.
On Sept. 20, the family was shocked to learn that Zahr, 51, who has lived in the area for 25 years, was deported to Lebanon the night before after being in federal custody for five months. They also were told he was in a hospital suffering from complications from a diabetic condition.
ZahrAgents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Zahr because of a 1987 conviction on cocaine possession charges in state court. Even though Zahr was legally deported, the way he was treated is drawing consternation from his family and some community groups.
Arab-American leaders have denounced the way the owner of an Inkster dry cleaning business was suddenly arrested, detained in faraway lockups and whisked out of the country without the notification of his family and without a change of clothes.
Zahr's lawyer, David Steingold, accuses the government of violating Zahr's right to due process and of victimizing his family, now destitute without his support. Steingold said for the five months before he was deported, Zahr was locked up in Battle Creek and even farther away in Sault Ste. Marie.
During that time, Steingold said he was prevented from filing a court challenge because the government had refused since April to let him see Zahr's file, or even the deportation warrant.The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee denounced what officials there called inhumane and heavy-handed tactics.
"I am stunned by this case," said Imad Hamad, regional director of the anti-discrimination group. He met last week with Rob Baker, the top local official in charge of detention and deportations.
"Under the law they had the right to deport him, but the way the situation was handled was uncalled for," Imad said.
"It was totally unnecessary. It caused severe trauma to the kids and the family. I feel sorry for the kids and his wife."
Steingold said the government could have served his client with a deportation warrant, giving him notice to wind up his business affairs, prepare his family, and report for deportation.
"Mr. Zahr was never hiding. He was buying a home in his own name. He paid his taxes," Steingold said. "He is married to a U.S. citizen, his four children are Americans. His oldest daughter has Down's syndrome, and he had to drive her to school every day and take her for medical appointments."
Baker said Zahr had been ordered deported in 1991 after he served a three-year prison sentence. He was given a $2,500 bond in 1992 while he appealed the deportation. When his appeal was denied in 1996 he was an illegal resident, Baker said.
Baker could not explain why the case languished for years. He said agents arrested Zahr in April after they were notified of by an immigration bureau in Washington.
"I do feel bad for the U.S. citizen mother and the children, I certainly do, but I wish he would have thought of them before he committed that drug offense," Baker said
He said immigration files are off-limits to lawyers and suggested that Steingold could have asked Zahr's previous lawyer for the lawyer's file. Steingold said that lawyer did not remember the case, nor did he retain a file.
Baker said a drug conviction means mandatory detention until deportation. "There was nothing nefarious," Baker said. "I have the discretion to defer action and not remove a person from the United States, but if I'm going to do that it would have to be for some logical end. It can't be that he has a U.S. citizen wife and children."
Steingold said, however, that only last week he received documents from immigration that seems to indicate the $2,500 bond was never revoked. If so, the sudden arrest, five-month detention, and unannounced deportation not only were unnecessary but unlawful, he said.
Steingold said the law provides for deportation orders to be set aside in rare cases. Individuals still in the country 10 years after a deportation order is issued could get a waiver by demonstrating good moral character, and if the removal causes extremely unusual hardship to a U.S. citizen, or parent, spouse or child, he said. In February, Zahr would have been in the country 10 years after his appeal was denied.
In an interview with The News the day after their father was deported, three of the children tearfully said how much they missed their father and how good he was to them.
"I am an American, I love this country. I don't want to go to Lebanon. I don't know anyone there and we don't speak the language, said Nour Zahr, 11, as she fought back tears. "I have never even been on an airplane."
Hamad said now that two weeks have passed, the children have grown bitter and confused about remaining here and resist going to school.
"We pride ourselves in the American system of fairness, the land of opportunity where you can get a second chance. This guy was not given a chance," Hamad said. "Instead of embracing him, for overcoming his mistake and making something of his life we punished him simply because he is of foreign origin and an alien resident."
You can reach Norman Sinclair at (313) 222-2034 or nsinclair@detnews.com.
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