ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PAUL – U.S. immigration officials spent almost $200,000 on their failed attempt to fly Minnesotan Keyse Jama back to his native Somalia by private jet, according to information obtained by Minnesota Public Radio News.
At least two men accompanied Jama as he entered the airport in a region of Somalia called Puntland. But Jama had no passport and was denied entry. So he was flown back to the United States and put in jail in the Twin Cities.
Court documents obtained by MPR under a Freedom of Information request also say Puntland authorities rejected Jama because the U.S. government did not deal with them directly, and because they didn’t want to become “a dumping ground for American criminals.”
The customs agency denied most of MPR’s Freedom of Information request seeking details of Jama’s round-trip excursion, saying: “We are not able to locate complete records that are responsive to your request.”
MPR said the customs agency provided a one-line statement that reads: “It appears the flight that was scheduled to return Mr. Jama back to Somalia cost $197,680.”
It’s not clear whether that figure includes the agents who accompanied Jama on the flight or any other costs.
Customs spokesman Tim Counts did not supply the cost breakdown to MPR. He said fuel was a major cost. Other costs included the flight crew, landing rights, customs agents to escort Jama, and at least one medical person on board.
There was also another deportee on the flight, a war criminal sent to Africa.
Jama’s immigration troubles began in 1999 when he was convicted of assaulting a man with a knife in Waseca, Minn., and sentenced to a year in prison.
When he got out of prison, immigration officials moved to deport him. His attorneys argued it was illegal to send someone to a nation without a functioning government, and the dispute went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court ruled against Jama in January 2005.
David Martin, who has taught immigration law at the University of Virginia for 25 years and served in the State Department and as a lawyer with the former Immigration and Naturalization Services, says immigration authorities may have viewed Jama as a test case.
“If they could successfully return Mr. Jama, it might establish a precedent that could open the door for future returns. And if you look at it in that way and I think the number was 3,500 or so Somalis who have deportation orders, some of whom were costing the government money in daily detention costs, then you could see it as an investment in the longer term,” Martin said.
After Jama was returned to the Twin Cities, his lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Jack Tunheim to allow him out on a conditional release while he awaited deportation. The customs agency appealed. Ultimately, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Tunheim’s order and Jama was released last July.
After checking in twice a week with the customs agency for about six months, Jama fled to Canada, where he has applied for asylum, according to one of his former lawyers.
Source: AP, June 25, 2006
