On Aug. 12, after spending more than 30 months detained at the
Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York, Ansar
Mahmood was driven to New York’s JFK airport and deported to
Pakistan.
On Aug. 12, after spending more than 30 months detained at the
Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York, Ansar
Mahmood was driven to New York’s JFK airport and deported to
Pakistan on a commercial flight, accompanied by two US guards. US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesperson Russ
Knocke said Mahmood arrived in Pakistan around 5 pm on Aug. 13.
Mahmood had been “extremely cooperative” while in the agency’s
custody, said Knocke, and he might one day be able to return
legally to the US.
Mahmood entered the US in April 2000 as a permanent legal
resident and began working delivering pizzas in Hudson, New York.
On Oct. 9, 2001, he was arrested on suspicion of terrorism after
asking guards at the Hudson water treatment plant to take his
photo to send to his family. Mahmood was cleared of any
connection to terrorism, but while he was detained investigators
searched his apartment and accused him of "harboring illegal
aliens" because he had co-signed an apartment lease and
registered a car for a couple whose visas had expired. (The
couple was deported.) Mahmood was released on bond on Oct. 18,
2001; in January 2002, on the advice of an attorney, he pled
guilty to the "harboring" charge; he was then ordered deported
and was detained at the Buffalo facility.
Residents of the Hudson area formed a defense committee which
sought to win Mahmood’s release and halt his deportation. His
case won considerable press attention, and seven US senators and
20 US representatives took up his cause. Mahmood’s case is one of
13 included in an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) petition
to the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, protesting
the US government’s arbitrary detention of Arab and Muslim men
following the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. [New York Times
8/14/04; AP 8/13/04; Email from Ansar Mahmood Defense Committee
(AMDC) 8/13/04; Fact Sheet from AMDC website]
Mahmood was deported two weeks after he met with Pakistan Embassy
Deputy Chief of Mission Mohammad Sadiq on July 30 in Washington.
The embassy had Mahmood flown specially from Batavia for the
meeting, which was joined by ICE Buffalo acting field director
William Cleary. Sadiq explained he had been unsuccessful in
efforts to stop Mahmood’s deportation; Cleary praised Mahmood for
his good behavior and said he perhaps could return to the US
someday. [AMDC Update 8/7/04]
