ICE moves Ohio businessman to prison
Officials say they acted because man is on hunger strike.
Youngstown YOUNGSTOWN— businessman Amer Othman Adi, who was expected to be released from custody while his deportation case is reconsidered, was instead transferred to the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, because he has been on a hunger strike.
According to a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Kaalid Walls, Adi “refused his ninth consecutive meal and is currently being monitored under agency hunger strike protocols.”
The Youngstown facility has medical facilities. He had been held in Geauga County Jail since Tuesday.
Adi’s attorney, David Leopard, said Walls sent him the information in an email.
Mark McDevitt, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, of Howland, Ohio, said Ryan was trying to get clarification from the ICE about Adi’s case while dealing with the possible shutdown of the U.S. government.
“We do not know why Adi was transferred in mid-morning,” McDevitt said. “We really don’t know what is going on. We hope to get some more information soon.”
Leopold has spoken to Adi and said he was not complaining of illness.
Leopold said ICE has confirmed that they have received the written request from Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee, asking them to release Adi pending a full examination of his deportation case.
“They said they are reviewing the request,” Leopold said. “The next step is for them to grant the request and let him out. We’re hopeful, but not holding our breath.”
Adi and Fidaa, his American wife of 30 years, were preparing to leave the country for Jordan on Jan. 7 at the direction of ICE. But just days before they were to leave, Adi received a call from ICE telling him the deportation was put on hold.
Along with lawyer and Ryan, he reported to ICE where they expected a perfunctory meeting on Tuesday. Instead, Adi was jailed and told he would soon be deported.
On Thursday evening, the House Judiciary Committee approved Ryan’s “private bill” to ask ICE to release Adi so that his case could be re-examined. Such “Private bills” though rarely used, were a tool in the past. But in May, ICE said they would no longer honor the requests unless they fit certain circumstances. Ryan believes Adi’s case fit the requirements.
The crux of the Adi case will be to determine if his brief 1979 marriage to an American woman, which resulted in him getting a green card to stay in the country, was legitimate.
Leopold said the determination was made by one “low level immigration functionary” decades ago after Adi’s first wife gave an affidavit stating the marriage was a sham. However, she later said the information was given under pressure by ICE agents and recanted. She said the marriage was genuine and admitted that she was unfaithful to Adi, which contributed to the break-up.
“All he ever asked for was his day in court,” Ryan said. “Now he will get it.”
Adi and his family own the Downtown Circle Convenience store which opened 10 years ago and are credited with sparking a business renaissance in the blighted downtown.
Adi has owned and operated more than half-dozen businesses in Youngstown and has employed hundreds of people. He currently employs about 60 persons in several businesses in the heart of the city.
ICE spokesman Walls did not return calls for comment on recent developments in the case. In the past he has said that ICE continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.
However, ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan has made it clear that ICE does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.
Leopold said this means they can and will go after “law-abiding, taxpaying people with families” who are undocumented, often when they show up to ICE for routine meetings.