Omar Ameen gets first deportation hearing as lawyer vows to fight his removal to Iraq

Iraqi refugee Omar Ameen faced his first deportation hearing Thursday, with his lawyer telling an immigration judge in Van Nuys that Ameen will contest the government’s claims that he lied to gain admission to the United States in 2014.

But Ameen, who has been in federal custody since August 2018, will not get a rapid decision on whether the Sacramento County man should be returned to Iraq.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Scott Laurent set the next hearing in the case for July 27 following statements by Ameen lawyer Siobhan Waldron that she intends to fight the case with “voluminous evidence.”

“We will be vehemently contesting everything that has been submitted,” Waldron told the judge.

The hearing, which may include testimony from Ameen, FBI and immigration agents and others, could go two days before a decision, and likely will result in appeals.

Ameen originally was arrested at his Arden Arcade apartment in an extradition request by Iraqi authorities who accused Ameen of being a terrorist and ISIS leader who had assassinated an Iraqi police officer in 2014.

Ameen’s federal defenders, Ben Galloway and Rachelle Barbour, argued that cellphone records and other evidence proved Ameen was with his family in Turkey at the time the officer was killed. They contended that if Ameen was sent back to Iraq, he faced the certain fate of execution.

After more than two years of extradition proceedings in federal court in Sacramento, a federal magistrate judge ruled that prosecutors had not proven that Ameen should be extradited and ordered his immediate release from the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Instead, federal immigration authorities took custody of Ameen at the jail and moved him to a federal detention facility in McFarland, Kern County, where is being held on separate immigration allegations filed in 2018 that accuse him of lying about his past to gain entry to the United States.

Ameen appeared for Thursday’s hearing by video from McFarland, where an Arabic interpreter served to translate the proceedings for him.

His attorney indicated she would seek his release on bond as the case progresses. She added that she received 500 pages of government documents the day before the hearing, and needed more time to fashion her defense.

The judge noted that Ameen has been in custody for some time.

“I wish we could do your hearing faster,” Laurent told Ameen, but added that he wants to ensure he gets a fair hearing.

Ameen’s case has drawn international attention, and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the City Council have asked federal homeland security authorities to release Ameen and allow him to return to his wife and children in Sacramento.

This story was originally published May 13, 2021 at 11:34 AM.