Judge refuses to allow Omar Ameen out on bond pending deportation case

A federal immigration judge refused Friday to allow Omar Ameen to be released on bond while he fights his deportation from the United States, declaring that he poses a threat to the safety of the community and is a flight risk.

Judge Tara Naselow-Najas rejected arguments from Ameen’s attorney, Ilyce Shugall, that the Sacramento-area resident has extensive family and community support and could be trusted to appear for further hearings in his immigration case.

“What is clear is that (Ameen) has family members and contacts that are participants of terrorist organizations and has interactions with these people on a regular basis,” the judge declared, adding that she is concerned about the likelihood of Ameen showing up for further proceedings if he is released.

The government of Iraq has been trying to have Ameen returned to his home country to face trial on charges of killing a police officer there in 2014, a crime his lawyers insist he could not have committed because he was living in Turkey at the time.

The judge noted that extradition proceedings against Ameen were dismissed earlier this year, but said he still cannot safely be released from custody.

“Respondent is still a wanted fugitive in Iraq and has warrants out for his arrest,” she said. “And while the extradition proceedings have been dismissed, depending on the outcome of this case, respondent may be removed back to Iraq.

“Thus, his incentive to flee and not show up is substantial.”

Ameen’s federal defender in Sacramento, Rachelle Barbour, said after the judge’s decision that he should have been allowed to return to the capital region to be with his family.

“Omar proved that he is neither a danger nor a flight risk,” Barbour wrote in an email to The Bee. “He should have been released to address his immigration case from home in Sacramento.

“The immigration court has held him to an impossible standard. I believe that his immigration team will vigorously challenge this unjust decision. “

Ameen’s immigration attorneys, Shugall and Siobhan Waldron, said they planned to appeal.

“We believe the immigration judge properly found Mr. Ameen is eligible for a bond hearing and is not subject to mandatory detention,” they wrote in an emailed statement. “However, we strongly disagree with the judge’s decision that Mr. Ameen is a danger and a flight risk.

“We think she made legal and factual errors and plan to appeal the decision and fight for his release.”

The order comes three weeks after the judge ruled that Ameen can be removed from the country for lying on his immigration forms to enter the country in 2014, but said the government had failed to prove its claims he engaged in terrorism overseas.

Ameen has been in custody since FBI agents arrested him in August 2018 at his family’s Arden Arcade apartment, and originally was held as the Iraqi government sought his extradition to stand trial there in the 2014 slaying of a police officer on Ameen’s hometown of Rawah.

Iraqi and U.S. officials have maintained Ameen was a leader of terrorism groups tied to ISIS and al-Qaida and spent more than two years in federal court in Sacramento trying to win an order for his extradition.

His attorneys have denied that, saying Ameen was living in Turkey at the time the officer was slain, and a federal magistrate judge ruled last April that prosecutors had failed to make their case and ordered Ameen’s immediate release from the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Instead, federal officials removed him from the jail and drove him to a detention facility in Southern California, where he has been held pending the resolution of efforts to deport him.

His case has garnered international attention and support from Sacramento city officials who have sought his return to his family in Sacramento.

Lawyers have until Jan. 10 appeal the judge’s bond decision.

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 12:09 PM.