U.S. Citizens Refused Entry

[Jenn! 918]

2 Lodi residents refused entry back into U.S.

(08-26) 04:00 PDT Sacramento -- The federal government has barred two relatives of a Lodi man convicted of supporting terrorists from returning to the country after a lengthy stay in Pakistan, placing the U.S. citizens in an extraordinary legal limbo.

Muhammad Ismail, a 45-year-old naturalized citizen born in Pakistan, and his 18-year-old son, Jaber Ismail, who was born in the United States, have not been charged with a crime. However, they are the uncle and cousin of Hamid Hayat, a 23-year-old Lodi cherry packer who was convicted in April of supporting terrorists by attending a Pakistani training camp.

Federal authorities said Friday that the men, both Lodi residents, would not be allowed back into the country unless they agreed to FBI interrogations in Pakistan. An attorney representing the family said agents have asked whether the younger Ismail trained in terrorist camps in Pakistan.

The men and three relatives had been in Pakistan for more than four years and tried to return to the United States on April 21 as a federal jury in Sacramento deliberated Hayat's fate. But they were pulled aside during a layover in Hong Kong and told there was a problem with their passports, said Julia Harumi Mass, their attorney.

The father and son were forced to pay for a flight back to Islamabad because they were on the government's "no-fly" list, Mass said. Muhammad Ismail's wife, teenage daughter and younger son, who were not on the list, continued on to the United States.

Neither Muhammad nor Jaber Ismail holds dual Pakistani citizenship, Mass said.

"We haven't heard about this happening -- U.S. citizens being refused the right to return from abroad without any charges or any basis," said Mass, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.

McGregor Scott, the U.S. attorney for California's eastern district, confirmed Friday that the men were on the no-fly list and were being kept out of the country until they agreed to talk to federal authorities.

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Aviation watch lists were created in 1990 to keep terrorists off planes and track drug smugglers and other fugitives. But since al Qaeda's attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the government has expanded the lists significantly. Members of the public cannot find out if, or why, they are on a no-fly list.

Michael Barr, director of the aviation safety and security program at USC, said the Ismail case appears to be unusual in the realm of federal terrorism investigations.

"You become what is called a stateless person, and that would be very unprecedented," Barr said.

He said U.S. law enforcement agents have understandably been "overly cautious" in recent years. "If they're going to err, they're going to err on the side of caution," Barr said. "What's happened in a lot of these things is that you're guilty until proven innocent."

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../08/26/LODI.TMP

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Unfortunately, Mass made at least one error in saying that Muhammad Ismail doesn't hold Pak citizenship. Unlike India (till recently), Pakistan allowed duality. While it is true that Muhammad Ismail cannot use a Pak passport to enter US (being now a US citizen), he can use it anywhere OUTSIDE US where it would be advantageous (such as to enter Pakistan; not sure whether he would need a visa to do so with the US passport only, so I can only speculate on it from the point of an Indian-born Canuck-Yank who generally HAS needed a visa to visit India since 1984).

Yes, the oath talks about "forfeiting other alliances", but holds validity only if an oral-only declaration constitutes a valid document (generally in countries allowing dual citizenship, one has to file another set of documents to renounce). Mass may be correct on Jaber Ismail, as the latter was born in US and not Pakistan (and for many countries, dual citizenship is NOT automatic for those born outside of territories).