For immediate release
Community members and leaders call on elected officials to demand ICE release Oumar to his community
San Francisco, CA - After nearly two months of noncompliance with a federal court order, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) plans to bring Oumar Yaide back to the United States on Saturday, February 29, 2020. A federal court had ruled in December 2019 that DHS had possibly violated Oumar’s rights by erroneously deporting him to Chad, where Oumar faces violence, imprisonment, or even death for being a member of the LGBTQ community.
The DHS has not disclosed exactly when or where Oumar will arrive in Northern California, but did inform Oumar’s legal team that they planned to re-detain him. Oumar’s community and his legal team are advocating for him to be released to his chosen family.
“There is no reason to place Oumar in custody again after ICE erroneously deported him in the first place,” says Sean Lai McMahon, Oumar’s immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services. “Oumar has a pending motion to reopen his case, and does not pose a flight risk or danger to the community.” Edwin Carmona-Cruz, a Co-Director at Pangea Legal Services says, “Elected officials across the country should be outraged and alarmed that, after what he has been through, DHS seeks to detain Oumar again. ICE must exercise prosecutorial discretion and release Oumar to his chosen family and community in San Francisco!”
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