Mayor, Councilmembers call for release of exonerated Sacramento refugee Omar Ameen
Omar Ameen’s case has been the subject of intense media coverage, including this story by The New Yorker.
Sacramento, Calif. (May 3, 2021) – Mayor Darrell Steinberg and members of the Sacramento City Council Monday sent a letter to federal officials calling for the release of a Sacramento man being held by ICE despite being exonerated of any wrongdoing.
The request for the mayor to send a letter came from Councilmember Katie Valenzuela. Along with Mayor Steinberg and Councilmember Valenzuela, the letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas was signed by Vice Mayor Jay Schenirer and Councilmembers, Eric Guerra, Mai Vang and Sean Loloee. It says the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency should release Omar Ameen immediately, as it has no grounds to hold the Iraqi refugee. Ameen has been in custody since 2018, when the Iraqi government moved to have him extradited for the alleged murder of an Iraqi police officer in 2014.
On April 21, Sacramento U.S. Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan denied the attempt by the Justice Department to comply with the extradition request. He called the government’s case “dubious” and said the evidence — including cell phone records — showed Ameen was in Turkey at the time of the killing. Brennan noted that there are no charges pending against Ameen, a mechanic with four children under the age of 16.
Judge Brennan ordered Ameen immediately released from Sacramento County Jail, but instead he was transferred to ICE custody and put into deportation proceedings.
In their letter, the mayor and councilmembers assert that the Trump Administration pursued Ameen as part of a political agenda to vilify Muslim immigrants and to undermine the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program.
“We urge the immediate release of Mr. Ameen and an end to his deportation proceedings,” the letter states. “Not only is there no basis for his continued detention or deportation, the false accusations against Mr. Ameen would place him in danger of wrongful execution were he returned to Iraq.”
