MAN WANTS TO AVOID DEPORTATION BACK TO IRAN

Man Fights To Stay In U.S. After A Drug Conviction

Majid Khoshghad Has Served His Time For His Role In A 1995 Case, But
He Remains Jailed In Legal Limbo.

Majid Khoshghad has spent more time imprisoned in legal limbo than he
served for drug conspiracy.

"I've more than doubled my sentence," Khoshghad said recently during
an interview at the Roanoke City Jail.

A native of Iran who became a legal permanent resident of the United
States in 1980, Khoshghad has challenged his final removal order in a
habeas corpus petition. He is fighting deportation back to a country
that has changed radically since he left.

In 1995, Khoshghad took responsibility for 750 marijuana plants that
were part of a multimillion-dollar pot growing operation in the
Roanoke Valley known as Phototron - named after the high-powered lamps
used to grow the plants indoors. He was sentenced to 34 months and,
with good behavior, served 29 1/2 months.

Though Khoshghad, now 45, admits his involvement in the conspiracy, he
said that part of the reason he decided to plead guilty was that
immigrants who had committed crimes at the time were allowed to apply
for a waiver of deportation after they served their time. People who
commit aggravated felonies are subject to deportation under federal
law, but the possibility of obtaining a waiver did exist.

Such waivers were granted more than half the time to immigrants facing
deportation who had family in the United States or had committed minor
offenses, according to The New York Times.

But while Khoshghad was incarcerated, the law changed. In 1996,
Congress passed legislation that ruled out such discretionary relief.

Khoshghad finished serving his time, then entered a legal holding
pattern that has gone on for longer than his original sentence as
legal challenges arose. In 1999, an immigration judge denied
Khoshghad's petition to avoid deportation.

Meanwhile, Victor Layman, one of the leaders of the Phototron
conspiracy, has already been released from prison.

Now, because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, Khoshghad, who
is representing himself, may get his wish to stay in the United States.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that legal immigrants who pleaded
guilty to crimes before the law changed in 1996 would not
automatically be deported and could still apply for discretionary
relief under the old rules.

The ruling could affect between 2,000 and 4,000 people in similar
circumstances to Khoshghad, said David Martin, former general counsel
of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and a professor at the
University of Virginia Law School.

"I would guess anybody who is still in the country would get the
chance to make the case," Martin said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Corcoran responded to Khoshghad's
petition Friday. In light of the recent Supreme Court decision, the
government is dropping its objections to his federal petition and
sending the case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals to determine
whether Khoshghad qualifies for discretionary relief, Corcoran said.

The decision cuts close to a sensitive intersection on the American
landscape - immigration and crime - with supporters of the decision,
like Khoshghad, and opponents alike.

"Obviously, we need to be a country that accepts immigrants," said
Richard Samp, chief counsel of the Washington Legal Foundation. "On
the other hand, we need to pick and choose who we keep. Right on the
top of the list of people we shouldn't keep are people who have abused
the privilege by committing aggravated felonies."

Diverging From The Norm

The Iran Khoshghad left when he came to the United States as a student
in 1975 is very different from the Iran of today.

Khoshghad, who was born in Tehran in 1956, said "when the Shah was in
power, things were good."

The United States had a friendly relationship with Shah Mohammed Riza
Pahlevi, who ruled the country until his monarchy was toppled in 1979
by a populist revolution. The country became the Islamic Republic of
Iran, and its human rights record has been poor, according to the U.S.
State Department.

Khoshghad was able to easily come to the United States before the
revolution, when he was 19, because relations between Iran and the
United States were still friendly.

Khoshghad married his first wife in 1979 and had a daughter with her.
Through his marriage he was able to get status as a legal resident of
the United States, according to court documents. He took courses at
Ferrum College and Virginia Western Community College during this time.

Somewhere along the way, Khoshghad, who was living in Rocky Mount,
crossed paths with Victor Layman, who federal authorities have said
was one of the organizers of the Phototron ring, which ran like a
franchise. In 1988, Khoshghad bought a house on Poor Mountain Road in
Roanoke County with Layman's help, according to court documents. When
law enforcement authorities raided the house in 1994, they found 750
marijuana plants. Khoshghad, like all the other defendants in the
case, pleaded guilty.

Khoshghad, who wanted to stay in the United States, did so with the
knowledge that he would have a good chance of avoiding deportation if
he pleaded guilty.

After Khoshghad served his sentence of just more than two years, he
received notice that he was facing deportation.

He was transferred to a federal immigration detention center in
Oakdale, La., where Khoshghad said he was incarcerated with people
from all over the world in similar situations - some convicted of
violent crimes.

In 1999, Khoshghad appeared before Agnelis Reese, an immigration
judge. He argued that he should not be deported for several reasons.

Khoshghad argued that if he were deported, he would face persecution
in Iran because he had married a Southern Baptist and the couple had
raised their daughter as a Southern Baptist, even though Khoshghad was
Muslim. He also argued that he would face persecution because of his
drug conspiracy conviction.

The standard is high: Defendants must demonstrate under most
circumstances that they would be tortured if they were to return to
their homeland.

Reese found that though life for Khoshghad would probably not be easy
if he returned to Iran, Khoshghad did not demonstrate that he would be
tortured. And the judge also found that even if he were taken to court
again in Iran for the drug offense and were subject to the death
penalty, it would be a lawful sanction there and would not constitute
torture.

Khoshghad described immigration officials as "very closed-minded,
fanatic people. They really didn't care for individual people.
Everybody was subject to deportation."

In January , after Khoshghad had filed several petitions challenging
his conviction and deportation in federal court, U.S. District Judge
James Turk ordered that Khoshghad be transported from the detention
center in Louisiana to the Roanoke City Jail to work on his case.

"Judge Turk is very fair," Khoshghad said. "He is the first judge who
had mercy."