IMMIGRANT AT AGE 3 MIGHT BE DEPORTED AT 25

After drug case, he fears for life in Afghanistan

Madison - Breaking the law didn't seem to mean that much when Mirwais Ali
was a teenager. He was a kid and made some dumb mistakes, he says now. He
never thought he'd get sent to a shattered and dangerous country as a result.

Ali, 25, has lived in the United States since he was 3. Immigration
authorities, citing his criminal record, want to deport him to Afghanistan,
the war-torn country he and his parents fled when he was 1. Ali said the
worst crime he ever committed was having a few grams of marijuana, although
that was not his only offense.

Ali knows very little about Afghanistan or the Afghan culture, has no
friends or relatives there and can barely speak Farsi, his parents' native
language. He worries that if he goes to Afghanistan, he'll be viewed as an
American spy and persecuted. He also worries about leaving behind his
61-year-old mother, Saleha Ali, who has a variety of ailments and recently
had surgery for breast cancer.

So far, U.S. courts and immigration authorities have denied Ali's appeals,
mostly recently the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Jan. 11. On Jan.
18, the day he buried his long-ailing father, Najaf, Ali received a letter
saying he would be deported. It didn't say when.

"I'm not a drug dealer. I'm not a killer. I'm not a murderer," said Ali, a
Madison East High School graduate. "It's a death sentence. When they
sentenced me for the marijuana, they might as well have sentenced me to death."

But what happens after the deportation is not something that can be
considered in Ali's case, immigration authorities said.

Several Convictions

Ali had multiple brushes with the law between 1997 and 2000, according to
court records, including convictions for receiving stolen property, bail
jumping and possession of marijuana.

A 1998 conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver was
originally an aggravated felony, making him deportable, even though he is a
legal permanent resident of the United States.

U.S. citizenship would have provided him more protection, but Ali said he
didn't know he wasn't a citizen until immigration authorities pursued him.
His mother, who became a citizen in 1991, said she thought the status
automatically conferred to her son.

"If my son is not here, I'm going to die," said Saleha Ali, speaking Farsi,
in a recent interview. "They are killing me."

Ali's case is not unique. In 2004, nearly 83,000 criminal immigrants were
deported, according to statistics from the federal Department of Homeland
Security. The rate of deportations, both criminal and non-criminal, reached
record levels last year, according to information from U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

"The point is these are sound laws on the books," said Ira Mehlman, a
spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which argues
for tighter immigration controls. "We don't go advocating the repeal of
every law on the books because somebody found him or herself in one of
these uncomfortable situations."

The question in Ali's case is whether authorities will carry out the
deportation order.

The U.S. government has to secure a travel document for Ali to send him to
Afghanistan, which just recently installed a new government after more than
two decades of civil strife and a post-Sept. 11, 2001, war led by the
United States. Ali insists he has no documents, such as a passport or a
birth certificate, that prove he is an Afghan. Without some proof of his
nationality, the country might not take him.

If he can't go to Afghanistan, the United States might try to deport him to
a third country. He has family in Canada, but it's unclear whether any
country will accept him because of his criminal record. For now, Ali, a
tall, dark-haired young man who dresses in baggy clothes and speaks basic
Farsi to his mother, is bent on staying in America.

Family Left Kabul

Saleha Ali, her late husband and their son left Kabul, Afghanistan, to
avoid political persecution around 1980, right about the time the Soviet
Union invaded the country. Before that, Saleha Ali spent years working as a
flight attendant. Her husband was a businessman.

The family spent two years in Pakistan and India before being granted
passage to the United States. Their small apartment on Madison's east side
is the only home Mirwais Ali can remember. The living room is filled with
plants, Islamic and Afghan art and family pictures. His mother, who relies
on Social Security income, proudly displays awards her son won as well as
pictures of him as a boy.

According to court records, Ali was taken into the custody of immigration
officials in November 2001 after several months in prison for the marijuana
conviction.

He said he was moved from facility to facility and state to state during
his immigration detention. He stayed in a small cell, often reading the
Qur'an, the Muslim holy book, for comfort. He prayed a lot and worried
about his family. His father, who was partially paralyzed because of a
stroke, was despondent over his son's absence. Najaf Ali was in a nursing
home for much of his son's detention.

During his three years in federal custody, Mirwais Ali's case was
considered by multiple immigration and court authorities. An immigration
judge denied his claims in May 2002, saying under statute he had to be
removed because he lacked citizenship and had committed an aggravated
felony. That decision was affirmed later that year by the Board of
Immigration Appeals, according to court records.

In March 2003, Dane County prosecutors agreed to amend Ali's marijuana
conviction, reducing it to a misdemeanor. But the immigration board, citing
a recent case, said it didn't matter. For immigration purposes, the earlier
conviction stood. The appeals court, citing various reasons, upheld the
immigration board's decisions. The various judicial authorities said Ali
could not prove one of his key claims, that he might be tortured in
Afghanistan, which under federal law could have blocked the deportation.

Since being released under supervision late last year, Ali has enrolled in
Madison Area Technical College, studying construction and remodeling. He
works full time at a moving company. He also has a fiancee, though he
doesn't expect her to move to Afghanistan with him. He is glad he had some
time to spend with his sick father before he died of liver cancer.

Ali has not done much research on Afghanistan and is not sure how he'd fit
in the deeply religious Muslim population. He tries to stay calm and
strong, especially in front of his mother. He said he doesn't cry because
there's no use in crying. He also said he is upset with the justice system.

"Of course I'm scared, but I don't like to show it," he said.