VICTORIA, TEXAS (CN) - Customs and immigration agents arrested a Somali refugee and imprisoned him for seven weeks at a private contract prison, though they knew he was lawfully in the United States as a refugee, and the agents had the documents to prove it, the man claims in Federal Court.
Abdi Farah Ahmed says immigration agents arrested him at a highway checkpoint on July 5, 2007, though she showed them documents proving his status as a legally admitted refugee, his work authorization, Social Security card and driver's license.
They imprisoned him for six weeks at the Corrections Corporation of America prison in Laredo, and when an immigration judge set his bond at $2,500, the immigration service refused to accept it. It held him in prison for another week until he was taken to a deportation hearing, where the United States admitted it had no reason to hold him, and let him go.
He demands damages for false imprisonment. He is represented by Alfonso Otero of San Antonio.
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