Kansas chemist Syed Jamal freed from jail pending his deportation case
Lawrence scientist Syed A. Jamal walked out of Platte County jail Tuesday, so suddenly and quickly that no family was there. He was greeted instead by waiting reporters.
Within a few minutes, at about 3:10 p.m., to the clicks of many cameras, his family arrived in the parking lot.
He grabbed his orange mesh bag of clothing and an armload of books and jogged over to them.
His younger son Fareed was the first to run up to him and hug him around the waist.
Daughter Naheen was next. And in a moment all five family members, including older son Taseen and wife Angela Zaynaub Chowdhury, were in a singular embrace.
Jamal's release came hours after it was ordered by a U.S. District Court judge in Kansas City, pending the outcome of his deportation case with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The Bangladeshi-born Jamal, 55, was arrested by ICE in his front yard on Jan. 24 for overstaying his visa.
Jamal has been held at the Platte County jail, cut off from his family except for Sunday visits behind glass. He did not attend Tuesday's hearing. The government blocked his appearance, arguing the federal court had no jurisdiction over his detention. The government lost that argument.
The ruling does not affect Jamal's shaky immigration status, a briefing on which is scheduled next month at the Board of Immigration Appeals. Several weeks or months could pass while the board reviews his case.
"It's a tough situation," he acknowledged, though he appeared relaxed and confident.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark accepted Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Ray's argument that Jamal's removal was a "reasonably significant likelihood," which was key to the government's case for keeping him custody.
But the judge asked: "What is the harm in ordering the petitioner to be under supervision and released to his family?"
She took into account more than 110 days Jamal has served in jail since 2012. His first stint behind bars lasted about 50 days that autumn, after he failed to follow through on a immigration court agreement that he voluntarily depart the country. He spent almost two more months in ICE custody after his January arrest.
Jamal's wife spoke for her husband after the hearing.
"I have so many people to thank, the whole community," Chowdhury said.
Jamal's attorney, Rehka Sharma-Crawford, said she was thankful for the court's ruling but acknowledged that Jamal has a difficult road ahead to stay in the country. Referring to Jamal's three U.S.-born children, she said, "I made a promise to those kids to bring their dad home."
The government did not challenge Sharma-Crawford's insistence that Jamal presented no danger to his community nor posed a flight risk. In his three decades of living in America, his only legal troubles have been with immigration court.
More than 100 supporters packed the courtroom Tuesday, overflowing into a nearby one where a video feed of the proceedings was shown. Ketchmark's courtroom erupted in applause shortly after she left the bench.
Jamal has been a student, researcher and adjunct professor in the Kansas City region for more than 30 years. He was taken into ICE custody in 2012 with expired papers but allowed to stay on orders of supervision, in which Jamal checked in regularly with immigration officials to obtain work permits.
His latest permit extended to October 2018, but that allowance was rescinded by ICE when agents arrested Jamal outside his home on the way to taking his daughter to school.
"I'd like to thank every single person who helped us," daughter Naheen, a 7th grader, told a crowd of supporters that included many school pupils off for spring break. "And the press, for getting our story out."
The Board of Immigration Appeals in February issued a temporary stay of deportation while Jamal was in ICE custody on a flight headed to his native country. He has since been at the Platte County jail.
Jamal's story went viral after friends and family launched an online petition for a stay of his deportation. The Change.org site had garnered 108,000 as of Monday. Since Feb. 2, a GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $75,000 for the family, for whom Jamal is the sole breadwinner.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Kansas Republican, has introduced a so-called private bill that would grant permanent residency to Jamal and his wife, who also is Bangladeshi. Such bills affecting a specific party rarely pass.
On Tuesday she said in statement: “Over the past 30 years, Syed Jamal has been living, learning, working, paying taxes, and ultimately raising three all-star American born kids with his wife Angela right here in Kansas. With limited resources and violent, criminal illegal immigrants still in our country, the fact that our government would prioritize resources to attempt to deport Syed is offensive to our common sense and a fiscally reckless use of taxpayer dollars. Syed is the type of immigrant our nation always has and should continue to welcome, exactly the type of immigrant this 'nation of immigrants' was built by.”
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, also issued a statement on Tuesday: “I am pleased to hear that Mr. Syed Jamal will be able to spend some much needed time with his wife and children but this is far from over. ... We must fix these laws that criminalize hard-working, contributing members of society like Mr. Syed Jamal and that’s what I plan to push for in Congress.”
Cleaver attended a rally for Jamal in February and met with Jamal while he was held at a Texas detention center.
Tuesday afternoon, Jamal said he believed his work permit was still valid and he was looking forward to continuing some of the research projects that he had been working on before his arrest.
While talking with reporters in the cold, wearing a charcoal peacoat, Jamal said he hadn't entirely grasped how global his story had become as he had no access to a newspaper and his television time was limited.
He said he thought Congress needs to change immigration laws.
He avoided predicting how his case would end but recognized that any time one violation occurs, it can have lasting effects on an immigrant's status.
"If a court is not in your favor once, it becomes very difficult to set things right and adjust your status.
"And then," he said, snapping his fingers, "the status is gone."
His brother Syed Hussein Jamal, who has been vigilant in helping build support around his older brother, said that while much more is left to do, "at least we have some breathing room now."
This story was originally published March 20, 2018 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Kansas chemist Syed Jamal freed from jail pending his deportation case."