Palestinian Family Finally Released From Prison
As an update to a previous post about the ridiculous imprisonment of the Ibrahim family, I'm pleased to report that the family has now been released from prison. The Dallas Morning News has a story today about the family. Excerpts from the article:
Immigration officers arrested Salaheddin Ibrahim, his wife, Hanan, and four of their children in November at their Richardson home more than two years after their petition for asylum was denied.
Hanan Ibrahim, 34, who is five months pregnant, has been incarcerated since then at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, near Austin. Four of her children, Hamzeh Ibrahim, 15; Rodaina, 14; Maryam, 8; and Faten, 5, also were detained at the same center.
Meanwhile, her husband, 37, was being held at the Rolling Plains Regional Jail in Haskell, near Abilene. Attorneys for the family expect him to be released soon also.
Escalating violence in their homeland swayed a federal immigration panel Friday to reconsider the family's asylum request, nullifying the order for removal from the U.S.
"Clearly the public glare of how horrible it is for children being detained and the family being split up caused this," Theodore Cox, one of the family's attorney, said of the decision.
Before Friday's order, lawyers for the Ibrahims pointed out the family was willing to leave the United States but had nowhere to go. Travel documents issued to the family by the Jordanian government expired and the country refused to accept them. Other countries were not willing to take them or issue them travel documents.
