U.S. government resumes deportations to Somalia

So far, ICE has sent away 24 people

Somali Deported From US to their motherland 

Written by Sasha Aslanian   

ST. PAUL — As Somalia begins to stabilize, there is a downside for a small number of Somalis who have run afoul of the U.S. immigration system.

For years, Somali immigrants whose deportations were ordered had nowhere to go. There was no functioning government in Somalia to accept them.

In January, the United States recognized the government in Somalia for the first time in more than 20 years, and the U.S. has quietly resumed deportations to Somalia.

The two countries have not restored full diplomatic relations. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement did get enough cooperation last year to begin returning some detainees who have been convicted of serious crimes while in the United States. ICE officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but a spokesperson confirmed that 24 people have been deported from Minnesota and other states so far.

There was no big announcement of the policy change, said Marc Prokosch, an immigration attorney in Bloomington and chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association - Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter. Detainees found out when they were taken into custody after showing up for their regular check-in with immigration.

“It seems that the first wave — if you wanted to call it “wave” since there were only a handful — were people who would be seen as an ongoing threat to public safety, because of, for example the criminal sexual conduct convictions,” Prokosch said. “But we’ve been hearing of non-sexual crime convictions being taken into custody, for example, felony assault.”

Not all people with deportation orders have committed crimes. Some have been denied asylum. Prokosch said often those cases are because the detainees lack the documents to prove their identities. ICE does have prosecutorial discretion, Prokosch said. If someone has been law-abiding for years and is raising a family, deportation could be postponed further.

People who have been ordered deported but don’t have a country to return to are given work permits and check in periodically with immigration authorities.