MAGGIO & KATTAR CLIENT ON FRONT PAGE OF WASHINGTON POST

Maggio & Kattar client, Saman Kareem Ahmad, was featured on the front page of the Washington Post on March 23, 2008. Mr. Ahmad, an Iraqi national who worked closely with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq, recently had his application for permanent residence denied by the Citizenship & Immigration Services for his involvement in a Kurdish political party, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), that sought to overthrow Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War. Despite strong support from the U.S. Marine Corps and Major General David Petraeus, the Commanding General, Multi-National Force, Iraq, the CIS rejected Mr. Ahmad's application for permanent residence after labeling him a "terrorist" for his work with the KDP. In reaching this conclusion, the CIS relied upon a single Oklahoma-based website of a non-profit organization called the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.

Mr. Ahmad, whose entire family was killed by the Hussein regime in the infamous poison gas attacks in Halabja, Iraq in 1988, began serving with the U.S. Marine Corps as an interpreter in Iraq in 2003. He participated in more than 200 patrols and was the first Iraqi to wear a Marine uniform, body armor, helmet, and carry Marine-issued weapons. When threats against his life became too serious to ignore, the U.S. Marines helped Mr. Ahmad seek entry into the U.S., where he was quickly granted asylum. Since 2005, Mr. Ahmad has continued to work for the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia as an instructor in Arabic to Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq. Mr. Ahmad filed his application for permanent residence in 2006, along with dozens of letters of support from the Marine Corps including General Petraeus. On February 26, 2008, the CIS issued its decision denying Mr. Ahmad adjustment of status and labeling him a terrorist.

Maggio & Kattar Senior Attorney Thomas Ragland is now representing Mr. Ahmad and another Iraqi translator who received a near identical denial of his application for permanent residence. The second Iraqi translator has declined to have his story published due to the fear that his family in Iraq could be harmed.

"These decisions are outrageous," said Ragland "and they undermine any notion that CIS is at all aware of the events in Iraq or the vital support provided to our Armed Services by Mr. Ahmad and others." Ragland notes that the law did not compel such a decision, but it was, rather, likely made based upon the suspicions and opinions of a single adjudicator and against the weight of top-ranking military officials. Since the publication of the Washington Post article, Ragland has been contacted by the CIS about Mr. Ahmad's case.

"Unfortunately," Ragland said, "these denials reflect the all-too-common practice of faulty and even nonsensical decision-making that comes out of the immigration agency." Ragland intends to pursue all avenues of relief for Mr. Ahmad to ensure that this "outrageous decision" is reversed and Mr. Ahmad and other Iraqi heroes receive the benefits they so clearly deserve.

For additional information, see Washington Post article and editorial.