Judge orders Kansas dad fighting deportation to be freed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A federal judge on Tuesday freed a Kansas father fighting efforts by the U.S. to deport him to Bangladesh pending the outcome of his case.
U.S. District Judge Roseann Ketchmark ordered the release of Syed Ahmed Jamal, 55, after a hearing in Kansas City, Missouri. He was being held in the jail in Platte County, Missouri, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) north of Kansas City, and did not attend the hearing.
The ruling does not keep Jamal from being deported, and The Kansas City Star reported that his attorney, Rehka Sharma-Crawford, acknowledged that he faces difficulties in staying in the U.S. But she said she was thankful for the judge’s ruling.
Jamal and his supporters have been battling his deportation since Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him in January at his family’s home in Lawrence, about 40 miles west (64 kilometres) of Kansas City. His three children are U.S. citizens.