. . . feds flag ’94 attempted-robbery conviction
. . . labelled `arriving alien’ because nabbed at airport NEW YORK DAILY NEWS – A Queens immigrant who faces deportation because of a 17-year-old conviction has been held without a bail hearing since November simply because he was nabbed at an airport.
Rafeik Baksh, 40, who has lived in New York since his teens and has a green card, was returning from a vacation in his homeland of Guyana when the feds flagged his 1994 attempted-robbery conviction.
The construction worker was labelled an “arriving alien” with no right to a bond hearing. Because he was caught at Kennedy Airport, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has authority over him – not a judge.
“Let’s say they just picked him up on the street one day, instead of at the airport, then it would be a completely different situation,” said his lawyer Saul Brown.
Baksh said he’s had to borrow money because he can’t support his seven kids while he’s locked up at the Monmouth County Jail.
“It’s very difficult,” he said.
His petition for release on humanitarian grounds was rejected by ICE.
“He is fighting for his life,” said his wife, Alisha Baksh. “What is going to become of me and the children out here?”
Legal experts say Baksh’s situation is becoming more common as the government moves to deport longtime resident immigrants with any criminal history.
They travel out of the country, never imagining they could get tossed into detention without the right to bail upon their return.
“It is standard for legal permanent residents who have lived here almost all their lives to be treated as ‘arriving aliens’ when they take a short trip,” said Nancy Morawetz of NYU Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic.
“It is a big problem.”
Baksh’s detention was a shock because he had successfully renewed his green card two years ago and travelled to and from his wife’s native Trinidad three times with no problem.
“I cannot understand really, in my heart,” she said. “He just went on a vacation to his country, and he came back and then the whole nightmare started. You feel sometimes like it is not going to come to an end.”
ICE would not comment.
