Suleiman Family Deported to Jordan

Riad Hamad of the Palestinain Children’s Welfare Fund (PCWF) reports that the Suleiman family called him from Jordan on Saturday, “pennyless and with nothing but the clothes on their backs from the night they were hauled from their homes.”
Our archives on the Suleiman family indicate a family of five, including 61-year-old Adel Suleiman, a diabetic, who reported inhumane jail conditions in Oklahoma. As a result of those conditions, Suleiman requested that his attorney, John Wheat Gibson, do nothing to delay the family’s deportation. Gibson last week reported that his calls to the Suleiman deportation officer went unanswered.

Along with Adel and his spouse, Asma Quddoura, the family includes 17-year-old Ayman and 4-year-old twin daughters. Asma and Ayman were jailed together at T. Don Hutto prison. The twin girls, who are American citizens, were kept in foster care.

Hamad reports that “PCWF will be sending more contributions to [attorney Gibson] in order to help cover some of his costs towards the legal fees of the Ibrahim and Qaddoura family.”

In other news, today the Ibrahim family mother and children, who were released from Hutto jail Saturday, are expecting the release of husband and father Salaheddin from the immigration prison at Haskell, Texas.

And the Hazahza family, who have also been split between Hutto and Haskell, expect to hear news from the deportation officer this week regarding new papers they filed last week at his request.

Meanwhile, a border caravan, organized by Enrique Morones of the Border Angels and Jay Johnson-Castro of Del Rio, will enter Texas today for a week of stops along the Rio Grande. At several of the key cities along the way, the caravan will be greeted by mayors from both sides of the border.

We are hoping that English-language press coverage of the caravan will begin soon.

As for the part being played by the Texas Civil Rights Review in a discussion about funding, let me say one thing only. TCRR has always treated the emails of John Wheat Gibson with respect, because he is the attorney representing two of the families abducted by ICE last November, and we think the representative of these families should be heard.–gm