The following email from Ralph Isenberg is a dawn musing on the frustration of trying to visualize justice for the Suleiman family. The email references Isenberg’s spouse, Nicole, and New York attorneys Ted Cox and Joshua Bardavid. He also discusses a draft testimonial from the teenage youth Ayman Suleiman recounting his experiences of arrest, imprisonment, and deportation. A response to the email from Ayman’s father, Adel Suleiman in Jordan follows.–gm
The Suleiman Family and the Law
Hi Guys,
5:30 am here in Dallas and I woke up thinking about the Suleiman Family. I understand all the reasons why they (father, mother and son) can not come back to the United States. What I do not understand are why we can not prosecute the reasons why they can come back to the United States. Allow me to humor you guys. Law to me has always been based on two simple premises; common sense and right and wrong. Common sense screams at us that the right thing to do is to bring the entire family home. How we do that is the more interesting question.
I believe that while our current policies may have changed the laws of Congress still promotes family unity, humanitarian concern and of the public interest. I submit the Suleiman Family falls into all of these major areas of concern. It is my understanding of law that the laws of Congress rule over policies enacted to enforce the law; thus we have one tier of our court system. But it does not stop there.
We also have Constitutional law which is not exclusive to citizens. The main area of concern here is the doctrine of “due process.” It is further my understanding that Constitutional law rules over the laws of Congress. Here also the Suleiman Family has claim to relief. I believe the fact that the Suleiman Family was forced from this country by duress is a clear violation of due process. I also believe that past attorney error was also a violation of the due process doctrine. These concepts and other doctrines of fairness need to be bottled up and prosecuted. We may be on new turf but it would be wrong to the family not to try.
Think outside of the box with me. When Nicole and I got on that plane to China many thought we would never be back or it would take years at best. We were back in fourteen months. Ted, do you recall those fourteen months. How many times did you give me hope where there was none. Josh, you were lucky and did not know me then or you would have learned how to speak Chinese like Ted.
Every time I got hit with bad news I made something potentially good happen. In the end I believe it was my brief work that I presented to the Department of State that led to our freedom. The law was in need of a simple explanation. In the case of the Suleiman Family I believe we need to start in Federal District Court and go form there. I also believe that we are on solid ground to enlist the assistance of the FBI as it relates to human rights violations by those directly and indirectly connected with ICE here in Dallas. What we did to this family was clearly illegal and those that violated the law need to pay.
An example of “out of the box thinking:” Can we not file suit in whatever circuit the family might intend to live in? Put differently, if the family says they are going to live in Queens, file the actions in Queens, I say this because they are in deed out of the United States right now and I’m not sure the Fifth Circuit has any more jurisdiction over them than say the Second or Third.
I know you guys have read the story written by the father and the one written by the son. I know you have also read the events that the twins were exposed to. I think of my children and how I would feel if these actions were happening to me. To some extent they did and thus I am very dedicated to helping people. We may not have a leg to stand on but a leg we will in fact stand on. In so doing we let the Suleiman Family know that they are not alone and we care.
Guys, I appreciate you very much and look forward to once again doing battle with you. Ours is the higher ground to stand on.
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Dear Mr.I,
I just read your statement Suleiman family and the law. I don’t know but i just felt the need to write you back. first i do appreciate what you are doing , but I’m sure you don’t need our thanks you need more than that because i used to feel the same way when i used to help somebody. helping others it’s spiritual message, only special people and chosen people get that message and carry it out.
i just would like to let you know that me and my family are in the bottom of the well in spite of all the darkness we see in front of us, yet we keep our heads up and we see birds of freedom flying over the well and you are one of them, matter of fact you are the only one… what ever happens , what ever the result you’ll be in my and my family’s prayers……
Adel S.
Texas Civil Rights Review 