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Attorney Goes Looking, after Client Goes Missing during Bathroom Break

By Greg Moses

DALLAS — An asylum seeker from Kosovo faces deportation this evening after Federal agents arrested him during a bathroom break this morning in a building where he was participating in court-ordered mediation.

Bujar Osmani, an ethnic “gypsy” in his mid-twenties was in the process of suing the persons who had represented him during a failed asylum plea.

“During mediation, Bujar went to the bathroom,” explains his Dallas attorney John Wheat Gibson. “He was gone a long time. I went to look for him and could not find him.”

Gibson says a short time later he was told by a secretary “that a couple of men had tied Bujar’s hands behind his back and taken him away after he came out of the bathroom.” The arrest occurred at about 10:30 a.m. Gibson has since requested his client’s release.

“Bujar’s car is still in the parking lot of the mediator’s office,” explains Gibson in an email to the Texas Civil Rights Review. “The Gestapo did not even permit him to tell me or anybody else that they were taking him away. I found out about the abduction a few hours later when Bujar called me.”

Osmani is being detained at the immigration enforcement center at 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, says Gibson.

Bujar Osmani describes his reasons for leaving Kosovo in a 2007 affidavit::

I left Kosovo in March 2004 escape certain death at the hands of Albanian extremists, who hate gypsies. Several negative events that took place in Kosovo have impacted my life since I was very young. The Serbian military tried to recruit my father forcibly to fight against the Albanian militias and the only reason he managed to escape was that he moved in with my uncle in a different municipality.

After the war ended my father came home but we were attacked by racist Albanians. After the war, many Ashkalis were killed by Albanian extremists. They set our house on fire on February 13, 2000 while my father and I were beaten in front of the family. After the assailants left we went to the local hospital but they refused to treat us there because we were Ashkali. The only place the doctors would treat us was at a humanitarian organization in Prishtina, “Medicines sans Frontiers.”

Since my family could not afford to rebuild our house, we moved in with my paternal uncle. I was taunted and attacked by Albanian extremists on various occasions, because of my Ashkali origin and the membership in the Ashkali Party, which was established to promote the Ashkalis’ rights. On March 19, 2004 during the worst riots by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, my uncle’s house was attacked and set on fire. I left with my uncle’s wife and five children in their car, through the back gate of the house. I traveled to Bari, Montenegro and since then have had no news about my family.

I went to Genoa in Italy, and applied for asylum using a false name, to conceal my Ashkali identity. Racist prejudice against gypsies is predominant in Italy, as well as among Albanians. The Italians denied me asylum, however, after they found out I was Ashkali. In August therefore I left Genoa to come to the US. I traveled through Mexico and entered the US on September 3, 2004.

When I came to US I did not have any relatives and the only language I could speak fluently was Albanian, so I approached the Albanian community for help. [A person] who happened to be living in Dallas as a refugee and was born in the same municipality as I, provided for me until I could support myself. He helped me with food, clothes, and money, and at the same time he went around to find legal counsel for me, since he could speak English. He said friends suggested he take me to [a person], who, we believed, was a lawyer.

The affidavit goes on to describe how Osmani met with the alleged lawyer and made preparations for an asylum hearing on April 4, 2005. But outside the hearing room, Osmani was approached by a new person who introduced himself as the attorney who would represent him.

After a series of hearings resulted in a “ruined” asylum claim, Osmani sued the pair of persons in a Texas District Court for “negligence, breach of contract, fraud, and civil conspiracy.” It was during court-ordered mediation for the lawsuit that Osmani was arrested and detained by immigration authorities.

“Jury trial is scheduled for 27 October 2008,” says Gibson. “The trial may be delayed by the events today, but it will happen if Osmani is not deported before the trial.”

“The judge we have now is fair and reasonable as far as I can tell,” says attorney Gibson. “But if Bujar is deported to Kosovo he
will have a hard time testifying in the district court in Dallas.”

“I asked DHS District Counsel Paul Hunker to obtain Osmani’s release from detention on an order of supervision on whatever terms DHS think best, until after the jury delivers its verdict,” writes Gibson. “It will be interesting to see what DHS District Director Nuria Prendes decides to do.”

Update: when I called the Gov’s office at 2:28 pm the receptionist said that “the Federal District Court has issued a stay”–gm

Reposted from OpEdNews. Get more info and link to contact the Governor at: savejeffwood.com–gm

TODAY, JEFF WOOD will take his place beside my mentally ill brother, who is no. 26 on the home page of this prisoner genocide website:

geocities.com/prisonmurder

On August 21, Texas is poised to do the unthinkable: execute a mentally ill young man who the state knows killed no one. In fact, Jeff is facing execution for a murder that he was not even present to witness. He was found guilty of a murder committed by David Reneau. David killed Kriss Keeran while robbing a Texaco convenience store in Kerrville, Texas.

It happened on January 2, 1992, when Jeff was 22 years old, a mentally challenged young man. It is sad that mental patients and people with learning disabilities like Jeff are often easily led like little children. Jeff was abused during his early childhood, leaving him with a submissive personality. How hard was it for Daniel Reneau to get Jeff to accompany him to a robbery?

Wood’s defense attorneys stated in a clemency brief early this month, “Reneau — the only person inside the store and who carried a weapon — alone made the decision to take Keeran’s life. Mr. Wood was outside the store in his brother’s truck.” Daniel Reneau carried a gun that Jeff never knew he had and committed a murder that Jeff didn’t see occur.

Although Daniel Reneau has already been executed for murdering Keeran, today Jeff will also be executed. Initially, Jeff was found not mentally fit to stand trial. He was admitted into a mental hospital and a couple of weeks later was found ‘trial ready’. But one could argue whether Jeff was really competent at his trial, considering the way he tied his lawyers’ hands as they tried to defend him.

“Bowing to Mr. Wood’s emotional and irrational insistence, Mr. Wood’s appointed lawyers declined to cross-examine any witnesses or present any evidence on Mr. Wood’s behalf,” his appeals attorneys argue. “Mr. Wood’s trial attorneys called Mr. Wood’s actions a ‘gesture of suicide.’” (Quote source: Alternet )

I received a message a couple of days ago from a man who identified himself as Daniel Reneau’s brother, Ben Reneau. He implored us to save Jeff, saying Jeff’s execution is wrong. He expressed regret that his brother, Daniel Reneau, did not make a statement to clear Jeff of the murder.

The truth is that a statement from Daniel probably would not matter to Texas, as the state acknowledges that Jeff actually killed no one. Jeff was sentenced to die under the Law of Parties, which makes all parties to a crime equally guilty of the crime. Perhaps they are like the people in this satire and believe it is simply time for Texas to have another execution, because executions are fun for some folks:

Texas Pardons and Parole Board decided not to grant clemency. The fate of this condemned mental patient is now up to Governor Rick Perry. August 21 is a sad day for justice if Jeff Wood is executed.

Mary Neal
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
P.O. Box 7222, Atlanta, GA 30357

The combination of racism and warmongering are perfectly encapsulated in “gook,” a racist term formed during numerous U.S. wars, from the invasion of the Philippines (1898-1902) to the occupation of Haiti in 1920, to the Korean and Vietnam Wars. John McCain used this anti-Asian slur freely and casually until he was forced to for fear of sabotaging his own presidential ambitions.

The portrait of John McCain painted in “Gook: John McCain’s Racism and Why It Matters” is far more disturbing than any racial epithet. A central thesis of Gook: war fertilizes racism, and racism justifies wars and the killing of civilians. This dynamic thrives within the most dangerous leaders of the world. Is John McCain one of them?

Irwin A. Tang holds an M.A. in Asian Studies. He is the co-author of Asian Texans and When Invisible Children Sing.

Attorney wants to know how the agents knew that his client was in court-ordered mediation

by Greg Moses

An asylum seeker from Kosovo has been taken to Haskell Prison where federal officials continue efforts to deport him despite a pending civil suit that might contribute to his winning legal residency in the USA. Bujar Osmani was arrested Tuesday morning at an attorney’s office while he was attempting to mediate a scheduled lawsuit against two people who represented him in his failed asylum claim.

Mr. Osmani says that he fled Kosovo in 2004 after a family home was set fire during an ethnic riot. He entered the USA through Mexico and applied for asylum in Dallas. (See more background in a story below).

Mr. Osmani is suing two people who he says took thousands of dollars to represent him, but who instead, he alleges, defrauded him of his cash and his opportunity to win asylum.

If the pending court case is successful, Mr. Osmani would be able to demonstrate that he was a victim of fraud by the persons who purported to represent him. But federal officials this week have said that Mr. Osmani can pursue his legal rights by sending depositions from Kosovo instead of appearing in court in his own behalf.

Meanwhile, Mr. Osmani’s attorney questions the manner and motivation of the arrest.

“When they arrested Bujar, they did not even let him tell his attorney or the mediator that he was leaving,” wrote attorney John Wheat Gibson in an email to federal officials, copied to the Texas Civil Rights Review. ” We found out after he had been missing for half an hour and we could not find him.”

“A secretary told us she had seen two men take him away. The arresting officers did not allow Bujar to make any arrangements for his car, which is still in the mediator’s parking lot, if it has not been towed. The interpreter and I had to make special arrangements to get back to our offices.”

“I do not understand why BICE (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents would go out of their way to protect [the defendants in Mr. Osmani’s lawsuit] . . .,” said Gibson. “I would be very interested to know who made the decision to . . . arrest Bujar at the time and place and in the manner in which he was arrested.”

Attorney Gibson says his client is willing to accept any terms of supervision that the Department of Homeland Security may offer in order to continue his civil appeals.

Meanwhile, Haskell prison remains a 3 1/2 hour drive from Dallas, meaning that any lawyer-client conference will cost a day’s time.

“Unfortunately, the expense of taking Bujar’s deposition at the prison is prohibitive,” says Gibson, “especially because he cannot speak English.”

United Nations Special Rapporteur for Rights of Migrants Jorge Bustamante complained in a recent report that immigrants in the USA are “often transferred to remote detention facilities, which interferes substantially with access to counsel.”

As an immigrant prisoner, Mr. Osmani is caught up in a historic detention binge that often involves privately run prisons such as the Rolling Plains Regional Prison in Haskell, Texas, a 548-bed medium security prison that is managed by the Emerald Companies of Louisiana.

“In 1996,” reported Bustamante, “the Immigration and Naturalization Service had a daily detention capacity of 8,279 beds. By 2006, that had increased to 27,500 with plans for future expansion. At an average cost of US$ 95 per person per day, immigration detention costs the United States Government US$ 1.2 billion per year.”

“On average, there are over 25,000 migrants detained by immigration officials on any given
day,” reported Bustamante. “The conditions and terms of their detention are often prison-like: freedom of movement is restricted and detainees wear prison uniforms and are kept in a punitive setting.”

“In sum,” warned Rapporteur Bustamante, “in the current context the United States detention and deportation system for migrants lacks the kinds of safeguards that prevent certain deportation decisions and the detention of certain immigrants from being arbitrary within the meaning of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the United States has signed and ratified.”

Attorney Gibson agrees that the treatment of Mr. Osmani is at least arbitrary.

“DHS has unlimited discretion to decide whom to arrest and whom to leave alone, and whom to release on orders of supervision and whom to detain and deport,” said Gibson.

“I hope you will reconsider releasing Bujar on an order of supervision until his suit against [the defendants] is finished,” pleads Gibson. “Since the EOIR [Executive Office of Immigration Review] and the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] are totally unwilling to move against thieves and imposters . . . I would hope they at least could refrain from collaborating to prevent civil suits against them. There will be plenty of time to deal with Bujar’s immigration case after his lawsuit is over. Please release Bujar on an order of supervision.”

Note: dates have changed to Aug. 27-31. For latest info, check home page of the Texas Civil Rights Review.–gm

Howdy amigos…

Border Wall-k VI in opposition to the US-Mexico “border wall of apartheid” is scheduled for August 19-23.

The House of Representatives will take their “Summer District Work Period” from August 11- September 5th. The Senate will take their “State Work Period” from August 9 – September 7th. What an ideal time to have another Border Wall-k. Border Wall-k VI…or El Paso Border Wall-k.

Texas has 1250 miles of border with Mexico. That represents about 65% of the entire 1950 miles of US-Mexico border. That means that at least 65% of the border residents are opposed to the border wall.

In representation of their border citizens and communities, the Texas Mayors all along the Texas-Mexico border have stood up against this border wall, even entering into a lawsuit against the federal government to stop the construction.

Now it’s time to convince Congress, that America cannot be the world leader of “liberty and justice for all” while walling itself off as country…and becoming an international gated community. Not many years ago, a wall between friends and family in Europe was considered the symbol of an oppressive enemy of the free world.

El Paso is our Far West Texas anchor city of the Texas-Mexico border that is subject to the construction of the longest border wall in Texas. 56 straight miles, cutting through heritage and culture, through lives, through beautiful crop lands. Such a wall will harm everything that we revere here on the border.

A coalition of local, state, national as well as border organizations are therefore galvanizing, organizing, sponsoring and endorsing a 56, five day Border Wall-k from August 19-23…from McNary to El Paso, so as to coincide with the Congressmen retuning from Washington, D. C. to do work in their districts.

The El Paso-Border Wall-k will leave McNary on Tuesday, August 19, travel NorthWest along Texas Highway 20, and arrive at the plaza in downtown El Paso on Saturday afternoon, August 23rd.

We request your solidarity. From coast to coast, we encourage all individuals and organizations opposed to the “border wall of apartheid” to spread the word about the El Paso-Border Wall-k. Let your friends and neighbors know that Texas is still standing up to one of the most demented schemes being imposed on a free people.

For more information you can contact:

Bill Guerra Addington
Border Ambassadors
aguavida@valornet.com
(915)539-4158

Carlos Narentes
Sin Fronteras
narentes@farmworkers.org
(915)532-0921

Fernando Garcia
Border Network for Human Rights
bordernet2001@yahoo.com
(915)577-0724

Sarah Boone
Border Ambassadors
sboone@stx.rr.com
(830)768-1100

Would you and/or your organization be willing to participate, sponsor and/or endorse the El Paso-Border Wall-k?

In solidarity…

Jay

Border Ambassadors
Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.
jay@villadelrio.com
(830)768-0768
(830)734-8636