Page 8
October 14, 2015
Detention Limbo
C ontinued from f ront
port him to Eritrea because of the
country’s warring factions.
Amanuel’s story is not unique
and many refugees and immi-
grants in the United States end up
in detention limbo when they end
up having confrontations with the
law.
For Amanuel, it was a simple
theft conviction along with a 10
year old DUI charge that has left
him in the crosshairs of immigra-
tion officials. Advocates say that
Amanuel took a plea deal that
didn’t make sense, and that de-
spite having successfully served
time already on these old cases,
they have come back up to haunt
him.
“I hope to see him again so
much,” said his mother, outside
the Portland immigration facility.
“I miss my son and I love him. I
can’t even visit him. I don’t know
how to say this but we need to
come together and help, because I
can’t do it alone.”
Nicole Brown, leadership de-
photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver
“I hope to see him again so much,” says Elsa Mengis, a Portland
mother, about her 38-year-old Portland son who is in federal custo-
dy and faces deportation because of his immigration status.
Thomas Amanuel
velopment director at the Cen-
ter for Intercultural Organizing,
shared similar sentiments.
“It’s a big case for this fami-
ly and for Portland, and we need
people to know and pay attention
if we want to change these laws.”
Brown said.
An earlier plea for a governor’s
pardon for Amanuel’s relatively
minor offenses never got filed, de-
spite paying an attorney to file the
paperwork.
“They feel cheated,” said
Brown. “They paid and there’s no
evidence he filed it.”
If Amanuel can get a gover-
nor’s pardon, he may be able to
move forward in getting a stay and
even naturalizing in the future.
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