Decorated Disabled Veteran Faces Deportation to Pakistan

Saturday 15 January 2011

by: K.T. Cox, t r u t h o u t | Report

Decorated Disabled Veteran Faces Deportation to Pakistan
(Photo: Brittney Bush Bollay / Flickr)

Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry, a decorated disabled American veteran, is the victim of a witch hunt that has been ongoing since the 9/11 attacks. Chaudhry is being deported to Pakistan, where he will "inevitably be murdered by the Taliban for his service in the US Army," says Seth Manzel, executive director of G.I. Voice. Chaudhry came to the US legally over 13 years ago and has been married to a native-born citizen for nearly ten years. The suit Chaudhry and his wife filed against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in US district court to press for his citizenship was dismissed on October 26, 2010, on summary judgement, without any trial or opportunity to further present their circumstances.

Chaudhry qualifies for citizenship on multiple bases, and there are no legal grounds to deny him citizenship. He qualified for and filed an application to become a US citizen under the military naturalization program in 2003. INS claimed they lost the application, so he applied again in 2004. The military naturalization program requires the US government to provide expedited processing for citizenship applications for individuals in the armed forces. Chaudhry's military awards include a National Defense Service Medal, a Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, an Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" Device and the Army Service Ribbon.

Chaudhry has never broken any US laws. In addition to his military service, he qualifies for citizenship based on his marriage to a US citizen. Before the injuries he sustained in service to our nation left him in a wheelchair, he was an avid community volunteer. He served thousands of hours as a general volunteer and youth coordinator for the American Red Cross, as an unpaid volunteer for the fire department - carrying a pager twenty-four-seven and responding to fire emergencies - and contributed his time to Habitat for Humanity and many other community and civic organizations.

The Chaudhry's have two children and four grandchildren; they do not wish for their family and friends to be ripped apart by an uncaring, inefficient federal bureaucracy acting within repressive measures.

Chaudhry was scheduled for a deportation hearing at the immigration court in Seattle on January 12, 2011, and, at the time of this writing, he had no legal representation. The couple reports that Sen. Patty Murray's (D-Washington) staff, Lindsay Herbst, often sends them an email saying to "hang in there" and that they are "working on it" - a behavior characteristic of many of our top politicians for the last seven to eight years. The Chaudry's have spent tens of thousands of dollars in this struggle for justice, not to mention other costs to the couple in lost opportunity. "Our physical, spiritual, mental and financial capabilities have been torn asunder and ground to nothingness by this great nation we both love and have served so much and continue to serve," says Ann Chaudhry.

You can see a short video clip of Chaudhry's speech at the Interfaith Forum on Immigration in Washington, DC at www.justice4chaudhry.info. The Chaudry's are calling for the community to support them by making phone calls and writing emails and letters to Murray's offices in DC and Seattle.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Comments

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What about some serious

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 14:29 — Anonymous (not verified)

What about some serious charges from time he spent in Australia?
A web search reveals the government's accusations.
The author of this article does not address them.
Not revealing past crimes or lying in application form is grounds for denial or even revoking citizenship.

What are the SPECIFIC &

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 14:53 — lothianscot (not verified)

What are the SPECIFIC & presumably legal reasons cited in the district court that make Mr. Chaudhry eligible for deportation?

Should not this report have made that information available so that the reader is fully cognizant of the facts in this matter?

hard to know what the exact

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 14:57 — Anonymous (not verified)

hard to know what the exact story is on the theft convictions in Australia, but the problem is once the gears of the U.S. legal bureaucracy start grinding, it's a very long slog to get it to stop or be in anyway compassionate.

"Chaudhry's convictions should be treated as misdemeanors that would not block him from citizenship, his legal team contended.

"Mr. Chaudhry has consistently and repeatedly denied that he is guilty of these offenses ..., but that he pleaded guilty because he wanted to stop the police officers' harassment," Theriot-Orr said Friday."

After reading the more

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 15:22 — MadMaxi (not verified)

After reading the more detailed article on this case via KOMO News, I say the US has a legitimate reason for questioning this man's application for citizenship. If he did all they say in Australia then he made his own path to denial and he must be held to the same standards they use for all immigrants. I find that most people applying for US citizenship are not singled out by ICE unless they break the laws. Also he was injured in a training accident not in combat. Read the link provided above by Micheal Lafferty, and then pause and think a bit on this story.

Come on!............. This

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 15:33 — lothianscot (not verified)

Come on!.............

This piece hides the truth of the matter.

The court decision to deport is the only
course open to it.

Please read:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/113428369.html

Injured in training, never

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 15:34 — Robert (not verified)

Injured in training, never deployed. Allegedly used some else's passport without their knowledge to try to open a bank account and obtain medical benefits. Used a credit card that wasn’t his. It might be interesting to confirm the nature of the back injury prior to further comment.

Bad situation for his wife

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 16:34 — lothianscot (not verified)

Bad situation for his wife and kids, especially if the children are his progeny.

But we have more than enough home-grown
criminals!

No need to import 'em!

'Nuff said.

This is prime proof of how

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 16:50 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

This is prime proof of how much this country and government, rather than getting better, have deteriorated. The U.S. has always been a racist country; but now, when it and its government should have advanced and be much less so, they are just as much if not more racist today. Most Americans and the American government should know much better than to exercise xenophobia like they inflict the U.S. and the entire world with the racist Islamophobia stereotype. The U.S. government's "Islamofascism" claim is itself fascist, and it is in fact the U.S. government that is inflicting fascism on the world, not the vast majority of Muslims, who are peace-loving and non-violent people. Is this man being secretly accused of being a "terrorist"? If so, bring it out into the light of day so, under the principles of the U.S. Constitution he can face his accusers and fully defend himself...

...Enough already with all

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 16:51 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

...Enough already with all of this madness! Grant this man his U.S. citizen, for God's sake! How many times has I.C.E. and other U.S. government agencies and officials lied and/or failed to disclose things like this man allegedly failed to disclose a minor misdemeanor offense? You can sure that they have lied and failed to disclose things that the American and the world have a right to know far more than this individual obviously has. Therefore, the hypocrisy of the U.S. government and courts in denying this American-in-every-way-but-officially is absolutely outrageous, unconscionable and inexcusable. Here the U.S. military is today lying and promising non-American-citizens, citizenship while or after serving in the U.S. military, but this honorably discharged U.S. serviceman and completely law abiding citizen can not get citizenship all these years later. That is totally bizarre.

True, Full and Complete Justice for Muhammad Zahid Chaudhry and his family!

How about presuming the guy

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 17:22 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

How about presuming the guy innocent, you Neanderthal, typical so-called "American" (and/or un-American, anti-American, anti-Constitutional "American") ignoramuses; as it is the Constitutional DUTY of ALL of you to do?! You can't call yourselves true Americans if you presume anyone guilty; and articles, the so-called "facts" in them, and/or claims of the government (when both the government and media lie all the time) don't necessarily prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt!! Therefore, there IS reasonable doubt(s) of this man's guilt, and everyone, especially every American, should presume him innocent until it is COMPLETELY proven to THEM beyond a reasonable doubt that he's guilty!! This typical jumping to conclusions, parroting other peoples' (false) beliefs, and/or presumption of guilt is a prime example of why most "Americans" are xenophobic racists!!

[Damn right I'm angry, for very good reason(s), about this!! Fulfill your Constitutional DUTY to presume people innocent, or don't claim to be true Americans!! Please, dear God, save us from all of these truly un-American (and/or un-Christian, anti-Christian) idiots!!]

...Besides, Muhammad is

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 18:30 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

...Besides, Muhammad is under threat of death at the hands of the Taliban and/or "al-CIA-duh(!)" if he gets deported to Pakistan, for God's sake!! Rhetorically-speaking, is ANYTHING illegal that he supposedly did, deserving of that?!

He pleaded guilty to using

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 21:09 — Ray (not verified)

He pleaded guilty to using somebody's passport and credit card when he was 13. That is his crime. He failed to disclose the conviction on his tourist visa application. He is not a decorated veteran. He claims to be disabled by military drills at Ft Lewis during his short stay in the National Guard.

But Ray, your ilk still

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 22:54 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

But Ray, your ilk still haven't answered my question, does that mean he should be deported to Pakistan to face murder at the hands of the Taliban?! It's condemners like you who will betray your neighbors to the modern-day "Gestapo", the "Department of Homeland (In)Security", to be taken away to FEMA concentration camps just because you didn't like them, they were the wrong nationality or color, you were jealous of how well and better than you they were doing, they were "too conservative", they were "too liberal", and/or you considered them "welfare bums", et cetera...

...Like the "good Germans"

Sat, 01/15/2011 - 22:55 — S. Wolf Britain (not verified)

...Like the "good Germans" who gave up ten million of their neighbors to concentration camps and extermination because they were Jewish, prosperous, impoverished, Roma (gypsies), black, homosexual, civil rights activists, pro-freedom, anti-fascism, critical of Hitler and his policies, etc. You'll end up doing such things that you never believed, right up until you do them, that you could do them; just as most of the German people didn't believe it could happen like it did, and that they could be part of it like they were. Wake up and be a part of trying to stop the fascism before it's too late. You start by combating it in your own condemning and presuming-of-guilt heart first.

"Chaudhry's military awards

Sun, 01/16/2011 - 02:53 — Anonymous (not verified)

"Chaudhry's military awards include a National Defense Service Medal, a Global War On Terrorism Service Medal, an Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" Device and the Army Service Ribbon."

I hardly am one to compare one veterans service to another, but the medals indicated here are given just for graduating boot camp; I received all except for the army service ribbon without having to leave California (and that was because I wasn't army). Are his injuries the result of combat wounds, self-injury, or what? There are large chunks of information missing and this story gives me the impression the writer is using military service to cover-up the missing pieces. I am not convinced.