In ICE custody...urgent advice needed

[downtowngirl]

One of my friends has been in ICE custody for 150 days. He comes from the former Yugoslavia, a country that since split into 6 republics, similar to the former Soviet Union. He has no citizenship or documents from any of the newly formed republics. ICE already tried verifying with two of the states if he is their citizen and they both said no. He is truly stateless at this point. With his 180 day review coming up I have a few questions.
1. What are the chances of him being released at the 180 day review?
2. What does ICE do in cases of stateless people does it allow them to stay in the US?

He does have relatives, brother, who is a US citizen does that help?

Thanks

 

[BigJoe5]

One of my friends has been in ICE custody for 150 days. He comes from the former Yugoslavia, a country that since split into 6 republics, similar to the former Soviet Union. He has no citizenship or documents from any of the newly formed republics. ICE already tried verifying with two of the states if he is their citizen and they both said no. He is truly stateless at this point. With his 180 day review coming up I have a few questions.
1. What are the chances of him being released at the 180 day review?
2. What does ICE do in cases of stateless people does it allow them to stay in the US?

He does have relatives, brother, who is a US citizen does that help?

Thanks

WHY is he in ICE Custody? IF he was merely encountered without ID and legal status, they usually will kick someone loose IF they are harmless. IF he was taken into custody upon arrival that is another set of scenarios: stowaway, smuggler, asylum-seeker, human trafficker as opposed to the victim, and various other possibilities may all be treated quite differently.

IF he is in ICE Custody because he just got released from prison as drug dealer the answer to your question would be quite different than if he overstayed a tourist visa.

 

[downtowngirl]

occur ougpha

To clarify, he came to the US on tourist visa in1994. Tried to apply for politycal asylum, since he was coming from a war torn country, and got denied. No criminal record or trouble with the law ever. He is a truck driver and got stopped by ICE near the Canadian border, they asked for his green card, passport and since he is not in the country legally got dtained.

Hope this helps.

 

[BigJoe5]

To clarify, he came to the US on tourist visa in1994. Tried to apply for politycal asylum, since he was coming from a war torn country, and got denied. No criminal record or trouble with the law ever. He is a truck driver and got stopped by ICE near the Canadian border, they asked for his green card, passport and since he is not in the country legally got dtained.

Hope this helps.

Is your friend the guy who was ordered removed because he falsely claimed to be a U.S. Citizen in order to facilitate cross-border travel?

IF yes, he's screwed. IF not, you still have not provided any reason for detention. Was he previously ordered deported after failing to obtain asylum, withholding, and CAT Relief? Was he ordered removed in absentia for skipping court and living underground and it just caught up to him?

Your scenario is still too vague and full of holes.

 

[downtowngirl]

Is your friend the guy who was ordered removed because he falsely claimed to be a U.S. Citizen in order to facilitate cross-border travel?

IF yes, he's screwed. IF not, you still have not provided any reason for detention. Was he previously ordered deported after failing to obtain asylum, withholding, and CAT Relief? Was he ordered removed in absentia for skipping court and living underground and it just caught up to him?

Your scenario is still too vague and full of holes.

BigJoe-thanks for your patience. I guess I am having trouble explaining all the details.

He did not falsely claim he was a US citizen. He is a truck driver and by accident wandered onto a bridge in Michigan where the US/Canada border crossing is in the middle of the bridge. Since he couldn't turn around with a truck he was arrested since he could not show proof of his US status (green card or citizenship). Once he was denied political asylum he failed to comply with any deportation notices sent to him and was as you put it "living underground and it just caught up to him".

Hope this clarifies things. My biggest concern, despite consulting and getting an immigration attorney, is what happens with him after the 180 day review? As I mentioned before, he does come from a country that no longer exists as a legal entity and split into separate states. ICE checked with two states his citizenship status and both confirmed he is not their citizen. Per the attorney, ICE did say they were gonna release him after the 90 day review and getting the confirmation about his lack of citizenship BUT then the ICE officer on his case decided to engage the Washignton Embassy (vs. local consulate that already confirmed he is not the citizen) of one of the countries to further confirm he is not their citizen.

Thanks for your expertise...this forum was a life saver for me when I was getting naturalized (successfully).

 

[Triple Citizen]

I am having a little difficulty with this. Is he Croat, Bosnian, Serb, Slovenian, Macedonian or Montenegroan? Why is ICE contacting all of these countries one by one? Your friend knows where he was born in former Yugolsavia and knows his ethnicity. Just divulge that to ICE so that the process can move forward.

As I mentioned before, he does come from a country that no longer exists as a legal entity and split into separate states.

 

[PRAHA]

I am having a little difficulty with this. Is he Croat, Bosnian, Serb, Slovenian, Macedonian or Montenegroan? Why is ICE contacting all of these countries one by one? Your friend knows where he was born in former Yugolsavia and knows his ethnicity. Just divulge that to ICE so that the process can move forward.

in old yugoslavia person born in one republic was registered as a citizen of yugoslavia in the republic where his father was born
so for example he cold be born in serbia but his father could be born in croatia so he is citizen of croatia/yugoslavia -sounds confusing ??;;check this ..after 1991 and break up of yugoslavia each new republic did a cross check of their citizenship books in order to remove citizens of "foreign" origin ..so now if he was born in serbia and become citizen of yugoslavia trough his father who is born in croatia he is not automatically citizen of croatia if he is not a croat by ethnic origin (his father could be serb from croatia) in which case he will be denied for croatin citizenship ..but he could not get serbian citizenship either because he is registered in old yugoslav citizenship books in croatia and his state ID number given to him after his birth is from"old" yugoslav republic of croatia not recognized by new ethnic state of croatia and for sure not on books with serbia
all ex yugoslav republics are national states unlike usa for example -they are based on ethnic origin of the citizens rather than geographical term like us is ..so croatia is a ethnic state of croats an other "nations " in practice that means that say serbs even if they are "croat citizens" by birth they are not entitled to be "croats" and therefor to have valid passport for example or ID card

serbs who got kicked out from croatia in 93-95 and even if they are born for generations in croatia are still 20 years after the end of the war can not obtain croat citizenship but live in serbia as a refugees !
same goes to other ex nationalities

so he will be released after 180 days because I doubt ICE would manage to find his "country"-they are just wasting their time by desperately fishing for his "citizenship" ..in theory he could claim citizenship of some ex yu new countries but he missed the boat long time ago - those who wanted to claim citizenship of the newly created countries of ex yu has done that in early to mid 90s almost 20 years ago so he is stateless if he has old ex yu passport

I used to work with people from ex yugoslavia a lot when I just came to us and I know a lots of them who avoided deportation and even with the criminal record stayed in the us because of this