Ahmed Soliman Deportation: Nov. 11 Return Deadline Set

The judge in the Ahmed Soliman deportation case has set a Nov. 11 deadline for the government to bring him back from Equatorial Guinea and said contempt remains on the table.

A federal judge in Tucson has given the government until Nov. 11 to complete the return of Ahmed Soliman, the Phoenix man deported in April to Equatorial Guinea, a country he had never visited. In an Oct. 27 order, U.S. District Judge John C. Hinderaker found the government’s latest progress report fell short and said he was not moving toward contempt “at this time” but would revisit it “if it becomes necessary,” The American Prospect reported. The Ahmed Soliman deportation case has become one of the clearest tests of what a court-ordered return actually requires once a person is already abroad.

Three weeks have passed since Hinderaker ruled on Oct. 6 that the deportation violated Soliman’s due process rights and ordered the government to facilitate his return. Soliman, 31, came to the United States at age 4. According to the Prospect, the judge’s latest order attached a four-page list of unmet steps and noted that “no commercial flight itinerary, travel date, route, carrier, or United States port of entry has been finalized,” with “eleven steps still outstanding.”

A plane that came and went

The judge’s impatience follows an episode on Oct. 23. An ICE official had told the court in a sworn filing that a U.S. flight to Equatorial Guinea was canceled; Soliman’s lawyers then said a DHS-contracted plane landed in Malabo, stayed a couple of hours and left without him, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Hinderaker wrote that the lawyers’ account “appears to contradict the declaration” the government had filed and ordered it to address the discrepancy. ICE official Fernando Valenzuela said Soliman could not board because ICE “had not yet adjudicated the parole request, and the return transportation letter had not been issued,” and the aircraft “could not wait for those steps to be completed,” according to the Daily Star.

Since then the government has moved, if slowly. According to the Prospect, its status reports say one travel document has been issued and expires Nov. 11, that Soliman’s return is tentatively set for Nov. 4, and that no ICE charter is planned before the document lapses. The government has also asked the Ninth Circuit for an emergency stay, which had not been granted as of Monday, the Prospect reported. A DHS spokesperson told the Daily Star that the department “complies with all lawful court orders.”

What “facilitate” means when the clock is set by a travel document

Return orders like this one ask the government to take the steps within its control, not to guarantee an outcome, which is why the judge has been tracking itineraries and paperwork rather than ordering officials to produce Soliman by a date certain. The Nov. 11 expiration changes that. If the travel document lapses unused, the government would likely have to start parts of the process over, and the judge’s warning suggests he would then ask whether it did everything within its power. A missed, dated deadline is the kind of concrete failure that can support a contempt finding; this week a Pennsylvania judge held three officials in civil contempt in a different case after a court-ordered release was undone.

A return would not by itself settle Soliman’s immigration status; where, if anywhere, he can lawfully be sent would still have to be decided through the immigration system. His case also sits against a wider backdrop: third-country removals have passed 25,000 by outside estimates, a Congressional Research Service update says, and the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the policy on Dec. 9, as other third-country cases work through the courts.

Dates to watch

Daily: government status reports to Judge Hinderaker, required since Oct. 21.
Nov. 4: tentative return date in the government’s filings, as reported by the Prospect.
Nov. 11: the court’s deadline and the expiration of the travel document.
Pending: the government’s emergency stay request at the Ninth Circuit.
Dec. 9: Supreme Court argument on the third-country removal policy.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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