By Roberto Sanchez

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing two Border Patrol agents alleging that they unlawfully arrested and attempted to deport an Iraqi refugee in 2003. Their supervisors also have been sued for causing the alleged misconduct. The case is now in the discovery phase, during which new evidence of racial profiling and other questionable tactics by immigration authorities in Montana has emerged, according to the ACLU.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit in March 2005 on behalf of Abdulameer Yousef Habeeb, an Iraqi refugee who was detained, questioned and confined for eight nights and allegedly threatened with deportation, despite having broken no laws. The suit seeks compensation and punitive damages from the defendants for allegedly violating Habeeb’s constitutional rights.

“Racial or ethnic profiling and illegal seizures by federal law enforcement officials breach the fundamental promise of the Bill of Rights -- that government shall not abuse its authority and trample on individual freedoms,” said Jesse Wing, an ACLU cooperating attorney who is handling the case.

“A just outcome would include compensation for Mr. Habeeb, proper training of the government officials at fault and a court order prohibiting immigration agents from ethnic profiling of passengers at the train station,” Wing said.

On April 1, 2003, Habeeb was traveling by train from Seattle to Washington, D.C., to begin a new job with an Arabic-language newspaper. Habeeb and other passengers stepped off the train to stretch their legs during a 30-minute station stop at Havre, Mont. While returning to the train, he was surrounded by three Border Patrol agents, who asked him where he was from and demanded to see identification.

When Habeeb produced a copy of a form showing his status as a refugee, the agents asked him if he had gone through “special registration,” a program requiring certain non-citizens from a group of mostly Muslim countries to go through immigration registration procedures beyond those required of all other non-citizens. As a refugee, Habeeb was not required to comply with special registration, according to the suit. But the agents claimed otherwise, arrested him and held him overnight for further questioning, the suit alleges.

The action further contends that the agents then initiated proceedings to deport Habeeb back to Iraq, claiming that Habeeb failed to comply with special registration. Habeeb spent three nights at the Hill County Jail in Montana and five nights in a federal detention facility in Seattle before being released. The deportation proceedings against him were not formally terminated until May 16, 2003.

“During my time in jail, I lived in fear that I would be locked up in prison in the United States for the rest of my life or that I would be returned to Iraq, where I would be tortured or killed,” Habeeb said in a declaration to the court. “Two and a half years later, I still suffer. The sense of safety that I felt when I first came to the United States, and my hopes or a new life, have been destroyed.

“I believe the agents decided to stop and question me because of my skin color or because I look Middle Eastern,” Habeeb said. “There were many other passengers who left the train and were on platform or were in the station. But, I did not see the agents stop or question them. Most of the other passengers were white.”

Since the lawsuit was filed, at least nine people have come forward to report incidents of racial profiling by immigration officials at the Havre train station.

“The Border Patrol agents ignored passengers, like me, who have white skin,” said Benjamin Stewart, a Lutheran pastor who traveled through the Havre train station several times. “In contrast, I recall the agents stopping and intensely asking questions of every person with dark skin they passed.”

Stewart said he was so disturbed by the actions of Border Patrol agents that he took pictures of agents approaching dark-skinned passengers. He also started a letter-writing campaign to the Border Patrol with members of his congregation, months before they stopped Habeeb.

Border Patrol agents acknowledge using passenger manifests of Amtrak trains passing through the Havre station. They claim to destroy these lists after use.

“While federal government officials have given lip service to publicly condemning racial profiling, they have done little to stop it. In fact, former Attorney General Ashcroft’s implementation of ‘special registration’ regulations did the opposite: It targeted people of color, so the government’s mistreatment of Mr. Habeeb -- or someone like him -- was inevitable,” Wing said.

Habeeb’s treatment at the hands of U.S. agents is especially disturbing given the circumstances that brought him to the country, according to the ACLU. Habeeb’s brother, Abdallah, was executed by Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1982 and Habeeb was imprisoned twice, most recently in 1997. His hands and face bear the scars resulting from the torture that he endured during these incidents.

Habeeb’s father was killed in a suspicious car crash in 1999. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees determined that Habeeb had a well-founded fear of political persecution in Iraq and granted him refugee status. Habeeb was admitted to the United States in July 2002 and took up residence in Kent.