United States: The Patriot

In the aftermath of September 11, the INS took a hard look at many of the foreign nationals it had earlier permitted into the country—a reasonable precaution, many would agree, given the threats we still face from terrorists. They detained a certain Burmese national in July 2002. Ahn (a pseudonym) had been a pro-democracy activist in Burma and had accepted exile for the cause. But his past political actions also included something that suddenly took on an entirely new dimension to the U.S. government.

Not long after enrolling at the prestigious Rangoon Institute of Technology at the age of 16, Ahn became involved in the pro-democracy movement sweeping much of Europe and Asia in the late 1980s. The Burmese movement opposed the corrupt ruling dictatorship that had destroyed the national economy and gutted the middle class. Dissidents were imprisoned and faced torture and/or death. After months of such repression and a bloody nationwide crackdown in August and September 1988, Ahn—along with thousands of other persecuted Burmese students—fled Rangoon for a jungle encampment of political dissidents on the Burmese-Thailand border. There he lived amidst poverty and disease with fellow activists while monitoring Burmese developments and pressing for the outside world’s help. After a year passed without any improvement in Burma—and following the dictatorship’s arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the pro-democracy movement and Nobel Peace Prize winner— it became clear to Ahn and his friends that they must do "something external to Burma" to get the world’s attention. They eventually agreed upon the desperate idea of commandeering a Burmese airliner to publicize Burma’s plight.

In late 1989, Ahn and a colleague boarded a domestic Burmese flight and diverted the plane, without violence, to Thailand, where they publicized their "demands"—the dictator-ship’s release of all political prisoners, the lifting of martial law, and UN peacekeeping intervention in Burma. They had no weapons and nobody was injured. They cooperated with Thai authorities and were ultimately convicted in Thailand and sentenced to six years in prison (half the usual sentence), but served their time under minimum security and were released after only 30 months.

In 1995, Ahn applied for a Burmese Refugee Scholarship, sponsored by the U.S. Information Agency. In his scholarship application and disclosures to the U.S. government, he discussed at length his pro-democracy activities in Burma, including the airplane incident. In 1996, based on his dedication to the pro-democracy movement in Burma and his potential for contributing to the development of a democratic Burma, he was granted the scholarship (one of only six from a pool of 100). The INS concluded that he was no danger, granted him a form of immigration status, and permitted him to enter the United States and study at Indiana University. In what might have been an omen, Ahn was detained by the INS a year later, based on the airline incident, but was released a month later after U.S. authorities again reviewed his background and determined that he was no danger.

After graduating with an economics degree in 2000, Ahn decided to study for a second degree, this one in computer technology. He excelled at it and was carrying a GPA of 3.7 in July 2002 when he was again arrested.

It is uncertain what triggered the latest arrest. Many assume the new War on Terror cast his earlier political activities in a different light. Whatever the underlying reasons, the INS revoked his immigration status without explanation and brought him to a Chicago-area INS staging center for deportation proceedings. During the year that those proceedings were pending, he was held in various jails in Illinois and Wisconsin.

At the request of the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center—whose director, Mary Meg McCarthy, describes the case as "one of the most challenging and compelling pro bono cases ever to come through our agency’s doors"—we took up the case in October 2002. It was our contention that the revocation of Ahn’s immigration status was illegal because it was based on facts already cleared by the government and without any new significance, and because no showing was made that Ahn was a danger to the community or to the United States. The federal government—especially the newborn Department of Homeland Security, which has a narrower, post-September-11 tolerance of political zeal—took a hard line and argued that the revocation was within its discretion.

Associate Drew Worseck handled the case from the start, with Marc Kadish’s guidance and assistance from Michelle Gale and paralegal Trudy Doyle.

The immigration judge in the case not only believed Ahn was not a threat but expressed alarm at what deportation would mean for him: forced return to Burma, where draconian reprisals awaited him. The immigration judge found "no evidence that the [INS’s] decision was predicated on any justifiable ground," that [Ahn] has led a "productive, exemplary life" in the U.S., and that he should not be deported. Despite this ruling, attorneys for the INS appealed the court’s decision and refused to release him.

After we filed a federal habeas lawsuit seeking Ahn’s release and reinstatement of his immigration status, we were able to devise a settlement whereby Ahn was released from federal custody and allowed to return to his student life in the Midwest, and his past actions would no longer be considered against him.

Mary Meg McCarthy stresses the importance of Drew’s work: "The outcome of these cases will be tremendously significant to others who are representing asylum seekers in the post-9/11 era."

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