A Twin Cities law firm is working to stop the deportations of five Somali men living in Minnesota.
Among those faced with deportation is Abdoulmalik Ramadan Ibrahim. A representative from Kim Hunter Law firm said Wednesday that Ibrahim was employed as a cardiovascular technician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
The law firm filed a petition late Friday in U.S. District Court to stop the deportations until their clients could be afforded due process.
MPRS News reports that four of the men came to the U.S. in the 1990s, the fifth in 2004. Lawyers say none of the men are public safety threats and all have work histories in the state.
Each of the five men did, however, have outstanding deportation orders ranging from 2001 to 2011. It is believed they are now being held at a detention facility in Louisiana.
The firm is not discussing individual cases, but did confirm to the Med City Beat that Ibrahim did not have a criminal record. We also reached out to Mayo Clinic on this, but have not heard back.
All five men were arrested within the past couple months. In an interview with KSTP in the Twin Cities, lawyers argued "it's too dangerous to send the men back to Somalia, that the men may be targets of al-Shabab because they have come from the West."
'PLEASE SAVE MY HUSBAND'
At least one other report surfaced Wednesday of a pending deportation from Minnesota to Somalia.
Marissa Abdi, an Owatonna woman who works as a nurse at Mayo Clinic, says her husband, Mohamed Abdi, has been arrested and detained by I.C.E. In a post to Facebook, she said the father of four is scheduled to be deported for Somalia Thursday morning.
"I need everyone's help," writes Marissa. "PLEASE HELP ME SAVE MY HUSBAND. My husband, Mohamed Abdi, is a good man. We have 4 amazing young children together, who want their dad to come home. On October 5, ICE arrested Mo and has been detained since. They have not allowed us to see him in person and now tomorrow morning he has been ordered to be DEPORTED TO SOMALIA."
Marissa says her husband has no criminal history and has always maintained a job. In the post, which has been shared more than 250 times since this morning, she says she fears for his life.
"My biggest fear is that he will be killed as soon as the plane lands. My husband is of Christian Faith and the other immigrants on his flight do not approve of that. These immigrants have told my husband that they are going to lynch him and burn him to the ground as soon as the plane lands."
We have no additional information regarding the case. We reached out to Marissa and left our contact information, but have not heard back. In response to her post, Facebook users have been contacting lawmakers and media stations for help.
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