Hamilton, OH and Alexandria, LA – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is moving to deport a key witness in a civil rights lawsuit before he can testify in court.
Mory Keita, a Columbus resident, was detained on an ICE hold in the Butler County Jail until this week. On Tuesday, he was abruptly transferred to Louisiana and told he will be deported on December 14.
While at the Butler Jail, Mr. Keita bravely spoke out against Corrections Officers’ abuse against men detained for ICE. He provided key details for the legal complaint filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio by Attorneys John C. Camillus and Amy Norris. His presence is needed in the U.S. to testify in the future legal proceedings. Instead, ICE is trying to silence him by deporting him next week.
Ericka Curran, Mory’s immigration lawyer and an Assistant Professor at the University of Dayton School of Law, said: “Mory Keita is attempting to stay his deportation because he fears torture in his home country. His mother brought him to the U.S. when he was three years old, after fleeing their home country when his father was murdered. Mory doesn’t speak his native language and has no family there. He missed his immigration court hearing in 2009 because the notice of the hearing never arrived at his home. Mory has a four year old US. citizen daughter that he would leave behind.”
Mr. Keita was an eyewitness to an August 2020 physical assault against Mr. Bayong Brown Bayong, a plaintiff in the recently-filed lawsuit. [CW – violence] He wrote:
I was able to see Bayong coming down the stairs and he was moving slowly and the officers were yelling at him. He was having a hard time moving and limping and trying to hold on to the railing for balance. Then when he was going down about half way down I saw that he was pushed from behind by an officer and he then fell forward and hit his head. Bayong is a tall guy so it was a loud sound. Then the officers picked him up and dragged him out to the main area. He was bleeding on his head and legs. They were still yelling at him. He was crying from the pain. Then a nurse came and then they took him to the hole.
Mr. Keita witnessed a second assault against Mr. Bayong and his cellmate, Mr. Ahmed Adem in October 2020, which formed the rest of the basis for the legal complaint. Keita told lawyers: “I am afraid to speak up because I might face consequences, but I feel this was wrong.”
Mory Keita has lived in the United States since he was three, and ICE said he will be deported to Guinea on December 14. Mory came to the U.S. with his mother after his father was killed, and knows no one in Guinea. In the United States, he has a young daughter who is a U.S. citizen.
Mr. Keita’s attorney, Ericka Curran, says that he has several options for reopening his immigration case.
“There’s no reason to rush Mory’s deportation unless ICE has something to hide,” said Lynn Tramonte, Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance. “ICE has a pattern of trying to silence witnesses and cover up abuses in their jails. Democracy dies in the dark, which is why Mory must remain here to testify in the civil rights case and pursue his legal immigration options.”
On Thursday, December 10, Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, IJPC YES – Youth Educating Society, and people from across southwestern Ohio will gather outside the jail to show solidarity with Keita, Bayong, Adem, and other immigrants harmed in this jail. The event will follow COVID-19 guidelines and a live stream will also be available. Check here for information and updates.
Read more about the lawsuit here. If you or someone you know was also assaulted at the Butler County Jail, email admin@ohioimmigrant.org.
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