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Federal Judge Orders ICE to Bring Mory Home

tramontelaDecember 15, 2020

A federal judge ordered ICE to remove Mory Keita from the deportation charter plane today, so that he can provide testimony in the federal civil rights lawsuit. As of this writing, ICE refuses to comply.

Earlier today, we reported that lawyers C.K. Wang and Nazly Mamedova filed an emergency writ in federal court to stop the deportation of Mory Keita, a material witness in a policy brutality case. After hours of being misled by ICE, we learned that Mory was already on the plane en route to Africa.

Nazly Mamedova said: “ICE has disregarded requests from counsel to not proceed with removal of Mr. Keita until the pending matter in federal court was decided. It proceeded with removal anyways. Now, it is trying to disregard the Order of the Federal Judge to HOLD and BRING BACK our client. ICE has been known for these violations of federal orders and continues to operate with complete disregard for the U.S. Constitution and our legal system.”

Mr. Keita’s testimony is needed in a lawsuit against Butler County Corrections Officers, ICE contractors. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Black ordered the U.S. government to produce Mr. Keita so he can render his testimony.

The question remains, where is Mory?

“Mr. Keita is a first-hand witness to two brutal assaults against other African men detained for ICE in the Butler County Jail. It’s no wonder ICE wants to disappear and silence him. ICE may act like a rogue police force, but they are not above the law. They have to comply with Judge Black’s order and return Mory to Ohio to testify.”

Attorney CK Wang explained:

A key finding of the U S Supreme Court in the Guantanamo Habeas Corpus cases – Rasul, Hamdi, Hamdan and Boumediene – is that the degree of actual control the Government has over a detainee seeking habeas relief determines if the Great Writ runs to the place in detention.  Thus habeas corpus constitutionally runs in Guantanamo and is available to detainees there because of the control the U.S. has over the facility.
Likewise not only is an aircraft owned by a U.S. corporation and registered in the USA sovereign territory per se, because this Omni Air flight OAE320 is under the armed control of ICE officers ensures habeas jurisdiction on board.  This is a chartered deportation flight dedicated to flying deportees to Africa from the USA and is under the strict control of a handful of ICE officers who travel on board to control the deportees.  Detainees are restrained on board and must obey the orders of the ICE removal officers.

Read more about the lawsuit that sparked this turn of events here.