WASHINGTON: An investigation has begun into the detention by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) authorities of Ziyad Busaileh, a 60-year-old Palestinian immigrant residing in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Busaileh was arrested July 22 as he arrived home from a doctor’s visit; he is a diabetic and cardiac patient of Carolina Caridiology Consultants, P.A.
“Upon arrest, Busaileh was not allowed to retrieve his eye glasses or medications (he is recovering from a recent surgery), was denied the right to make a phone call, strip searched at the detention center and subjected to a rigorous interrogation by ICE authorities,” said Khalilah Sabra, North Carolina director of the Muslim American Society Freedom (MASF).
Sabra said that Busaileh was not offered legal counsel and was handicapped by a limited command of English (no interpreter was provided).
Busaileh was pressured under the threat of never seeing his family again “for the next five-years,” into signing a document he could not possibly have fully comprehended.
Since entering the US, originally seeking treatment for the life-threatening health condition of a triplet son, Busaileh, whose own health began to deteriorate a few years ago, reported for voluntary registration when the 2002 National Security Entry/Exit Registration System was implemented shortly after Sept. 11 attacks.
Subsequent to registration, Busaileh, a tax-paying sandwich shop worker and father of four, checked in periodically by phone to verify his status — being told each time, “not to worry.
ICE officials routinely arrest immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes, or who have outstanding warrants against them, however, prior to his arrest, Busaiyeh had not violated any US law, and received no prior notice requiring him to surrender to ICE authorities.
Busaileh’s detainment is one the latest examples of how immigration officials violate the basic rights of persons whom they arrest.
To compound matters, MAS Freedom has learned that on Tuesday, July 29, Busaileh was transferred to the Etowah County Detention Center in Gadsen, Alabama — a facility known to provide insufficient medical care, restrict necessary dietary needs, violate detainees’ rights to legal privilege and attorney-client communication, and for denying detainees the right to make phone calls.
Detainees of the facility have also complained of being subjected to three and four day periods each week of 24-hour lockdown — anyone complaining or talking subsequently punished by having their food placed directly onto the floor of their cell.
All persons, regardless of their status deserve humane and just treatment.
However, Busaileh has been denied the right to receive the prescribed dosage of his life-sustaining diabetes and heart medications.
Despite a July 25 statement provided by his treating physician acknowledging that his condition (ischemic cardiomyopathy) is such that he cannot sustain increased amounts of stress, and further asking that the patient/detainee be released to his home — Busaileh remains at the detention center — his fate and health in certain jeopardy.
MAS Freedom is preparing a letter of vigorous protest to ICE officials in Washington D.C. and North Carolina, as well as officials of the Etowah County Detention Center, and will continue to monitor and report on the Busaileh case as it develops.
