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STORY: At around 12:30 p.m. today, the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] deported a Palestinian family of nine to Jordan, a country bracing for the backlash of a U.S.-led war on Iraq.
Their crime was being one of the many illegal immigrants contributing to the well-being of this country, this according to U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Lee sponsored a bill in the House calling for the Kesbeh family to be granted immediate asylum. But when she failed to get a senator to sponsor a similar bill, the Kesbeh's bid to stay in this country also failed. Lee went to every senator in Congress and none stepped up to the plate to save the Kesbehs from deportation. Congresswoman Lee spoke to KPFT soon after their departure: "Well I just left the airport seeing a family that was confused, hurt, overwhelmed and saddened by their flight. And a family that loves America. A family that I think that is symbolic of the millions of undocumented aliens that are out in America that are simply looking to seek an opportunity to earn legalization. I think the greatest sin today, the greatest disappointment, is that America has failed to act in a humanitarian way and that our immigration policies have failed." At the North Highpoint offices of the INS, 35 supporters of the Kesbehs, gathered to see the family leave for their departure flight at Bush Intercontinental Airport. Noor Kesbeh, the eldest of the five daughters, was proud to say she was fighting until the very end. She did, however, express concern for her family's well being. "First of all I'm worried about being thrown in a dumpster. Jordan is like the dump ground of bad immigration policy, you know what I mean? We don't know anybody there. I'm just afraid of what's going to happen to us; is my dad going to be jailed for what he did? Because as a teenager fleeing the 1967 war, Israeli-Palestinian war, he faced a lot of discrimination there. And as you know, they killed about 70,000 Palestinians. The Jordanian government is responsible for that. So my dad fled to Saudia Arabia, and for the third time, he's becoming a refugee. This is our third time to be a refugee, right now. So we really don't have a place to go, our homeland is occupied, and again Jordan is not our country. So you can't send someone to a place of exile for Palestinians, basically Jordan is a place of exile. It's a dumping ground." The Kesbehs owned a flag distribution company on Harwin drive and lived in the same house for 11 years. They came to the United States from Saudi Arabia during the first gulf war because the Saudi government labeled Palestinians "Saddam Hussein sympathizers." As in the first gulf war, Saudi Arabia has lent support to U.S. military aggression on Iraq. At 5 a.m. this morning, people gathered at the Kesbeh family home to show their support. One of the Kesbeh family supporters admitted it was the first time he had been to "anything like this," before. "And understand that there is a conspiracy. The greedy wants to stay greedy. The powerful, they're not going to teach us how to become powerful. America is great, not because we're a capitalistic society. A capitalistic society means I am trying to earn money off of you, more than you can earn off of me. It's me trying to get more from you than what you can get from me. But look at what greed does, we suffer. It's unimaginable how someone with all the monies and power - quote/unquote - can take away from those. But they do it - why? - because we sit on the sideline. We cannot sit any longer, because we will be next, we will be next, this is very, very important." Showing the INS was not pulling any punches with its intention to deport the Kesbeh family, Noor Kesbeh explains what she experienced at the airport, moments before her deportation. "All of a sudden we find this, you know, white guy dressed like a normal person, you know. Sitting there, you know, in the front, and he's watching CNN, are you with me? And he turns to us and tells us, 'hi you guys, how are you,' you know 'what's your story?' Then he tells us, 'What do you think of Saddam?' And you know how emotional I get, you know, so I told him, 'He's an evil guy but I just don't support the killing of civilians.' And I gave him this good Web site. And it turns out he's FBI, he recorded my whole conversation and he gave it to the INS officials, OK. I don't know what he's trying to do. I mean, people have a right to their opinion, right? I mean, just because we're getting deported doesn't mean we're going to lie and say we're pro this war. No. I'm sorry. I'm going to say the truth." Kesbeh supporters did walk away with a firm commitment to stand up for immigrant rights. As Emilio Bateman from the immigrant and human rights group La Resistencia stated at the Kesbeh house: "We're embarking on the beginning of building the kind of movement that's going to be able to resist the attacks coming down on immigerants,. Andf this is happeinign to Muslim, Arab and South Asian immigrants all over this country. And right here we're making a stand and saying we're not going to let this happen in silence." Jackson Allers, KPFT News, Houston.
E-mail Jackson Allers at jacksonallers@hotmail.com .
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