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By Guy Page
Lawyers with Vermont Law School’s Center for Justice Reform Clinic are representing a Burlington cab driver from Somalia who was sentenced for immigration fraud in 2019 but who was arrested on New Year’s Day by immigration officials.
Hussien Noor Hussien was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents January 1. He is incarcerated in Northwest State Correctional Facility awaiting a February 4 hearing on his request that he not be moved out of state.
Federal court records for Hussien V. Bondi already show 12 motions and court decisions in the case. Hussien is listed as an ‘alien detainee’ pending the habeas corpus (location of incarceration) hearing. The presiding judge is Geoffrey Crawford, who released Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi from federal custody in April last year. The VLS Center for Justice Reform Clinic opened a Burlington office on Elmwood Avenue, a stone’s throw from the federal building, in 2023 with federal funding secured by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Burlington Free Press reported in June, 2023.
Hussien Noor Hussien of Burlington, who was 56 at the time, was sentenced September 11, 2019 in U.S. District Court in Maine to two months in prison and three years of supervised release for impersonating another in a naturalization proceeding, procuring naturalization contrary to law and making a false statement on a passport application.
In addition, the Court entered an order revoking Hussien’s citizenship, which the law requires when a person is convicted for procuring naturalization contrary to law. It is unclear whether Hussien was deported, or where he has lived following his two-month sentence.
Court records and trial evidence revealed that in 2004, Hussien entered the United States as a refugee under the name Abukar Hassan Abdule. He entered with the wife and children of the true Abukar Hassan Abdule. In 2011, he applied for U.S. citizenship under the same name. He affirmed on his citizenship application and during an in-person citizenship interview in South Portland, Maine, that his name was Abukar Hassan Abdule.
He ultimately was naturalized under the same name. After becoming a U.S. citizen, he applied for a U.S. passport under the name Abukar Hassan Abdule. In 2013, he filed in Vermont state court to legally change his name in the U.S. from Abukar Hassan Abdule to Hussien Noor Hussien, the name he was given at birth.
The investigation prior to the 2019 sentencing was conducted by the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General.
Hussien’s supporters on Reddit are asking the public to support his family: “Hussien Noor Hussien has been living in the US for 22 years. He used a false name to escape Somalia, which hurt no one, and served his time for that fraud after he was caught. A few weeks ago, ICE abducted him from his cab at the Burlington airport and imprisoned him at the NW correctional facility in St Albans.
“Fortunately, the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at VLS is representing Hussien pro bono. But the legal process is likely to be a very lengthy one and may result in Hussien being deported. Hussien has five children and four stepchildren. We’re asking those who would like to do so to make contributions for his family’s groceries, rent, living expenses and legal fees.”
The Reddit post urges supporters to Venmo his wife or make a donation through United Immigrant Refugee Communities of Vermont, a Burlington-based organization. It also urges supporters to attend his hearing at the federal building in Burlington at 11 AM Feb. 4. “Let’s fill the courtroom,” the post urges.
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Categories: Border
Seems like there’s criminal activity associated with the name “Hussien (Hussan)”. One such person has a Kenya birth Certificate and Kenya Passport. Seen both.
How about, we build a society where you tell the truth. So when the time comes, you don’t have to back pedal. What was the benefit to lying? Now he will likely be deported, and his family split up. But who really is to blame? Himself and no one else, choices have consequences, this is what people need to understand, even if you are from another country.
Especially if they are from another country!
I hope he is deported ASAP. And why is anyone donating to help him? Look at the American citizens living in the streets in Burlington! Help them!
“ICE abducted him from his cab”? When ICE takes someone into custody, it is no more of an “abduction” than any other arrest for a crime or warrant status. I suppose you could say he was “snatched off the street” and “disappeared”, which could also describe what happens to drunk drivers and burglars when apprehended.
If they are going to commit crimes to get into our country by lying, why should we believe that they won’t do that once they have fraudulently weaseled their way in and respect our rule of law?
It would make as much sense as breaking and entering into someone’s home, and then insisting to the homeowner and law enforcement that you’ll abide by all the rules of the house and won’t break or steal any of their stuff. Makes zero sense.
He’s been here for 22 years, has a clean record and a job? LET HIM STAY.
He’s been here 20 years, should have gotten his citizenship by now. Deport, and come back the right way.
A clean record, except for that lie about his true identity.
How do we know he didn’t lie about his name because he was a Somalian war criminal like Ilhan Omar’s family was? I’m guessing he got arrested on his “birthday” if it was January 1st. So basically, we didn’t know that either— how is someone ever “vetted” like that?
Amazing! How many lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration with the premise that we should “ let the courts decide?” In this man’s case, the courts did decide. So, now what?
Is his legal team and supporters saying his use of a stolen identity is no big deal?
Anyone who’s worked near East African refugees knows most of them are assigned birthdays of “January 1st” because they didn’t know them or keep records in the first place—-and the day Hussain was ironically “disappeared” (as libs like to say) was certainly a nice touch by 1CE—- so how do we know Mr Hussain here wasn’t a part of the Barre regime who initiated the Isaaq genocide against other Somalis if we didn’t have his real name OR birthday? It’s looking like some other notable Somalians in the US turned out to be the relatives of elitist war criminals too… time to get the popcorn.