A Palestine-born imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County was facing deportation for over two decades, but he has now won the legal battle against the Donald Trump administration. The major win for immigrants amid the enhanced immigration crackdown was delivered on Tuesday with a Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. The US court declared the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) cannot revoke the green card of Mohammad Qatanani, who is a Muslim religious leader and a longtime resident of New Jersey.
Citing “grave concerns,” the appeals court slammed the Trump government’s “antithetical” approach to separation of powers under the US constitution. “The implications of this argument are extraordinary,” wrote US Circuit Judge Arianna Freeman, noting that had the DOJ pulled off deporting Qatanani, it would have reflected a violation of Congress’ authority by granting the administration “carte blanche.”
Even with the New Jersey imam in focus due to his individual fight against deportation fears spanning two decades, the legal protection extends far beyond, with sweeping implications for immigrants in the US at large. Local outlet NewJersey.com reported that the appeals court’s ruling protects 12.8 million green card holders from the DOJ unilaterally revoking their legal permanent status by jumping over Congress’ mandate for proper procedure.
Who is Mohammad Qatanani?
The longtime New Jersey imam leads one of the largest mosques in the US state. As a Palestinian, Qatanani has been in a limbo for over two decades, seeking permanent residency in America. Leaving Jordan, he came to the US in 1996 on a religious worker visa (H-1B) to serve his role as a religious leader. He eventually applied for a green card three years later in an attempt to adjust his status to a legal permanent resident.
Federal officials have repeatedly accused him of sharing ties with Hamas, which he has vehemently denied. As has often been established, the imam is not the only pro-Palestinian person to have been hit with these allegations.
Qatanani further shared that he was detained while travelling to his native West Bank in 1993. He was reportedly subjected to mistreatment by Israeli authorities during the visit despite never being convicted of a crime.
A US immigration judge consequently relied on the lack of evidence failing to substantiate claims that he was affiliated to Hamas. Even though an immigration judge ruled in his favour in 2008 and 2020, the former order slipped off after the Homeland Security appealed it. BIA also vacated it, as per Newsweek. Even though DHS did not appeal the second ruling in the required 30-day period, the BIA later called for the imam’s removal. Soon after that, Qatanani appealed the decision.
The DOJ alluded to the imam’s 2017 speech in which he called for a “new intifada,” with government lawyers doubling down on the phrase inciting violence. However, new Jersey’s Qatanani asserted the call simply signalled his peaceful protest against oppression.
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