Locked in a Private Immigration Prison, One Man Speaks Out

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted April 29, 2009.

AMY GOODMAN: The Bureau—

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: BIA.

AMY GOODMAN: —of Immigration Affairs.

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: Immigration Appeals, yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Of Bureau of Immigration Appeals.

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: The Board of Immigration Appeals in Virginia.

AMY GOODMAN: What has been the response outside the jail, where you are in the Greater Houston community?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: Well, I thank—I take this opportunity to thank each and every man, woman, young children, everybody, Muslim, non-Muslims, who stood up by me and by my family, knowing that this is an injustice done to a human being, to a family. They are punishing me and punishing my family, punishing my community, just for who I am. So I thank them. It was tremendous support. They came to the court. And they were not allowed, unfortunately, to enter the courtroom.

AMY GOODMAN: Why?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: I don’t know. I don’t know. They said only ten people can come, and then later on they changed their mind.

AMY GOODMAN: I was reading the Houston Chronicle piece about your youngest daughter, your wife not wanting to bring her to the jail to see you. Have you seen her?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: Yes, I did. Finally, I told her that things are going to go along, just bring her. And when she came in, it was heartbreaking. She was like trying to kiss me through the glass.

AMY GOODMAN: What are your final thoughts in this interview? What would you like people to understand in this country about your situation?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: I just want them to know that I am really surprised that this is happening in the Obama administration time, although it started in the Bush administration. Every problem that I’m facing and my family and my community are facing started in the Bush administration, but it is continuing. And we really wanted change, and we were hoping for change, but I don’t see it. I don’t see it.

And they are denying me—by the way, they gave me a bond after ninety days. DHS gave me a bond, and they did not honor it until today. They gave me the bond on March the 17th. And just like that, they did not, when a friend of mine, a dear friend of mine, went to pay the bond, which was $20,000—I mean, they are bonding out criminals. I have no criminal history whatsoever. I have never committed even a misdemeanor in my life. And they did not even honor what they have given me.

AMY GOODMAN: They revoked the bond when it was—

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: No, they didn’t even—they didn’t even send me a letter or anything to say that it’s revoked. Just verbally, they said, “We are not going to give it to you.”

AMY GOODMAN: When you say they are punishing you for who you are, what do you mean?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: I mean, I strongly believe that I am targeted because of my political views, especially I was against the war in Iraq, against bombing innocent civilians in Lebanon in 2006, and for my clear stance that I am pro-democracy and values that this country was founded on. And they don’t want for somebody who is free-minded and outspoken.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us. And finally, your message to your own children—when they come to see you, do they ask you why you’re behind glass, why you’re in jail?

SHEIKH ZOUBIR BOUCHIKHI: Yes, yes. Like my third child, Bushra, who is eight years old, she keeps telling me, “Why, Daddy? Why are you here? Why don’t you come home?” And I say, “It’s not yet time, my daughter.” She said she thinks I am actually—for three months, she thought I was in a conference, because she’s used that I travel for conferences. And she said, “This time, you took long time.” Then, when her mother brought her to the detention center, she was crying, and she told me, “Why are you staying here? This is not your place.” I said, “I know, my daughter. But I’m coming very soon.”

And they decorated the home, by the way, on the 18th of March. They decorated the home. They bought balloons. They bought a sign, “Welcome, Daddy.” And their father didn’t come, just because DHS didn’t honor its bond.

AMY GOODMAN: Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, speaking to us from the private detention facility he has been detained at for the last four months in Houston.

See more stories tagged with: immigration, war on terror, detention

Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program, Democracy Now!

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