#FreeOmarAmeen

Omar Ameen is a Sacramento community member, father of four and Iraqi refugee who had his life destroyed by the Trump administration. He was falsely accused of being an ISIS commander who murdered an Iraqi police officer and has spent nearly three years unlawfully imprisoned in a federal detention facility, awaiting extradition to Iraq and a likely death sentence.

Against all odds, Omar had an enormous legal win on April 21, 2021. Federal Judge Edmund Brennan denied Omar's extradition, finding the defense had “obliterated probable cause” and ordered Omar’s immediate release. Brennan said of the prosecution’s case: “this series of events is simply not plausible.”

Omar should have been freed that same night and reunited with his family. Instead, he was transferred into ICE custody for deportation proceedings based on the same allegations that had been "obliterated" by the defense team.

Omar’s fight is now as much political as it is legal. We need your help. Please take five minutes today to call your representatives and ICE to advocate on Omar’s behalf.

You can find more information about this important case on freeomarameen.com.

About This Case

In 2018, the Trump administration instigated and coordinated an Iraqi extradition request for Omar Ameen, falsely accusing him of being an ISIS commander and murderer. The Trump administration then leveraged these false charges to serve their narrative of Muslim refugees coming into the United States as a “Trojan Horse”: former Secretary Pompeo cited Omar’s arrest to justify cutting the 2019 FY refugee resettlement quota to an unprecedented low.
 
Any close examination of the accusations would have revealed internal inconsistencies and irregularities consistent with fraud. Meanwhile, the Government ignored and even suppressed overwhelming evidence of Ameen’s innocence.
 
After almost three years of Omar’s solitary confinement in federal detention, the federal judge in Omar’s case found that Omar’s defense met the nearly impossible legal standard of “obliterating probable cause.” As Judge Brennan wrote of the prosecution’s case: “this series of events is simply not plausible.”
 
Ameen should have been freed that same afternoon and reunited with his family. Instead, he was transferred straight to ICE for deportation proceedings in Bakersfield, CA. If he is sent back to Iraq, he will face the same fate as if he had been extradited: a sham trial and near certain death penalty.
 
Omar is an innocent man who has been grievously wronged by the U.S. Government. The Biden administration has the opportunity to publicly repudiate this holdover of the Trump administration, rehabilitate the maligned US refugee resettlement program, and end this injustice.