Shawn Sheikhan getting deported... (link)

[KStV]

I would offer a few thoughts:

(1) As mentioned above, until we understand the facts underlying Sheikhan's conviction in California, all assumptions are improper. The possible conduct here ranges from fairly innocuous to reprehensible.

(2) Perhaps the most interesting question at this point is how the Immigration enforcement action came into being. Is it part of a newly heightened focus on Iranian Americans? Is it just the typical 10-year delay for the DHS (nee INS) to accomplish anything? Did local or state law enforcement authorities hit a wall in a totally unrelated investigation of Sheikhan and, in a last ditch effort to nail him or pry information out of him, dial up DHS? Is there some other explanation? Who knows-- but I hope we find out.

(3) There was recently a prominent study regarding the vastly different habits of Immigration judges from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. If I recall correctly, the District of Nevada is particularly pro-government in these types of cases.

(4) Even so, given Sheikhan's family and business ties, I cannot imagine the government will prevail. The U.S. government is not in the business of shipping anyone back to Iran. The absolute worst case scenario for him would be immediate asylum in a third country.

(5) In reaction to some of the ugliness in the thread above, it bears noting that a great many Iranians fled to this country around the time of the Iranian Revolution of 1979. They did so because the Islamofascist rule of the Ayatollah was unacceptable to them. The overwhelming majority of these people immediately became loyal, tax-paying, patriotic Americans. They were forced to surrender family ties to Persia reaching back hundreds and thousands of years, but they assimilated with cheerful sincerity. The great majority of these people are well-educated and prosperous. We have nothing to fear from them (but of course that doesn't stop us).