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| INS Releases Immigrant From Jail |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 09/24/2001 |
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A Nigerian man whose account of abuse spawned reforms at a detention center for immigrants has been freed after spending three years behind bars. An immigration judge on Wednesday granted Oluwole Aboyade, 23, relief from deportation under a United Nations convention against torture. Authorities have said Aboyade entered the United States illegally in 1997. He was arrested in Boston in 1998 after he allegedly attempted to obtain a driver's license using his cousin's identification. He was taken to the privately run Elizabeth Detention Center, where immigrants seeking asylum are held. In 1999, Aboyade and Salah Dafali, another detainee, accused officers at the center of beating them after they complained about conditions. They later brought a civil rights lawsuit. The center was operated by Corrections Corp. of America of Nashville, Tenn. An INS investigation found many of the accusations were credible. Several officers and supervisors were reassigned, and INS officials demanded that the chief of security be transferred out of the facility. The warden also resigned, citing personal reasons. The decision to free Aboyade was issued by Judge Mirlande Tadal, who had turned down his earlier requests for political asylum. Under the U.N. torture convention, the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service agrees not to deport a person to his homeland if he is likely to be tortured. A mental health expert testified that Aboyade exhibited scars and emotional symptoms consistent with torture. Aboyade's lawyers are still hoping to gain political asylum for him. Asylum essentially grants U.S. residency to people who demonstrate that they would face persecution in his homeland, based on such things as political views or religion. Now that he's been freed, Aboyade said he planned to return to Boston and attend college. He hopes to get a degree in business management. |
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