Keyse Jama was born in Somalia in 1979. In 1991, Somali president Muhammad Siyad Barre was ousted from office. Since then the country has experienced massive turmoil and lawlessness. To add to the frequent outbreaks of fighting, Somalia has suffered from years of successive drought that has undermined the economy ‘s two mainstays: crop and livestock production. Access to food and water are limited. Keyse and his family are members of the Darood tribe. At the age of 12 he and his family moved to Kenya to escape inter-tribal warfare, where they lived for several years before applying for admission to the United States as refugees. Keyse and his family moved to the U.S. in February of 1996. Keyse spent a few months in Tennessee but lived mostly in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In Minneapolis he held down a job and attended Roosevelt High School. He never applied for Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status instead he kept his refugee status. In June of 1999, Keyse got into a fight with another man who suffered significant injury. Keyse was charged with assault. In September of 1999, Keyse plead guilty to the assault charges and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. After being released he was placed on probation for three years.
Immediately upon release from state prison, Keyse was taken into custody by the former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS - which has now been separated into three separate bodies, see definition below.) The former INS began proceedings to deport Keyse from the U.S. as a result of his felony conviction. Keyse filed an application for asylum, claiming he would be persecuted if he returned to his home country, Somalia. He also applied for relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and applied to change his status to that of a LPR.
In August of 2000 an Immigration Judge concluded that Keyse should be removed (deported) from the U.S. The judge also denied Keyse’s plea for asylum and application for LPR status. Since Keyse did not request to be sent to any specific country the judge told the government that Keyse could be sent back to Somalia. Keyse has appealed this order, claiming that he cannot be released to Somalia until a legitimate government authority is able to accept him. (Somalia has lacked a functional government since 1991.) Keyse has continued to appeal his case through the court system.
Keyse is being represented pro-bono, at the request of The Advocates for Human Rights, by Minneapolis attorneys Jeff Keyes and Kevin Magnuson, who both work for the Briggs and Morgan law firm. The Supreme Court heard Keyse’s case on October 12, 2004. Keyse filed a writ for Habeas Corpus, requesting to be released from custody. However, this petition was denied. Keyse has remained in jail awaiting the Supreme Court decision.
Definitions of terms in this story can be found in the glossary of this curriculum.
For more information on Keyse’s case, see the Briggs and Morgan website: Also, check The Advocates for Human Rights website for updates on the case