On Feb. 9, Palestinian immigrant Waheed Saleh filed a lawsuit against the city of New York in US District Court in Manhattan, charging that police reported him to immigration authorities in retaliation for his complaints about police discrimination. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, alleging that Saleh's constitutional rights including free speech were violated and that he suffered extreme pain and hardship as a result of his improper arrest, detention and deportation proceedings. Saleh is represented by attorney Tushar Sheth of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

Saleh came to the US five years ago; he filed an administrative complaint against a police officer in late 2003, saying he was repeatedly subjected to verbal abuse and baseless threats of arrest. On Dec. 20, 2004, a police lieutenant accompanied a federal immigration officer who took Saleh into custody, the lawsuit said. Saleh spent two weeks detained as federal authorities accused him of staying in the US illegally, said
Sheth. (Newsday, Feb. 19)

From Immigration News Briefs, Feb 18

See our last post on immigrants' rights.