ZGram - 6/11/2004 - "Interim update on Sixth Circuit Court Zundel
hearing"
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Sat Jun 12 09:28:26 EDT 2004
Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny: Now more than ever!
June 11, 2004
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
Just now I returned from our 15 minute Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
hearing, and as soon as I am a bit rested, I will have to get my
brain in gear and sort things out as to its meaning and write it up
accordingly. Let me just say that we did not have a hostile panel,
and some good things were being said (and learned) which will be
useful in the future - as we intend to soldier on.
Before we went, I had summarized for my attorneys what I felt was the
core of our case, and to save myself some time and again document for
our archives the progression of this case, I am going to use that
summary for today's Zgram:
[START]
The facts in this case are ridiculously simple and straightforward.
They hinge on a faulty "visa waiver overstay" claim by US Immigration
(now part of Homeland Security) - and two mysteriously missing
letters from the Zundel Immigration files.
Facts:
The Zundels are a couple in their mid-sixties, caught up in what
current Patriot Act jargon calls a "rendition" - a brutal arrest of a
"terrorist suspect" based not on what a person may have done or even
planned, but on a flimsy legal irregularity such as a minor
immigration violation.
Van Dinh, an attorney who helped draft the Patriot Act, explained
such arrests in an interview with Wired News, a publication concerned
with the preservation of Freedom of Speech in America:
"It may well be that a number of citizens were not charged with
terrorism-related crimes, but they NEED NOT BE. Where the department
has suspected people of terrorism it will prosecute those persons for
OTHER violations of law, rather than wait for a terrorist conspiracy
to fully develop and risk the potential that that conspiracy will be
missed." (Emphasis added)
For irresponsible people in power with little oversight, that is wide
enough net to catch one's "enemies" one needs, to score a political
point, to advance a political career, perhaps to get a hefty grant -
or to settle a private political agenda!
For a family caught in such a phony, politically motivated arrest, it
is a nightmare crying out for judicial redress.
In an interview write-up with Attorney Van Dinh, Wired News cites
5,000 such arrests that have happened since 9/11- the Department of
Justice admits to 500. Ernst Zundel has been one!
Background
Ernst and Ingrid Zundel are known as an articulate, historically
well-versed, politically incorrect couple. Both are first-generation
immigrants of German ancestry. As children, both experienced World
War II in all of its harshest brutalities. Both experienced years
of hunger and cold during and after World War II, appalling want of
the barest necessities, very little formal education. Both came to
Canada when they were very young - Ernst as a 19-year-old, Ingrid in
her early twenties. They did not know each other then, although their
World War II experiences were very similar, as were their ethnic and
religious backgrounds.
Both have been lifelong pacifists.
In the 1960s, Ingrid moved to Kansas and then to California. Only in
her mid-thirties did she have a chance to acquire formal schooling,
culminating in doctorate in education. Over time, she became an
award-winning ethnic novelist and celebrated keynote speaker,
addressing huge audiences at national conventions about her
experiences as a young child in war-torn Germany - telling a story of
hardship and suffering from the German point of view.
Ernst lived in Canada for more than 40 years. He, too, became a
renown, award-winning artist who owned a lucrative graphic arts
studio. World War II history was his passionate hobby - which over
the years morphed into an all-consuming need to "set the record
straight" about politically suppressed history, as seen from his
parents' generation point of view. This made him, over time, quite
controversial and somewhat of a household name in Canada because he
challenged certain widely held beliefs about what really happened
during World War II in Germany in concentration camps such as
Auschwitz. His views led to several high profile political trials.
Despite their unorthodox views, both Ernst and Ingrid were considered
model first-generation immigrants. On the American Continent where
they lived all of their adult lives, neither one has a criminal
record.
Ernst and Ingrid met in September 1994 at a historical Revisionist
conference. They married on January 19, 2000 as both were
approaching retirement age. They looked for a place to settle down
after a lifetime of struggle - and found it, so they thought, in the
tranquility of rural Tennessee.
Ingrid was a U.S. citizen, Ernst still a German national, although he
lived in Canada for more than 40 years.
German nationals from Europe usually enter the United States under
what is known as a "visa waiver" tourist permit, valid for only three
months - and quite restricted as to legal recourse if challenged. A
tourist facing deportation, for whatever reason, is generally not
entitled to appeal.
Canadian nationals and permanent residents, on the other hand,
commonly enter the U.Ss via what is known as a B-1/B-2 permit, valid
for 180 days. Overstays are not normally a concern and hardly ever
enforced, since many retired people living in Canada spend their
winters in Florida and return at their leisure in the spring.
Furthermore, in general, how Canadian nationals or permanent
residents cross the border to the United States from Southern Ontario
depends on where they cross.
If they come to the US by plane, a B-1/B-2 stamp in their passports
is required. If, on the other hand, they cross in Niagara Falls in a
car with Canadian or US licence plates, they are habitually waved
through without a visa or a passport check because there is a steady
stream of cars at these bridge crossings - visitors from the US to
Canada as tourists, Canadians who hop across the border to Buffalo to
shop for items that are cheaper on the U.S. side, such as, for
instance, gasoline and cigarettes. Crossings via car, without visa
checks of any kind between two friendly countries, are the rule
rather than the exception. Whether or not a passport is checked or
stamped when crossing by car is at the discretion of the border
guards and usually depends on how heavy the traffic flow is on any
particular day.
As a German national with a high activist profile but politically
incorrect view, and as a man who was meticulously careful not to
offend in any way, Ernst always made sure he had a 3-month "visa
waiver" permit in his passport as a precaution, whether he needed it
or not. Most of the time he did not need it, since he habitually
traveled by car.
Ernst crossed at Niagara Falls on March 12, 2000 for a few hours only
- merely to renew this "visa waiver" permit. He did not stay; he
immediately returned to Toronto.
The last time he came to the United States - this time to stay - was
on May 21, 2000 by car.
May 21, 2000 was entered on his Immigration application as the last
date when Ernst left Canada to take up residence with Ingrid.
He had his "visa waiver" permit lying on his seat, but it was never
checked by busy border guards who simply waved him through. He
therefore crossed like a regular B-1/B-2 Canadian resident - NOT as a
"visa waiver" visitor as Immigration claims. He has hotel and gas
station receipts to prove it.
With the help of a well-known immigration attorney, Ernst's
application for "Adjustment of Status based on marriage" papers were
formally filed and accepted as legitimate and proper by Memphis
Immigration on October 4, 2000. On that date, the couple was advised
by Immigration in a written communiqué that there would be a waiting
period of 36 months - and that no status report would be given in the
interim.
Shortly thereafter, as a result of his filing, Ernst received an
American social security number, a work permit, and a document called
"advanced parole" which permitted him to re-enter the United States,
should he decide to travel. Immigration also sent him a date to be
fingerprinted by the FBI and another date for a health check by an
Immigration-approved doctor. He meticulously kept both
appointments.
The couple was told by their attorney that one last step was needed -
a personal interview by an immigration official to ascertain that
theirs was a legitimate marriage. The date for this interview was
set for June 12, 2001 but had to be canceled and rescheduled due to a
court calendar conflict by the attorney.
The attorney requested a new date in a letter written on his
stationary on May 23, 2001. The Zundels have the original,
time-stamped envelope in which a copy of this request was sent to
them to notify them of the re-scheduling request.
Immigration, however, did not acknowledge this letter - and did not
reschedule the appointment.
After waiting patiently, the Zundel's attorney wrote a second letter
on June 5, 2002, reminding immigration to reschedule the appointment,
this time sending a registered letter, "return receipt requested."
The Zundels have the original return receipt, documenting that this
letter was sent and received.
Again, there was no reply, no new date set by Immigration. However,
since the Zundels had been told that there would be no status report
and that the process would take as long as three years, they had no
reason to worry. They waited for that interview and went about their
business establishing their domicile.
On February 5, 2003, Ernst Zundel was brutally arrested at his
residence on grounds of "having missed a hearing" and "having
overstayed his visa." In handcuffs and leg irons, he was shoved into
a van and taken away by armed guards.
It was later claimed that this arrest was based on the fact that he
had overstayed in the U.S. as a "visa waiver" tourist - which he had
not! Had there been a legitimate concern about a "visa waiver"
problem at the time Ernst's papers were filed for "Adjustment of
Status based on marriage", Immigration should not have, and would not
have, accepted the Zundels' application and proceeded with it as
they did!
Subsequent inquiries and FOIA documents reveal that both of these
letters of request for rescheduling are missing in the Immigration
files. Immigration officials now claim that they never received a
rescheduling request, despite the fact that at least one letter was
sent registered - and immigration signed for it.
Were those two crucial letters lost? Misfiled? Maliciously destroyed?
The Zundels don't know, but they are surely entitled to find out.
Since then they have found out through FOIA that other documents are
missing.
Suspicious FOIA faxes and emails further indicate that there was
shady and improper communication between Canadian and US immigration
and secret service officials coordinating and masterminding the
Zundel arrest exactly prior to and on the date of the first scheduled
interview.
To this day, despite repeated requests and inordinate efforts, no
immigration official has agreed to meet with Ingrid Zundel, review
procedures and regulations - and get to the bottom of this mess!
The Zundels ask:
* What REALLY happened in this highly irregular arrest? Who
was behind it? Who had an interest in interfering and sabotaging
this couple's Adjustment of Status proceedings?
* Why were Ingrid Zundel's repeated phone calls, letters, and
faxes to immigration and other authorities ignored after Ernst was
deported to Canada?
* Why was a formal application for Reconsideration of the
Application for Adjustment of Status never acknowledged, much less
responded to by Immigration?
* Why were the Zundels not notified that their application was
considered to have been "abandoned"? Why was there no letter of
"Intent to Deny", as regulations require, to notify them?
* Why was there no hearing by an immigration judge prior to deportation?
* Why was habeas corpus denied in a one-sentence ruling by the
Knoxville District Court without either the Zundels or their attorney
being present?
* Why is there now a ban for 20 years in effect, preventing
Ernst Zundel from returning to his home and to his U.S. wife and
family? Is that a proper "punishment" for "having missed an
interview"?
* Why was Ernst Zundel delivered in chains to the Canadian
authorities - when, as a German national, he should have been
deported to Germany?
* Why is he being held in Canada in solitary confinement on a
"security certificate" - with no criminal record, and without any
charges - for more than 16 months?
The Zundels claim, with much justification, that this arrest was a
political vendetta operation - an extradition in the guise of
deportation due to Ernst Zundel's unpopular political stance. It is
no secret that he has well-connected, powerful enemies in Canada.
However, he was legally in the United States, legally married to a
U.S. citizen, legally in Adjustment of Status procedures - which,
according to a memorandum by Attorney General Ashcroft issued in
March of 2000, entitled him to wait for as long as it took for
Immigration to process his papers!
Had habeas corpus been granted in the Knoxville District Court, this
tragic deportation - with U.S. law officials acting as de facto hit
squads to please a nefarious Canadian lobby - could have been
prevented.
The Zundels are asking for a legal remedy to end this political charade.
[END]
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