Egyptian is ordered deported by judge
Troubles began with wrong turn to Camp Pendleton

By Michael Stetz
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

August 29, 2003

Throughout his ordeal, Abdelrehim Kewan has insisted he's done 
nothing wrong, that he's stuck in the middle of a confounding, 
head-shaking hard-luck story.

And his luck just keeps getting worse.

An immigration judge has now ordered the Egyptian man deported, 
significantly worsening his chances of staying in the United 
States.

Kewan has been in jail since October. His troubles started when 
he drove up to the gates of Camp Pendleton, saying he had taken a 
wrong turn and needed directions.

The timing stunk. This was post 9/11, after all. Security had 
been heightened and all unauthorized persons' names had to be 
recorded and forwarded to an anti-terrorism task force.

Federal officials detained Kewan, 36, a house painter living in 
San Diego, two weeks later when they discovered that his 
immigration status was unsettled.

Immigration Judge Gaylyn Boone settled it last week: He must go, 
she ruled.

Kewan has spent the past 10 months at the San Diego Correctional
Facility at Otay Mesa, detained without bail because of fears he 
could be a security threat.

"This is something I just don't understand," said Kewan, who 
spoke from the jail yesterday. "I never thought I'd be in this 
kind of a situation. I didn't do anything wrong."

Kewan thought he would be allowed to stay because the FBI and 
Navy intelligence officials concluded that they had no interest 
in him as a security risk, documents show. He had indeed gotten 
lost.

But he's being booted because Boone doubted that Kewan's marriage 
to an American woman was legitimate and that Kewan was truly an 
abused spouse, a condition that can help an immigrant obtain 
permanent residence status.

Kewan plans to appeal, a process that could take another six 
months, said his attorney, Jonathan Montag. Montag also has 
appealed the bail issue and hopes that Kewan will be released.

Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security 
in San Diego, meanwhile, praised the Aug. 22 ruling, saying it 
was well-reasoned. Kewan could not prove he had a valid marriage, 
she said.

Kewan remains perplexed. He's being detained, he said, because
immigration thought he was a potential terrorist. That's been 
debunked, apparently. Now, questions concerning his marriage are 
the reasons he must go.

Montag said he was blindsided. He went to court to fight 
questions concerning Kewan's alleged security threat, not his 
marriage or the abuse he suffered. He didn't think those issues 
were in question.

Civil libertarians have argued that cases such as Kewan's are 
examples of how the U.S. effort to battle terrorism has swept up 
the innocent, particularly those with Middle Eastern roots.

Kewan said he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he 
got lost on his way to a painting job in Oceanside. Before 9/11, 
a wrong turn would have taken a few minutes of his time.

This time, it's taken 10 months. And counting.

"I was doing well. I was happy," he said. "Now, I am depressed. 
This is prison, after all."

At the time of his detainment, Kewan was trying to gain permanent
residency, Montag said. Immigration knew of his status and 
whereabouts, he said.

At Camp Pendleton, authorities questioned Kewan, searched his car 
and found nothing of consequence.

Kewan thought that was the end of it. Not long afterward, though, 
he was before an immigration judge who questioned his story.

"Painters don't get lost," one judge said.

Kewan, who has not been charged with any crime, has lived in the 
United States for seven years. Arriving in the 1990s, he got a 
crewman's visa after working on a merchant ship in Richmond, Va.

He didn't return after the 29-day visa expired, though. Instead, 
he asked to become a permanent resident when he married an 
American woman within a year.

The two moved to San Diego, where the marriage ultimately failed. 
Kewan then argued he was an abused spouse, something that the 
Department of Homeland Security twice ruled was a legitimate 
claim, Montag said.

That's why Montag was caught off-guard by the judge's ruling, he 
said.

Kewan is not giving up, he said. He wants to stay in the United 
States; it's his home, he said.

"I love this country."