Last Friday David Abbasian became a US citizen, ending more than three years of INS efforts to deport him.  The 35-year-old came to the US from Iran with his family in 1979.  They were granted asylum on the grounds of religious persecution.  The family was members of the Baha’i faith, and was persecuted in the Muslim dominated Iran. 

In 1985, Abbasian, thinking he was doing a favor for a friend, sold a half-gram of cocaine to a person who ended up being an undercover officer.  He was arrested and pled guilty, and was sentenced to two months of work release and 200 hours of community service.  His attorney notified the INS at the time, which took no action against him.  He moved to Alaska and rose to be assistant manager of a seafood plant.  In 1996, he applied for naturalization, hoping that enough time had passed since his conviction so that it would not be used against him.  He was wrong.  While the FBI background check did not reveal the conviction, Abbasian had listed it on his application.  Despite the age of the conviction, the INS began deportation proceedings. 

Abbasian’s employer sent him to Anchorage to find an attorney.  He hired Margaret Stock, a well-respected immigration attorney in Anchorage, to handle the case.  She argued that because of his Baha’i faith, Abbasian would be persecuted and perhaps even killed if he was returned to Iran.  Along with his legal help, Abbasian had tremendous community support.  His employers told the INS of his significant contributions to the plant, and friends and neighbors also wrote letters in his support.  When the case was before an Immigration Judge, the INS District Director in Alaska, Robert Eddy, ordered that deportation proceedings be terminated and put Abbasian on a fast track for citizenship. 

While everyone is pleased with the outcome, attorney Stock believes the INS acted the way it did only because the media became interested in the case.  Eddy said that while the media brought the case to his attention, it was a new emphasis on discretion at the INS that led him to drop the deportation case.