veiled4allah: Palestinians in Saudi Arabia

In order to learn more about immigration law and keep up to date on what is happening, I recently subscribed to an email list that each week sends out links to recent decisions issued in immigration law cases.

One of the decisions issued this week was in the case of Ahmed v. Ashcroft, No. 02-3315 (3rd Cir. Aug. 20, 2003) (PDF document). Omar Ahmed was born in Saudi Arabia but was of Palestinian descent (his parents moved to Saudi Arabia). Ahmed arrived in the U.S. in 1995 on a visitor visa, which he overstayed. He was caught by Immigration and put in deportation proceedings. It was at this point that he sought asylum in the U.S.

In order to be granted asylum, an immigrant must show that he has a well-founded fear of persecution in his home country on account of his belonging to some social group. Ahmed based his asylum claim on the treatment given to Palestinians in Saudi Arabia:

The IJ [immigration judge] recognized, based on Ahmed’s testimony, that Palestinians in Saudi Arabia are relegated to officially sanctioned second-class status incorporated into the legal and social structure of Saudi Arabia. Ahmed sought to portray this treatment as persecution providing grounds for asylum. He testified that although his parents have lived in Saudi Arabia for 50 years and Ahmed was born in the country, neither he nor his parents have been able to obtain Saudi citizenship because Saudi Arabia reserves citizenship for people of Saudi descent. To remain in the country, Palestinians must renew their residence permits every two years for a fee of 2,000 Riyals (about $530). Palestinians must also be "sponsored" by a Saudi Arabian citizen to own real property, work, or own a business. To illustrate the harsh effects of this requirement, Ahmed related that his father had successfully operated and
expanded a grocery store for 15 years, only to see his Saudi sponsor - the de jure owner of the store - take the business away once it became profitable. Each time a Palestinian wishes to change jobs, he must change sponsors for a fee of 6,000 Riyals (about $1,600).

Ahmed testified about his experience while growing up in Saudi Arabia. He was barred from certain activities during high school and initially was not allowed to attend a university because he was an alien. Although he was able to gain admission to King Saud University in Riyadh because of his talent for soccer and the connections of a family friend, he was forced to study political and administrative science at the university because aliens could not choose their own topic of study. After graduating from the university and searching for a job for more than a year, Ahmed was hired in 1993 to sell cars. He testified that he was paid one-third as much as his Saudi counterparts and had to work significantly longer hours.

It's well known that the Arab countries have failed to give Palestinian refugees a real home in their countries. Apparently their "solidarity" for Palestine doesn't extend to helping out actual Palestinians. This is shameful and a disgrace.

And Saudi Arabia's policies make a mockery of their claim to be an "Islamic state" (though many of their other laws already did that, as I have pointed out on other occasions). The group of Muslims who like to claim that Saudi Arabia is some sort of Islamic ideal should have an interesting time trying to justify Saudi's racist immigration policies even against other Muslims.

Incidentally, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision of two lower immigration courts in denying Ahmed asylum, on the grounds that the treatment he faced in Saudi Arabia did not rise to the level of persecution, nor was it targeted only at Palestinians (all non-Saudis face similar restrictions).