Mohamed Ali Muflahi Arrest: First Person Detained Under Alabama Immigration Law Was In U.S. Legally

Mohamed Ali Muflahi, the first person arrested under Alabama's strict new immigration law, is actually residing in the United States legally, his attorney proved on Monday.

Muflahi, a 24-year-old born in Yemen, was arrested Friday during a drug raid in Etowah County, Alabama, along with two other Yemenis, the Gadsden Times reported last week. According to local Sheriff Todd Entrekin, the three men were taken into custody for obstructing a government operation, and upon processing at the jail, only Muflahi was unable to produce documentation of his legal status.

This is a misdemeanor violation according to the new Alabama immigration law that went into effect late last month, and, Entrekin told the Times last week, the first arrest carried out under the new measures.

But it turns out that Muflahi is not in the U.S. illegally, as some had suggested. His attorney provided documentation of his legal status on Monday, Etowah County officials told the Associated Press.

The controversy could put a kink in a recent push by Alabama state senators, local NBC affiliate WSFA reports. Earlier this week, the publicity surrounding the arrest prompted several Alabama state senators to draft a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calling for the Justice Department drop its ongoing challenge to the law. But that letter never saw daylight.

From WSFA:

The letter was set to be released to the media Tuesday morning, but the news conference was cancelled for unspecified reasons. The letter requests that Holder launch an investigation into how a citizen of Yemen settled in Alabama without detection or documentation.

Yemen is "a growing hotbed of Islamic radicalism and an operating base for the al-Qaeda terrorist network," state senator Bryan Taylor's office said.

Parts of Alabama's immigration law went into effect last Thursday after a federal judge refused to continue a block she had put on some of legislation's strictest measures in August.

Earlier on The Huffington Post:

Comments

[jweider]

07:57 PM on 10/11/2011

How about this for a headline instead?...

Mohamed Ali Muflahi Arrest: First Person Detained Under Alabama Immigration Law Was Not Hispanic!

[billythekid1942]

04:53 PM on 10/09/2011

See I told you so. LMAO!

[billythekid1942]

04:53 PM on 10/09/2011

"That's all I cans stands, I can't stands no more" Popeye. This site makes me ill with all the liberals getting their post posted but the conseratives get theres sensored. ;-(

[Kidmo74]

06:36 PM on 10/08/2011

I want to know is what does a US citizen look like?
Someone answer that please.
Unless you are Native American, We are all descendants of immigrants.
Americans want to protect our freedoms. Those freedoms & rights were enacted through immigrant migrations, slavery, genocide & terrorism.
America is a melting pot. This law is enforced by the police who are now required to use racial profiling (base on the way they look & speak) in order to request proof that they belong here. Using racial profiling How does one determine if another is Canadian or a caucasian American? Dominican or African American? Creole American or Haitian? Filipino or a Hawaiian American? Mexican from Puerto Rican? You can't. This law sets us back so far, it erases all that we as Americans and most importantly Alabamians to overcome all of the hate & harm caused by negative & unfair practices in race relations. Stereotyping only divides our country, and as I see it no longer makes us united. United we stand, Divided we fall. I teach my child that we are all born different-and diversity is good, be respectful of others differences, not to hate, and not to judge a book by it's cover. Now my state government wants to teach him that it is now a law that we do in fact judge a book by it's cover. This law is not the answer. Schools, courts, farmers in Alabama don't like this law. Only Bigots, like The admitted racist who

[billythekid1942]

04:33 PM on 10/09/2011

Yes our country was founded and run by legal Imigrants not those who break the law. You may want to also teach your children to respect the laws of the lend, by teaching anything else you liberals teach your children is criminal too.

[Kidmo74]

10:16 PM on 10/11/2011

Who are you calling a liberal? I don't recall establishing myself as such and don't appreciate the personal attack on my integrity as a parent. Quick to pass judgement aren't you? I do not support illegal aliens and I don't approve of people breaking the law, AND I also don't support this law. I have read every word of HB256 and the appeals decision. I would assume that if you are going to attack my views and you support this new law that you have read it in it's entirety too. Because supporting something you haven't read would be ignorant. The racial profiling issue could have been avoided, but it wasn't. The senator who sponsored the bill (and publicly refers to African Americans as "Abhorigines") could have presented a bill that says every person that the police come in contact with must present proof of... Every time. But he didn't. I guess because I voiced my disapproval over how this law will be enforced and the concerns I have about the unintended consequences it is already causing in my state that makes me a liberal? Don't assign a label to me please. I already have one. I am an American.

[Kidmo74]

10:20 PM on 10/11/2011

And about our founders... Chris Columbus-They were ALL ILLEGAL ALIENS -NOT legal law abiding immigrants as you claim. But Just because there is no law against a particular action doesn't make it right/moral/ethical. So since there were No laws against theft, rape & murder in 1492, in your eyes that means they weren't law breakers? And you are calling me a liberal? Please. If someone tried to do today what they did back then-they'd be executed-Just like Bin Laden. NOT given a holiday.
If those are the laws of the land you think my son should learn, I'll pass. My son already has more ethics than you do.

[Ladder 1]

01:30 PM on 10/10/2011

Pretty wordy to say you just want illegals to do as they please. It is not negative and unfair practices. What is negative and unfair practice is to look the other way when laws are broken. When resources meant for for our children are taken by those who should not be here. Did you ever think about that?

[Kidmo74]

10:54 PM on 10/11/2011

Unfair? Where do I start. You must not live in Alabama or you would know how corrupt our state government is. Senators/House reps being tried for bribery, obstruction. My state Governor goes & spends $4 million in taxpayer money arguing with the State AG in court over what Bingo is/isn't while teachers are losing their jobs, but lawmakers give themselves pay raises. Our country is in debt, but it's okay to spend $55 million unsucessfully prosecuting 1 person for perjury. Alabama has a very tiny Hispanic (legal & illegal) population, unlike CA, AZ, TX. This law is already causing more problems than previously existed in schools, courts, agriculture. The senator that wrote the bill is an admitted racist. I can be walking down the street minding my own business- and I don't think I should have to go to jail because I don't have my ID on me. A valid state issued ID that doesn't even designate anywhere on it that I am a legal citizen or not. I don't support illegal aliens, but this bill is not the solution. It should have been written differently. When our ICE can stop making over 40 mistakes a year deporting people who actually have a legal right to be here then Talk to me about what is negative & unfair regarding immigration.

[joe0147]

01:30 AM on 10/08/2011

According to the sheriff’s department, several illegal weapons were also discovered during the operation. He could produce no evidence that he was here legally at the time. He should have been arrested. I would like to know how he got here and why. What was he doing here. After all Yemen is a growing hotbed of Islamic radicalism and an operating base for the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

[Rhiana]

01:59 AM on 10/08/2011

Source for the "several illegal weapons"? I saw an article that mentioned one weapon, but saw nothing about it being illegal. If there were illegal weapons why weren't there charges for that?

I think it gets into dangerous territory when you group a whole nationality as extremists and terrorists.

[hopeforchangenow]

04:51 PM on 11/23/2011

I thought the red states loved guns? I guess racism cuts across all lines.

[turfkiller]

05:42 PM on 10/07/2011

Ray Bradbury wrote a short story in 1951 titled "The Pedistrian". It mirrors our future the republicans are working for and dream about.

[Ladder 1]

06:07 PM on 10/07/2011

Peter Healther wrote a book called the fall of the Roman Empire...It mirrors what Obama and the progressive are working for and dream about.

[Portagee]

09:12 AM on 10/09/2011

lol! F&F

[billythekid1942]

04:35 PM on 10/09/2011

Great response!

[mdenviron]

05:29 PM on 10/07/2011

Whats wrong with humans...I am a legal citizen of earth. The topic sounds more like a drug bust and immigration law simply complicates the issue...like I said before, "complexity is the mother of all deceit".

[mech126]

05:01 PM on 10/07/2011

So, lets get this right, the law makes up a search warrant for drugs, which they find none, but they arrest them for obstruction of government under this new law, and it turns out two are Americans and the other is legal, well so much for the constitution.......

[aviator59687]

03:58 PM on 10/07/2011

According to the police report this man told police he was not in the country legally

[mech126]

04:45 PM on 10/07/2011

Link....

[Patricia Shavers]

03:54 PM on 10/07/2011

I am having trouble trying to remember where the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" came from? Surely not from our country.

[Ladder 1]

05:28 PM on 10/07/2011

You are right. He is innocent until proven. Of course you believe he was out getting Ice Cream, minding his own business when 2 people he new approached him and the police acting stupidly decided to run a randon drug raid right?

Be honest, do you hang around in groups suspected of dealing drugs when you are not involved with that kind of behavior?

But he is innocent until proven...

[Patricia Shavers]

03:51 PM on 10/07/2011

I have read several articles from newspapers in Alabama and they are reporting unintended consequences of the new law. Tomatoes are rotting in the fields. Sweet potato crops are ruining. Poultry plants can't get workers. And now the answer the state is giving to solve the problem is to let prison inmates work in the fields and the plants. When the farmers tried that, (legally they must be paid the prevailing legal wage per hour,) guess what? When you pay a man by the hour to work in the fields when he is a convicted criminal productivity is not good. Paying a man minimum wage for picking one tomato an hour won't pay the farmer to farm.

[Endora]

04:15 PM on 10/07/2011

You mean poultry plants don't want to hire legal workers at a fair wage and benefits. By all means let's repeal the new law and allow the exploitation to continue.

[MaryfromIL]

09:00 PM on 10/07/2011

they aren't arresting employers, just employees

[BCS]

04:49 PM on 10/07/2011

Well, if they want the fruit picked, I guess they will have to pay more and that will add about 1.5 cents to the cost of each tomato (figure 500 tomatoes per hour on average at $20 per hour).
I will pay a little extra to live in a first world country that pays decent wages and does not exploit people. Won't you?

[Steve Rotert]

12:53 AM on 10/08/2011

I agree 100%. But unfortunately low wages and exploitation are a product of capitalism run amok, it's the American way.

[Kidmo74]

05:25 PM on 10/08/2011

So if those are your principles, that you will pay more to support a business/company/farmer who doesn't exploit our hard working AMERICAN workforce here in the US and supplies us with products grown/harvested/built/manufactured here in the US by people who are here legally which supports our local & national economy & labor market?
If that is what you believe and do, Then I would assume you do not shop or support companies like Wal-Mart who are the biggest influence in 1) local small retail businesses who can't compete & close, and 2) manufacturing jobs lost in US as products are now made in other countries through cheap labor. Exploitation all in the name of "Low Prices". Think about that. If you currently support Wal-Mart & companies like it, consider your principles to be contradictory & hypocritical.

[Thornie]

03:36 PM on 10/07/2011

I am an American citizen and I've lived in Montgomery, Alabama since my father was stationed here some 23 years ago. I am Hispanic. I have to say that when this story first broke here the headline read "First person charged with violating Ala. immigration law" and the fact that, it was drug raid was second to the fact that he was charged in violating the law. The law doesn't scare me as much as the mentality of the supporters.

[Ladder 1]

05:39 PM on 10/07/2011

It was a left wing writer that presented it that way. What the writer wanted to sell you on was this poor man out getting ice cream was detained for not having his papers rather than he was involved (allegedly) in a drug ring. Nice how the left has mimicked Micheal Moore in their writing style to skew the facts of the story...

[Ladder 1]

06:00 PM on 10/07/2011

United Kingdom won't let Chris Brown in
The singer was denied a work visa because of his criminal record.
http://www.msn.com/?ocid=iehp

.Guess he should have just hopped a border and said screw your laws huh?

[billythekid1942]

04:40 PM on 10/09/2011

Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[realitybaby]

03:34 PM on 10/07/2011

something that should have been done 30 years ago - look at the horror its causing now.

[turfkiller]

05:35 PM on 10/07/2011

Things were being done but two senators from GA stopped tne employer enforcement so the onion in Valdalia could be picked. So now the republicans are once again using scapgoating to garner votes but in no way do they intend to actually do something like get after the real culprits, American employers.

[Littlewords]

03:31 PM on 10/07/2011

While this case does NOT show that illegals from Yemen are settling in Alabama, it does show that Alabama is settling on violating the rights of innocent people here in our nation and trampling of our precious Constitution (to which they've already once taken up arms against and tried to secede from already).

[BCS]

04:53 PM on 10/07/2011

I guess under the Constitution, the people who pay the taxes and make it all work don't have any rights to their hard-earned money at all.

Everyone else has rights- even illegal aliens.
When does the taxpayer get to say "Enough abuse already"?

[Littlewords]

06:03 PM on 10/07/2011

Tax paying citizens have rights, however, the're curbed and belittled by the errant Robert's court Citizens United ruling bestowing personhood to corporations thereby creating 'super-citizens,' with money to buy more access than you or I could ever dream.

Not sure how you are on history, but our founding fathers feared and wrote about two internal destruction/corruption forces in own nation which could undo government of/by/for the people.

The first was standing armies in times of peace (see military industrial complex).

The second was the interests of a powerful few (wealthy elites) usurping the people (majority). The Citizens United enabled this with its crux pivoting on an errant supreme court clerk entry from a prior case (never actual used by the justices) to bestow 'personhood' status to corporations combined with a wrongheaded perspective that all money equals free speech.

Illegals on the other hand have hardly any rights at all. Regarding them, we're bound only by a couple things: our Constitution, Fed's poor mgmt of the problem, and most importantly our long standing American perspective on immigration which recently changed to frosty cold. Our historical perspective is best conveyed the statue of liberty's feet....

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Today we have an unhealthy nationalist h8ted towards our own perspective and greatness.

[Kidmo74]

05:35 PM on 10/08/2011

Are you saying that illegal aliens aren't hard working & don't pay taxes here?
I know all are not, but some illegals pay taxes, they may not file a tax return, but can pay taxes, and most Hispanic immigrants come here to work.

[Ladder 1]

05:41 PM on 10/07/2011

LOL how many innocent people alaign themselves with drug dealers when they are not involved? Nice try!

[Littlewords]

09:07 PM on 10/07/2011

Simply explain the actual criminal act. Tick tock tick tock.

You see, we have a system with a principled upon rule of law and innocent until proven guilty. So show me the actual crime. Proximity to a crime does not create a charge. Have you never taken a civics or law class? I'm not talking law school, I'm talking a basic class on our government and how our legal system works.

To this end, your comment matters not, thank goodness, in our legal system. 'Poor try' on your part my friend.

[Littlewords]

03:28 PM on 10/07/2011

Article Excerpt:
Muflahi, a 24-year-old born in Yemen, was arrested Friday during a drug raid in Etowah County, Alabama, along with two other Yemenis, the Gadsden Times reported last week. According to local Sheriff Todd Entrekin, the three men were taken into custody for obstructing a government operation, and upon processing at the jail, only Muflahi was unable to produce documentation of his legal status.

...in other words, the drug raid was errant and there was no connection to the accused that the purpose of the raid at all. We then needed some kind of trumped up charge to make it look anything other than a cr@zed off-leash police state/force in Alabama run amuck harassing people so we hit him with an obstruction charge (translation...he was there and nothing more).

[Endora]

04:04 PM on 10/07/2011

Simply not true. The police are conducting investigation/raids etc. against "bath salts" which were made illegal a few months ago. One of those arrested had been selling it at his job. They have conducted yet more raids on others since then, trying to crack down on bath salts - synthetic drugs that have killed people. The police found a large amount of cash, synthetic marijuana and fake IDs at the house.

[Rhiana]

04:47 PM on 10/07/2011

Having cash isn't illegal. Apparently the synthetic marijuana isn't illegal either. and the article said alleged fake id's. The bath salts were sold legally at convenience stores station until recently, and this man worked at one of those store. I haven't seen anything that says what he is charged with selling was his personal possession and not store merchandise. Sure sounds to me like he was doing his job and got caught in the middle. Why didn't they go after the owner of the store instead of raiding this man's home?

[Littlewords]

05:01 PM on 10/07/2011

There is still no connection obviously to the accused (he surely would have been hammered with charges if at all connected in any possible way to bath salts factory/distribution). Given he was not, irrespective of what was found, there is obviously no connect to this person, which is hit with what? The extremely generic term of 'obstructing a gov't operation, used for the mere purpose of detention and examination of this person.