U.S. Paratrooper Faces Deportation

The Guardian reports that a highly decorated Arab-American U.S. Army sergeant, who is currently serving as a paratrooper in Afghanistan, faces deportation on his return to the United States because of an irregularity in his immigration papers. Sgt Hicham Benkabbou has be in removal proceedings as soon as he arrives home, despite the fact that he has been on active service in Afghanistan for almost two years with the 508th parachute infantry regiment.  Benkabbou came to the U.S. from Morocco in 1987, and was granted permanent residency four years ago. But when he applied to become a naturalized US citizen in 2005, by which time he was already serving in the army, immigration officials discovered that he had failed to register his first marriage and alleged that the ceremony had been arranged fraudulently to get him into the country. Benkabbou says that the marriage was annulled and argues it is therefore irrelevant to his immigration status.

KJ