Ep. 37 | Defending Omar Ameen, an Innocent Refugee with Rachelle Barbour Divided Families Podcast

In this episode, Eugene interviews Rachelle Barbour, an assistant federal defender for the Office of the Federal Defender of the Eastern District of California. She is an advocate for Omar Ameen, an Iraqi refugee accused of being an ISIS commander and murdering a police officer in Iraq. On April 21, 2021, a federal judge ruled this was physically impossible because Ameen was not in Iraq at the time of the alleged murder. However, Ameen nonetheless remains detained in an ICE facility and has been held in detention for over 1000 days. Eugene and Rachelle discuss federal immigration cases and the mechanisms that can keep someone locked up and separated from their family.

In January of 2020, Ben Taub wrote a piece for the New Yorker that outlines how Ameen landed in prison: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/27/the-fight-to-save-an-innocent-refugee-from-almost-certain-death

Watch Vice's video coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r1ngPeyv1g

Take Action: https://freeomarameen.com/

This episode was edited by Eugene Lee.