WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear argument on whether aliens can be deported to countries with no central government to accept them.
Keyse G. Jama was born in Somalia in 1979, but his family fled to Kenya to escape tribal warfare. It legally ended up in the United States in 1996, settling in Minnesota.
In June 1999, however, Jama got into a fight with another Somali man and eventually pleaded guilty to third degree assault, a felony.
Because of the felony, U.S. immigration officials began proceedings to deport him. He was to be taken to Dubai, then put on a plane to Somalia.
Somalia has been without a central government since the ouster of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, and there was no one to accept Jama's deportation. When a federal appeals court allowed the deportation, the Supreme Court granted review for next term.
