A UF international student from Palestine was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over Spring Break, and he now awaits deportation.
Ali Jamoos was leaving a Carnival Cruise Line ship March 10, returning from Cozumel, Mexico, when security guards stopped the 24-year-old at PortMiami, said Victor Constantin, who was with Jamoos when he was detained.
Jamoos was taken to the port’s immigration office and then to the Krome Service Processing Center.
Four days later, the UF agriculture junior was transferred to the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, where he is awaiting deportation.
Constantin, a UF alumnus who graduated in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in business management, said his friend was detained after medically withdrawing from UF.
Jamoos withdrew to briefly return home and be with his mother and father, who has a kidney disease, and his 11 siblings.
“It was horrible to see him being taken away in handcuffs,” said Constantin, 23. “They didn’t talk to us, so it was very intimidating.”
Ahmed Hemeid, a UF biochemical engineering graduate student, said after receiving panicked phone calls from Jamoos’ friends the day he was detained, he immediately drove to Miami.
Hemeid, 25, said he notified UF’s International Center about Jamoos’ detainment, and some staff members are contacting immigration officers to inform them Jamoos is a UF student.
UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email that UF is aware of Jamoos’ detainment.
“(We) are monitoring the situation so that we may be helpful,” Sikes said. “His immigration legal issues are personal and we understand he has obtained an immigration lawyer to assist him.”
Jamoos’ friends found a lawyer who agreed to help for an estimated $3,800. They created a GoFundMe account Thursday to raise $4,100, which also covers the webpage service fees, Hemeid said. As of press time, they’ve raised $6,340 within 11 hours.
“The power of his friends and his network is phenomenal,” Hemeid said. “I didn’t expect the process to be this rapid.”
Constantin said Jamoos has two options: being deported involuntarily, which would ban him from entering the U.S. for five years, or being voluntarily deported. Since Jamoos is graduating in two semesters, his friends are trying for the second option.
In Fall 2014, Jamoos was detained at a Boston airport after returning home from a semesterlong medical leave to visit his sick father, Constantin said.
Angie Aguirre, a UF sociology alumna, said she visited Jamoos at the detention center Saturday. When she saw him in an orange jumpsuit, Aguirre broke down.
But Jamoos kept smiling.
“He doesn’t deserve this, but he’s being positive so that’s helping us feel positive as well,” the 23-year-old said.
Contact Jimena Tavel at jtavel@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @taveljimena
Ali Jamoos
