ZGram - 6/11/2004 - "Interim update on Sixth Circuit Court Zundel hearing"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

Zgram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

June 11, 2004

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Just now I returned from our 15 minute Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals 
hearing, and as soon as I am a bit rested, I will have to get my 
brain in gear and sort things out as to its meaning and write it up 
accordingly.  Let me just say that we did not have a hostile panel, 
and some good things were being said (and learned) which will be 
useful in the future - as we intend to soldier on. 

Before we went, I had summarized for my attorneys what I felt was the 
core of our case, and to save myself some time and again document for 
our archives the progression of this case, I am going to use that 
summary for today's Zgram:

[START]

The facts in this case are ridiculously simple and straightforward.  

They hinge on a faulty "visa waiver overstay" claim by US Immigration 
(now part of Homeland Security) - and two mysteriously missing 
letters from the Zundel Immigration files. 

Facts:

The Zundels are a couple in their mid-sixties,  caught up in what 
current Patriot Act jargon calls a "rendition" - a brutal arrest of a 
"terrorist suspect" based not on what a person may have done or even 
planned, but on a flimsy legal irregularity such as a minor 
immigration violation.

Van Dinh, an attorney who helped draft the Patriot Act, explained 
such arrests in an interview with Wired News, a publication concerned 
with the preservation of Freedom of Speech in America:

"It may well be that a number of citizens were not charged with 
terrorism-related crimes, but they NEED NOT BE. Where the department 
has suspected people of terrorism it will prosecute those persons for 
OTHER violations of law, rather than wait for a terrorist conspiracy 
to fully develop and risk the potential that that conspiracy will be 
missed."  (Emphasis added)

For irresponsible people in power with little oversight, that is wide 
enough net to catch one's "enemies" one needs, to score a political 
point, to advance a political career, perhaps to get a hefty grant - 
or to settle a private political agenda!

For a family caught in such a phony, politically motivated arrest, it 
is a nightmare crying out for judicial redress.

In an interview write-up with Attorney Van Dinh, Wired News cites 
5,000 such arrests that have happened since 9/11- the Department of 
Justice admits to 500.  Ernst Zundel has been one!

Background

Ernst and Ingrid Zundel are known as an articulate, historically 
well-versed, politically incorrect couple.  Both are first-generation 
immigrants of German ancestry. As children, both experienced World 
War II in all of its harshest brutalities.   Both experienced  years 
of hunger and cold during and after World War II, appalling want of 
the barest necessities, very little formal education.  Both came to 
Canada when they were very young - Ernst as a 19-year-old, Ingrid in 
her early twenties. They did not know each other then, although their 
World War II experiences were very similar, as were their ethnic and 
religious backgrounds.

Both have been lifelong pacifists. 

In the 1960s, Ingrid moved to Kansas and then to California.  Only in 
her mid-thirties did she have a chance to acquire formal schooling, 
culminating in doctorate in education.  Over time, she became an 
award-winning ethnic novelist and celebrated keynote speaker, 
addressing huge audiences at national conventions about her 
experiences as a young child in war-torn Germany - telling a story of 
hardship and suffering from the German point of view. 

Ernst lived in Canada for more than 40 years. He, too, became a 
renown, award-winning artist who owned a lucrative graphic arts 
studio.  World War II history was his passionate hobby - which over 
the years morphed into an all-consuming need to "set the record 
straight" about politically suppressed history, as seen from his 
parents' generation point of view.  This made him, over time, quite 
controversial  and somewhat of a household name in Canada because he 
challenged certain widely held beliefs about what really happened 
during World War II in Germany in concentration camps such as 
Auschwitz.  His views led to several high profile political trials.

Despite their unorthodox views, both Ernst and Ingrid were considered 
model first-generation immigrants.  On the American Continent where 
they lived all of their adult lives,  neither one has a criminal 
record. 

Ernst and Ingrid met in September 1994 at a historical Revisionist 
conference.  They married on January 19, 2000 as both were 
approaching retirement age. They looked for a place to settle down 
after a lifetime of struggle - and found it, so they thought, in the 
tranquility of rural Tennessee.

Ingrid was a U.S. citizen, Ernst still a German national, although he 
lived in Canada for more than 40 years. 

German nationals from Europe usually enter the United States under 
what is known as a "visa waiver" tourist permit, valid for only three 
months - and quite restricted as to legal recourse if challenged.  A 
tourist facing deportation,  for whatever  reason,  is generally not 
entitled to appeal.  

Canadian nationals and permanent residents, on the other hand, 
commonly enter the U.Ss via what is known as a B-1/B-2 permit,  valid 
for 180 days.  Overstays are not normally a concern and hardly ever 
enforced, since many retired people living in Canada spend their 
winters in Florida and return at their leisure in the spring.  

Furthermore, in general, how Canadian nationals or permanent 
residents cross the border to the United States from Southern Ontario 
depends on where they cross. 

If they come to the US by plane, a B-1/B-2 stamp in their passports 
is required.  If, on the other hand, they cross in Niagara Falls in a 
car with Canadian or US licence plates, they are habitually waved 
through without a visa or a passport check because there is a steady 
stream of cars at these bridge crossings - visitors from the US to 
Canada as tourists, Canadians who hop across the border to Buffalo to 
shop for items that are cheaper on the U.S. side, such as, for 
instance, gasoline and cigarettes. Crossings via car, without visa 
checks of any kind between two friendly countries, are the rule 
rather than the exception.  Whether or not a passport is checked or 
stamped when crossing by car is at the discretion of the border 
guards and usually depends on how heavy the traffic flow is on any 
particular day. 

As a German national with a high activist profile but politically 
incorrect view, and as a man who was meticulously careful not to 
offend in any way, Ernst always made sure he had a 3-month "visa 
waiver" permit in his passport as a precaution, whether he needed it 
or not.  Most of the time he did not need it, since he habitually 
traveled by car.

Ernst crossed at Niagara Falls on March 12, 2000 for a few hours only 
- merely to renew this "visa waiver" permit.  He did not stay;  he 
immediately returned to Toronto. 

The last time he came to the United States - this time to stay - was 
on May 21, 2000 by car.

May 21, 2000 was entered on his Immigration application as the last 
date when Ernst left Canada to take up residence with Ingrid.

He had his "visa waiver" permit lying on his seat, but it was never 
checked by busy border guards who simply waved him through.  He 
therefore crossed like a regular B-1/B-2 Canadian resident - NOT as a 
"visa waiver" visitor as Immigration claims.   He has hotel and gas 
station receipts to prove it. 

With the help of a well-known immigration attorney, Ernst's 
application for "Adjustment of Status based on marriage" papers were 
formally filed and accepted as legitimate and proper by Memphis 
Immigration on October 4, 2000.  On that date, the couple was advised 
by Immigration in a written communiqué that there would be a waiting 
period of 36 months - and that no status report would be given in the 
interim. 

Shortly thereafter, as a result of his filing, Ernst received an 
American social security number, a work permit, and a document called 
"advanced parole" which permitted him to re-enter the United States, 
should he decide to travel.  Immigration also sent him a date to be 
fingerprinted by the FBI and another date for a health check by an 
Immigration-approved doctor.  He meticulously kept both 
appointments.   

The couple was told by their attorney that one last step was needed - 
a personal interview by an immigration official to ascertain that 
theirs was a legitimate marriage.  The date for this interview was 
set for June 12, 2001 but had to be canceled and rescheduled due to a 
court calendar conflict by the attorney. 

The attorney requested a new date in a letter written  on his 
stationary on May 23, 2001.  The Zundels have the original, 
time-stamped envelope in which a copy of this request was sent to 
them to notify them of the re-scheduling request.

Immigration, however, did not acknowledge this letter - and did not 
reschedule the appointment. 

After waiting patiently, the Zundel's attorney wrote a second letter 
on June 5, 2002, reminding immigration to reschedule the appointment, 
this time sending a registered letter, "return receipt requested."

The Zundels have the original return receipt, documenting that this 
letter was sent and received. 

Again, there was no reply, no new date set by Immigration.  However, 
since the Zundels had been told that there would be no status report 
and that the process would take as long as three years, they had no 
reason to worry.  They waited for that interview and went about their 
business establishing their domicile. 

On February 5, 2003, Ernst Zundel was brutally arrested at his 
residence on grounds of "having missed a hearing" and "having 
overstayed his visa."  In handcuffs and leg irons, he was shoved into 
a van and taken away by armed guards. 

It was later claimed that this arrest was based on the fact that he 
had overstayed in the U.S. as a "visa waiver" tourist - which he had 
not!  Had there been a legitimate concern about a "visa waiver" 
problem at the time Ernst's papers were filed for "Adjustment of 
Status based on marriage", Immigration should not have, and would not 
have, accepted the Zundels'  application and proceeded with it as 
they did!

Subsequent inquiries and FOIA documents reveal that both of these 
letters of request for rescheduling are missing in the Immigration 
files.  Immigration officials now claim that they never received a 
rescheduling request, despite the fact that at least one letter was 
sent registered - and immigration signed for it.

Were those two crucial letters lost? Misfiled?  Maliciously destroyed? 

The Zundels don't know, but they are surely entitled to find out. 
Since then they have found out through FOIA that other documents are 
missing.

Suspicious FOIA faxes and emails further indicate that there was 
shady and improper communication between Canadian and US immigration 
and secret service officials coordinating and masterminding the 
Zundel arrest exactly prior to and on the date of the first scheduled 
interview.

To this day, despite repeated requests and inordinate efforts, no 
immigration official has agreed to meet with Ingrid Zundel, review 
procedures and regulations - and get to the bottom of this mess!

The Zundels ask:

*	What REALLY happened in this highly irregular arrest?  Who 
was behind it?  Who had an interest in interfering and sabotaging 
this couple's Adjustment of Status proceedings?

*	Why were Ingrid Zundel's repeated phone calls, letters, and 
faxes to immigration and other authorities ignored after Ernst was 
deported to Canada?

*	Why was a formal application for Reconsideration of the 
Application for Adjustment of Status never  acknowledged,  much less 
responded to by Immigration?

*	Why were the Zundels not notified that their application was 
considered to have been "abandoned"?  Why was there no letter of 
"Intent to Deny", as regulations require, to notify them?

*	Why was there no hearing by an immigration judge prior to deportation? 

*	Why was habeas corpus denied in a one-sentence ruling by the 
Knoxville District Court without either the Zundels or their attorney 
being present? 

*	Why is there now a ban for 20 years in effect, preventing 
Ernst Zundel from returning to his home and to his U.S. wife and 
family?  Is that a proper "punishment" for "having missed an 
interview"?

*	Why was Ernst Zundel delivered in chains to the Canadian 
authorities - when, as a German national, he should have been 
deported to Germany?

*	Why is he being held in Canada in solitary confinement on a 
"security certificate" - with no criminal record, and without any 
charges - for more than 16 months?

The Zundels claim, with much justification, that this arrest was a 
political vendetta operation - an extradition in the guise of 
deportation due to Ernst Zundel's unpopular political stance.  It is 
no secret that he has well-connected, powerful enemies in Canada. 
However,  he was legally in the United States, legally married to a 
U.S. citizen, legally in Adjustment of Status procedures - which, 
according to a memorandum by Attorney General Ashcroft issued in 
March of 2000, entitled him to wait for as long as it took for 
Immigration to process his papers!

Had habeas corpus been granted in the Knoxville District Court, this 
tragic deportation - with U.S. law officials acting as de facto hit 
squads to please a nefarious Canadian lobby - could have been 
prevented. 

The Zundels are asking for a legal remedy to end this political charade.

[END]