Germar Rudolf's situation

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

To all:

I was asked to pass this information along, courtesy of Dr. Butz.  My 
only comment is that the story of the "missing interview" was exactly 
the stunt pulled with Ernst.  Even though we had an original return 
receipt from the INS that a rescheduled hearing had been requested, 
it made absolutely no difference.  It cost Ernst a 20 year ban on 
return and endless court cases in three countries on two continents.

I feel for this young couple.

Ingrid



22 October 2005

Friends:

Here is a summary of Germar Rudolf's situation, based on my telephone 
conversations with him from jail. This is, up to my abilities to 
transcribe accurately, his account, not mine. He wants it to 
propagate widely as an e-mail and web postings.

On Oct. 19 Germar and his wife had a marriage interview at the 
Chicago office of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). 
It went well and ended with the INS certifying that their marriage 
was real. As they were about to leave two officers of the INS 
appeared and claimed that Germar had been sent a letter instructing 
him to appear at their Chicago office for photographing and 
fingerprinting, and that he had not complied. Neither Germar nor his 
lawyer received such a letter, and they have still not been shown a 
copy of it. The failure to appear would not in itself, however have 
brought any drastic action; in fact, the INS had had him photographed 
and fingerprinted long ago at the FBI office in Huntsville. What 
exacerbated the situation was that recently the German government had 
made its second request for his extradition and some clerk at the 
INS, assuming the matter involved a real criminal case, flagged his 
file. I commented that that is the charitable interpretation. In any 
case, Germar was detained and sent to a jail about 50 miles from 
Chicago.

A 1960 law specified that marriage to a US citizen is a valid basis 
for an adjustment of status for somebody involved in deportation 
proceedings, even if the marriage takes place during the proceedings. 
However since 1999 the government has been trying to act as though 
the law does not exist and has succeeded in this to some extent, 
getting a favorable ruling in one federal circuit and adverse rulings 
in three others (a "circuit" is a geographical sub-division of the 
US, defined only for purposes of administration of federal law). The 
11th circuit court in Atlanta, which has Germar's case, has not yet 
ruled on this legal issue. Normally such a situation results in the 
matter being appealed to the Supreme Court, which is there to resolve 
contradictory lower court decisions. However subjects in deportation 
cases have been poor people who could not begin to mount a challenge 
in the Supreme Court. That is why the government has not been 
challenged on this since 1999. The government knows that it would 
lose in the Supreme Court.

The 11th circuit court wants to hear this case to its conclusion but 
the highest levels of the executive branch in Washington, in the 
Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, have 
now intervened and taken over the case from the INS. How the matter 
passed from an anonymous clerk at the INS to the highest levels of 
the executive branch is unknown. In view of developments this past 
week the court has, apparently only verbally, given the INS until 
Oct. 26 to file its arguments on why it should be allowed to take 
over Germar's case, presumably to deport him forthwith. Germar's 
lawyers then have until Nov. 2 to file his arguments. The court will 
probably rule later in November.

The November ruling will be on whether the court's process will 
remain in place, or the executive branch will take over. Therefore it 
appears likely that Germar will win in November, as the court has 
expressed a wish to follow this case all the way to its conclusion. 
Why would it rule that its own deliberations are unimportant or 
irrelevant?

Assuming the November ruling is favorable, there is still likely a 
court hearing around January, which will decide two questions. First, 
is Germar entitled to political asylum? Second, if Germar is not 
entitled to political asylum, then is he entitled to an adjustment of 
status based on his marriage?

I commented on the question of publicity, which Germar is skeptical 
of but which I believe may be necessary to effectively raise funds in 
the US. He does not have any name recognition here. Above all, Germar 
and his lawyers do not want angry denunciation of the INS and/or 
government. Public demonstrations outside the INS or the court could 
be fatal.

At present his business operation is shut down and it is not possible 
to buy books from his website. However the website is still 
functioning. Germar has arranged for certain others to take over some 
of the publishing and business operations if he is deported.

The jail Germar is staying in is not an unpleasant place for a jail, 
and has an atmosphere resembling an army barracks. It has the lowest 
level of security and there are TV and games for the inmates' 
amusement, and books for their study. Food is decent.

Best regards,
Arthur R. Butz
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