SNOHOMISH — All the boy can do now is wait.
Muhammed “Hamoody” Jauda, 5, had an interview Friday with a woman who may be able to grant the Iraqi boy asylum in the U.S.
The federal official, based in San Francisco, has the authority to allow the boy who became blind after being attacked by Iraqi insurgents to remain in his adopted country. Or his case could be sent to the immigration court, resulting in longer waits.
Hamoody said Tuesday he spoke his mind during the interview in Tukwila.
“I told the truth. I said, ‘I don’t want to go back to Iraq,’” he said.
The Shiite boy was shot in the face by Sunni insurgents in Iraq in May 2005. He was 2 back then. He lost his right eye in the ambush. His left eye became blind.
“I don’t want my left eye out; my right eye got out,” Hamoody said.
Those working to keep Hamoody in the country say they are grateful that his plight is receiving swift attention by U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Still, the boy’s asylum petition could take a long time to be decided, said Steve Miller, a Seattle-based attorney working pro bono for the boy.
“I think the (immigration) service wants to be very careful,” Miller said.
Hamoody came to Snohomish in May 2006 to receive medical treatment through Healing the Children, a Spokane-based nonprofit organization. His visa expired in May. Being granted asylum will let him stay with his foster parents, Randy and Julie Robinett Smith. “I can’t imagine this country will deny a 5-year-old boy” who has suffered many hardships, Robinett Smith said.
To qualify for asylum, applicants have to prove that they will or have faced persecution for specific reasons including race, religion, nationality and political opinions, said Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for the citizenship and immigration services bureau.
“It can take a long time,” Rummery said.
A year after receiving asylum, people can apply for a green card, Rummery said. If an asylum petition gets denied, applicants can appeal the decision multiple times.
Hamoody has drawn regional media attention and a lot of support from people in Snohomish. That won’t affect how the immigration service decides on his asylum application, Rummery said.
“We can’t change the law out of sympathy for those who have been affected,” she said. “We don’t have a choice.”
Hamoody was clearly persecuted, Miller said. The boy deserves opportunities in America.
When Hamoody and his family were ambushed, his uncle was shot to death. His mother was shot in the head and spine, and his cousin in a leg.
The Shiite family was denied treatment at a Baghdad hospital because Sunni insurgents threatened hospital staff.
The uncle had refused to fight during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and once lived in the United States, Miller said.
“It was not a random act of violence,” he said. “They were targeted.”
Hamoody’s parents wrote a letter to support their son’s asylum application. The Smiths are willing to raise Hamoody.
“He will have no life out there,” Robinett Smith said. “This is what his family wants for him.”
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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