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Sacramento City Leaders Urge ICE Release Omar Ameen, Arguing He Was Scapegoat For Trump Administration

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento city leaders have signed a letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to release Omar Ameen from custody.

Ameen, a refugee from Iraq who was living in Sacramento, was accused of killing an Iraqi police officer in 2014. He has been in US custody since 2018, but Ameen's alleged involvement in the killing has been the subject of intense scrutiny.

In April, a US Magistrate judge denied the Justice Department's attempt to extradite Ameen, calling the evidence against him "dubious." Further, cellphone evidence also showed that Ameen was in Turkey at the time of the killing.

That judge ordered Ameen to be released from custody. While Ameen was released, ICE immediately took him into custody and have since put him in deportation proceedings.

On Monday, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and other city leaders signed a letter urging Ameen to be released.

"Now that he has been exonerated, we implore you to release Mr. Ameen from federal detention, return him to our Sacramento community, and undo the harm caused by the Trump Administration," the letter states.

City leaders argue that Ameen's case was pushed by the former Pres. Donald Trump's administration to "destroy" the refugee resettlement program.

Vice Mayor Jay Schenirer and councilmembers Katie Valenzuela, Sean Loloee, Eric Guerra and Mai Vang all also signed the letter.

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