Dec 12, 2003  |  By: BRYAN ANDERTON  | COMMENTS     

gay Iranians that are dialoging with their parents about … having a boyfriend or whatever. It’s something that we don’t touch on.”

A spokesperson for the Immigration Court said Barrett and other immigration judges do not publicly comment on cases.

But Victoria Neilson, legal director of the Lesbian & Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, said Barrett’s reasoning is not unusual.

“Unfortunately, that doesn’t sound completely beyond the pale,” Neilson said. “It sounds like a horrible situation, but immigration judges have a great deal of discretion to decide what they find credible and what they don’t.”

Neilson said the LGIRTF had created some training materials to educate all new asylum officers about gay issues beginning in 2004, but was not aware if the U.S. Dept. of Justice had any such training for its judges.

Appeal denied
For weeks after the hearing, Aiden said he became depressed and suffered from panic attacks. He began seeing a psychiatrist, he said, and was put on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications.

But he was not willing to give up. He and Reza were introduced to Elizabeth McGrail, a lawyer who had worked with the LGIRTF, and in August 2002, they filed an appeal of Barrett’s decision.

In the 23-page brief filed in December 2002 for the appeal, McGrail cited more than two dozen cases and statutes that were relevant to Aiden’s appeal, and stated that Barrett’s decision was in error for several reasons, including his failure to accept Aiden’s and Reza’s testimonies regarding Aiden’s homosexuality.

McGrail also presented the Board of Immigration Appeals with letters from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and HOMAN, a gay Iranian group, expressing support for Aiden’s case.

But on Nov. 19, Aiden received the appellate board’s decision, denying his appeal “without opinion.”

“I just feel like I’m being punished twice,” said Aiden, who accused the board of rubber-stamping his appeal without reading it. “Once I was punished in Iran because I was gay and there were some people who didn’t like me, and now here I’m being punished again for being an Iranian, I guess. And it just makes me feel like I have no place in this world.”

McGrail said the justice system has failed Aiden.

“I think he has a compelling asylum case,” McGrail said. “I think that the immigration judge at his trial did not give him a fair hearing. And I believe that the Board of Immigration Appeals did not read either my brief or the UNHCR’s opinion. I don’t think they gave more than two minutes’ thought to the appeal, if that.”

Aiden is appealing his decision to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, but McGrail said he will most likely be deported before any action is taken on the appeal.

If deported, he will not be allowed back in the United States for 10 years, Neilson said.

Aiden said he expects to be deported by the end of the month. He said if he is not arrested in Iran, he will try to leave the country again and apply for asylum in another country. He said he does not look forward to having to start his life over again in a new country.

“Every day, for four or five days, every t