Return Okpala to the U.S.

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security

In 2017, Okey Garry Okpala was unlawfully detained and deported by ICE from the United States to Nigeria, where he remains to this day. The Student Justice League calls on those responsible for this misconduct to rectify their wrongdoings and return Mr. Okpala to the United States.

The Student Justice League advocates for people in prisons through the Administrative Remedy system. Okey Garry Okpala's advocacy work during his 22 years in prison inspired the action through the Administrative Remedy approach that the Student Justice League uses today. Please join the Student Justice League in supporting this call for justice for Garry Okpala by reading our statement below, and signing our petition to Chad F. Wolf, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security. In addition to signing this petition, you can put pressure on your representatives to take action through our letter campaign at https://actionnetwork.org/letters/return-okpala-to-the-us.

In 1993, Okechukwu Oguejifor Okpala, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Nigeria, was convicted of crimes related to heroin smuggling in a trial allegedly riddled with constitutional violations (see Mr. Okpala's statement here). Mr. Okpala spent 22 years in prison, all the while attempting to expose the constitutional violations in his conviction and subsequent denaturalization; however, these were consistently met with deliberate obstruction. Upon his release in 2015, Mr. Okpala was detained again by ICE and wrongfully deported to Nigeria by District Chief Counsel for ICE Cassie Thogerson in 2017. Since he was a naturalized citizen at the time of the alleged offense, this was an unlawful deportation as decided by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Okpala v. Whitaker, 908 F.3d 965, (5th Cir. 2018) and affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA 2019). A full year after his deportation order was terminated by the 5th circuit and reversed by the BIA, Garry Okpala remains in Nigeria, unable to return to the United States.

The Student Justice League writes this statement on behalf of Mr. Okpala, who goes by Okey Garry Okpala. We write in an effort to shed light on the severe injustices done unto him by the people responsible for upholding justice in our country. Following 22 years in prison, he was held in ICE detention for 2 years wrongly after his bond was denied by Immigration Judge Agnelis L. Reese. To this day, ICE has yet to reverse their unconscionable wrongdoings and return Okpala to the United States.

What has happened to Okpala at the hands of these agents of the criminal legal and immigration systems is appalling, and we are sickened and heartbroken by the damage wrongfully wrought by them on Okpala’s life. It appears Okpala did not receive a fair process; therefore there was no justice. We fear for others who have or will come under these officials’ discretion. It is clear that these acts are not in isolation, as Agnelis Reese, the immigration judge who denied Okapala’s bond, has garnered an abominable reputation for rejecting every asylum case she presided over from 2014 to 2019, a number in excess of two hundred [1, 2]. It can not be possible that Judge Reese has only received deportable cases. Therefore, it can be said that she has judged without fairness throughout her career - as a prime example: Mr. Okpala’s case.

We now call on these court officials responsible for Okpala’s wrongful deportation to rectify their inhumane and recklessly cruel actions:
  • District Chief Counsel for ICE Cassie Thogerson, who initiated Okpala’s deportation
  • Immigration Judge Loreto S. Geisse, who signed Okpala’s deportation order without ever seeing or hearing a motion from him
  • BIA Judge Ellen Liebowitz, who approved the deportation order
  • Immigration Judge Agnelis L. Reese, who denied Okpala’s bond in 2015
  • BIA Judge Joan B. Geller, who dismissed Okpala’s bond appeal
  • Immigration Judge Jerry A. Beatmann Sr, who denied Okpala’s motion to terminate his deportation case, and sat on his deportation case for around 14 months and retired without rendering a decision
  • Attorneys Gary Martin, Sherron Ashworth, Trey Lund, Margot L. Carter, David M. McConnell, who represented the government in Okapala’s case
  • Matthew G. Whitaker, acting U.S. Attorney General at the time of Okpala’s 5th circuit decision
  • Chad A. Readler, acting Assistant Attorney General at the time of Okpala’s 5th circuit decision
  • Senior Litigation Counsel Leslie McKay, Office of Immigration Litigation
We hope that you will join us in our call for justice in Okpala’s case, because silence is siding with wickedness.
Sponsored by
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The Remedy Project
New York, NY

To: Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
From: [Your Name]

We are calling on you and the aforementioned individuals to immediately return Okey Garry Okpala to the U.S. so that he may attempt to salvage his family, and that he may finally see his criminal case reviewed. Upon Mr. Okpala’s return, we insist that he be protected from deportation for the duration of any court proceedings that take place related to his cases. The number of alleged serious constitutional violations in Okpala’s criminal court process, if true, support the understanding that Mr. Okpala was deported to cover up these violations - thus, we also ask that Okpala’s claims be re-investigated. Finally, we demand that ICE and the DHS cease and desist from the wrongful deportation of U.S. citizens knowingly and willingly, so that no other human being will be forced to endure the suffering and distress that Mr. Okpala has been through.