Why Not Just Deport Him?

With authorities reluctant to jail the troublesome cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, local politicians are wondering -- Why not kick him out? The answer is, It's not so easy. A year after he entered the U.S. in 1990, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, unaware of his revolutionary past, granted him a "green card," or permanent resident alien status. When the ins found out, it rescinded the card -- and began a nearly interminable process. In March an immigration judge found him deportable; Abdel Rahman appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals in Washington, where a ruling can take from six months to two years; if it rules against the sheik, he can appeal to a | federal district court, and on up to the Supreme Court. And all this would be notwithstanding his additional claim for political asylum. "It takes so long," notes immigration expert Muzaffar Chishti, "because of our due- process system." Depending on one's stand on immigration and the law, that system is either a blessing or a curse. In Abdel Rahman's case, the smartest thing may be to leave him in New Jersey, under surveillance. Who knows how many more terrorist plots might be revealed that way?