ICE spends thousands to deport Somali asylum seeker it knows it can’t remove..

The U.S. government has spent thousands of dollars in a determined effort to deport a Somali asylum seeker from Alaska despite Somalia being on the list of countries deemed too dangerous for forced removals, Faced with this legal reality, ICE released Salad in November 2023 under an “order of supervision,” which essentially acknowledged his removal was impossible in the foreseeable future…

Roble Ahmed Salad, 27, has never been convicted of a crime in the U.S. or his home country. Yet, he sits behind bars in an Anchorage jail, caught in an immigration dragnet that critics say is more about political posturing than law enforcement, His case, fought over in federal court, offers a rare window into how ICE operates in Alaska, far from the public scrutiny that follows high-profile immigration raids in cities like New York or Los Angeles.

Salad crossed into the U.S. from Mexico in December 2022, seeking asylum. Initially, his claim was deemed credible, but he later faced an asylum hearing without legal representation. His bid was denied, as was his appeal. By May 2023, a deportation order was issued—but it was an order ICE could not enforce.

Somalia remains one of the most volatile nations on Earth, its regions controlled by a fledgling government and a patchwork of militant groups. The U.S. has long recognized that forcibly returning individuals to such conditions is untenable.

As his legal battle unfolds, Salad has applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a designation that allows individuals from war-torn or disaster-stricken countries to remain in the U.S. Somalia remains eligible for TPS through at least 2026.