Father loses deportation battle; son’s fate in doubt

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

A man who entered the United States in 1990 on a six-month visa has lost his deportation battle, leaving in doubt the future of his 5-year-old American-born son.

Mohammed Alshiabat has been ordered deported to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where he lived before entering the United States a decade ago.

The question now is what happens to Alshiabat's son, Edward, who is set to remain in Las Vegas with his caretaker.

Alshiabat and some of his supporters have likened the case to that of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy now involved in a diplomatic tug-of-war in Miami.

Edward's father has been held by immigration officials since 1996, most of the time in Southern Nevada. The boy's mother died in July 1996 and he has been raised by her best friend in Las Vegas.

"I didn't see my son take his first step," Alshiabat told a Las Vegas newspaper in a recent interview.

Alshiabat, 38, fears he will never see his son again if immigration officials deport him to Israel without the boy, a process that began Tuesday. The child's legal guardian, Maureen Caputo, has vowed to prevent Alshiabat from taking the boy overseas with him.

"I would fight him right now if I had to, because I don't think this is the right time for Edward to be taken away," she said recently. "It would devastate him."

For months, Alshiabat and his supporters, including some members of the Mormon Church, have been writing news agencies, politicians and lawyers seeking help for his cause.

Caputo, 54, thinks Alshiabat has been using his son to promote his cause and has urged him not to exploit the boy.

Alshiabat, a Palestinian, came to Colorado 10 years ago for treatment of injuries he says he suffered at the hands of Israeli soldiers.

He lived in Colorado, California and Michigan before settling in Las Vegas, where he has been involved in his long deportation battle.