Deported father says he’ll continue to fight for his son

Thursday, March 30, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

A man who lost a deportation battle is back in Israel, but he's vowing to fight for custody of his son, a 5-year-old Las Vegas boy.

Mohammed Alshiabat entered the United States in 1990 on a six-month visa. He was returned to Israel Wednesday, leaving in doubt future ties with his American-born son.

Alshiabat was 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.

In a telephone interview Wednesday with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Alshiabat said he would continue efforts to gain custody of the boy.

"I am free as a bird, but I am without my only son," he said in a phone interview from his parents' home in Beit Sahour, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. "I want my son back."

The child's legal guardian, Maureen Caputo, has vowed to prevent Alshiabat from taking the boy overseas.

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.

She said she will send the boy to Israel when Alshiabat gets his life in order.

But Caputo contends the boy would be devastated if he were taken from the only caretaker he has ever known and sent to live with strangers in a foreign country. She said Edward, an American citizen, speaks only English and barely knows his father.

"Edward has a great home," Caputo said. "Edward is a happy, content little baby."

Alshiabat was deported after he unsuccessfully sought political asylum. He said Israeli authorities have labeled him a troublemaker and he can expect extra scrutiny any time they stop him.

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 was involved in a long deportation battle.