Desi claims to be FBI informant, deported over cough medicine

In a saga that sounds straight out of a TV crime show, an alleged FBI informant and convenience store clerk named Arvinder Singh sits in an Iowa jail awaiting imminent deportation to India over the sale of cold medicine. Singh had originally immigrated to the US on a business visa, but he is now being sent back to India because he pled guilty in 2002 to selling a large quantity of cough medicine containing ephedrine, which can be used to manufacture methamphetamine. In the years since he immigrated, Singh got married, obtained a green card, and ran a convenience store until he triggered an investigation by immigration authorities that led to deportation proceedings that began in December 2010. Singh has been detained in an Iowa jail for more than six months. US immigrants with criminal convictions are deportable, and Singh’s removal from the US is pegged to the 2002 plea bargain he made over the cough medicine sale. Singh  told the Des Moines Register that he agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence, including 120 hours of community service and two years of probation, to avoid a trial because he feared a mostly white jury would be biased against him. Singh’s current attorney, Michael Said, told Firstpost that the attorney who handled the criminal case didn’t tell the Punjab native that taking a plea bargain would set him on the path to deportation. His attempts to fight his deportation in court by raising that point have so far been unsuccessful, and Singh has run out of funds to continue appealing his case. Said told Firstpost that his client has a “zero chance” at appeal anyway, and “we are waiting for the government to get the money to buy his airline ticket.” An unbelievable case What makes Singh’s deportation case stand out is his claim that he served as a confidential informant to the US government and aided in stateside counterterrorism efforts. [caption id=“attachment_64118” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Singh is sikh, and after he was arrested, he was allegedly approached by federal agents. Screen grab from Des Moines Register.”]  [/caption] Singh is sikh, and after he was arrested, he was allegedly approached by federal agents. “It was right after 9/11 and he was approached and they said, ‘We are looking for people who look like you in the War against Terror,’” according to attorney Said. “They created this persona for him, gave him checkbooks and checking accounts and they said, ‘Go to these mosques and claim to be Muslim, and pray, and give them money so we can trace the money.” In defending Singh against deportation, Said contacted two government agents that Singh supposedly worked with. “Nobody denies it,” according to Said. (It should be noted, however, that it is agency protocol to neither confirm nor deny the identities of confidential informants.) Firstpost contacted one of these agents, identified in court documents only as “Special Agent Dennis.” He denied being an FBI agent, but he said that he had worked for the US government. When asked if he had worked with Singh, the former government agent, who declined to give his full name, said that he could not confirm or deny whom he had worked with. Sandy Breault, a FBI spokesperson, also declined to confirm or deny that Singh had worked with the agency. “The FBI will not publicly disclose whether an individual is, or ever was, an informant because such relationships are conducted under a mutual promise of confidentiality that does not expire,” Breault wrote in an email. “As a result, we will not discuss Mr. Singh’s specific assertions or whether he ever had any confidential relationship with the FBI.” The Department of Homeland Security would not discuss the specifics of the Singh’s deportation case for privacy reasons. Expecting help Singh’s attorney said the deportation case should not have gotten this far because Singh was led to believe he’d receive assistance with any immigration complications he faced. “As a result of four years of under cover work for the FBI in their fight against Terrorism, [Singh] … was advised that he would not have any problems with immigration,” according to a brief Singh filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals. But Breault, the FBI spokesperson, said that the agency never permits these types of arrangements. “Without reference to any specific person’s circumstances, the FBI’s policies prohibit making any promises or commitments regarding immunity from prosecution, or any other consideration, by another government entity in exchange for a person’s cooperation,” Breault wrote in an email. She added that “whenever there is any apparent issue of immigration status, the FBI also specifically advises people with whom it has a confidential relationship that no promises or commitments can be made regarding the immigration status or right of any person to enter or remain in the United States and that only the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to do so.” Not uncommon According to immigration law experts, the number of green card holders who have been deported based on criminal charges has been on the uptick. Deportations are also on the upswing under the Obama administration, which removed 400,000 immigrants from the US last year. On Thursday, the White House made clear in a blog post by Cecilia Muñoz, White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs, that it would focus primarily on removing immigrants with criminal records like Singh, while deemphasising the deportation of “young people who were brought to this country as small children” and “military veterans and the spouses of active-duty military personnel." “Under the President’s direction, for the first time ever the Department of Homeland Security has prioritized the removal of people who have been convicted of crimes in the United States,” Muñoz wrote. Singh’s case, then, is part of a larger trend. “The particular facts of the case relating to the FBI claims are pretty unique, but it’s common these days for legal permanent residents”—or green card holders—“with criminal convictions to be placed in deportation proceedings,” said Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at UC Berkeley School of Law’s the Warren Institute.

“It used to be that if you are a green card holder, you had almost all of the same benefits, rights, and protections that a US citizen has. These days, a legal permanent resident is a misnomer. You are not permanent; you are placed in a precarious position, and even low-level offences land you in deportation proceedings.”