Imam Ayman Soliman – the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital chaplain wrongly arrested by ICE earlier this year – spoke at an event in Columbus on November 15, telling an audience that even during the ordeal’s worst moments, there were activists who offered glimmers of hope that led to his release.
It was midnight on the day of his arrest when he was processed into the infamous ICE-contracted detention center in Butler County – a jail run by Sheriff Richard Jones, known as Ohio’s “mini-Trump.” From there, he may have been deported to his home country of Egypt. In 2014, he fled Egypt where he covered the Arab Spring as a journalist, and for that he was jailed and tortured.
“There was an officer who had a child that had been treated at St. Ann’s Children’s Hospital, and they remembered my face,” he said. “He looked at me during this terrible time and said, ‘I am sorry you are here. I just wanted you to know I watched the news at 11 pm and everyone is protesting on your behalf.’
“You have no idea what that meant to me.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially accused Soliman of aiding a terrorist organization but soon retracted the allegation. One claim the DHS made was that Soliman was wanted for murder and terrorism charges in Iraq, but he has never set foot there. Soliman’s attorneys and supporters believe anti-Muslim sentiment within the Trump administration is likely the true blame for his arrest.
“I didn’t actually come [to the US] to seek a better life. I was actually seeking life by escaping death. But when they transferred me to Butler County Jail, I thought this was the end,” he said.
Certainly, anti-Muslim and brown-skin bias continues under Trump, suggesting there may be hundreds of Solimans who have been detained on flimsy and flat-out false evidence. But also true is the uproar which followed Soliman’s arrest, and how this too will continue. Helping lead those protests was the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, which hosted Soliman’s appearance Saturday night at Chez Rama (3669 E. Livingston Ave) a popular Senegalese restaurant.
“It doesn’t matter where you were born,” said Ohio Immigrant Alliance director Lynn Tramonte. “If you have chosen to make Ohio your home and are building a good life here, this is where you belong. It’s been a hard year for everyone, including immigrants, whose right to remain with their families is under threat.”
Like the prison guard who recognized Soliman, the parents of the children Soliman cared for rebuffed the stereotypes Americans have forced on Muslims. Instead, they welcomed his much-needed compassion. ProPublica reported, “Taylor and Bryan McClain, also came to rely on Soliman when their newborn, Violette, arrived at Cincinnati Children’s last year with life-threatening complication. The chaplain steadied them during their 271 days in the NICU, which Taylor said felt like ‘a roller coaster in a tornado and it’s on fire.’” The McClains now call him “family.”
“I had an amazing life in Egypt. I’ve never made money in this country in any given year close to what I made in Egypt. After 15 years, two master’s degrees and one Ph.D., I am still not paid what I made there,” Soliman told the audience.
From inside Butler County Jail, Soliman was made aware of protests organized on his behalf in Ohio’s three major cities. Protestors in Cincinnati chose to march across Roebling Bridge – inflaming law enforcement who made numerous arrests, including journalists.
Soliman was released after 73 days from ICE detention when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) abruptly reinstated his asylum status.
“When the government became aggressive, the more activists became persistent, working as if I was a family member. I really believed I had a huge family outside. I really didn’t have any family in the US, but now I have thousands of people as my family,” Soliman said.
Soliman said if his new family had remained silent, apathetic in the face of hate and anger, his future would have been grim. He warned that not just brown-skin people will be targeted, but non-Christians, liberals and leftists.
However, he is inspired about the future: “We are way more stronger than we think,” he said.
