Safe Haven in America by Michael Wildes

Author:Michael Wildes
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: American Bar Association
Published: 2018-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

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The Heartbroken Mothers

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Desiring to protect children internationally from the harmful effects of their wrongful removal or retention . . . as well as to secure protection for rights of access.

—Preamble to the Hague Abduction Convention

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One of the primary goals of immigration law is the reunification of families. As an immigration lawyer, one of the most painful parts of my practice involves representing parents when they attempt to recover their children after estranged spouses kidnap them and take them to foreign countries.

The United States is a nation of immigrants, and according to the last census, one in five marriages has a foreign-born partner. Unfortunately, the United States is also notorious for having a high divorce rate—people often say as high as 50 percent. They get that number by comparing the number of divorces in a particular year against the number of marriages. Divorce is rarely pleasant and is often contentious, leading some spouses to take extreme measures. Here’s another sad statistic: the United States has the highest number of international child abductions in the world today. This is not a new crime—it’s been going on as long as there have been borders. The book of Genesis tells the story of the patriarch Jacob, who, after some difficulties with his father-in-law, Laban, left the land of Aram for Canaan with his two wives (Laban’s daughters) and his children. Laban pursued, and the situation was settled amicably.

For thousands of years, the problem of a disaffected spouse taking children to another country has revolved around a difficult question, “Which country’s laws should cover the situation?” The Hague Convention of 1961 attempted to create a multilateral framework to address the question, with ninety-seven countries presently agreeing on the prompt return of children wrongfully removed. That can still require considerable legal effort in foreign courts and sometimes heartbreak as a court sides with a native-born spouse. Still worse, however, is the fact that many countries, especially those in the Middle East, refuse to sign this agreement. Children are considered citizens of these countries, and mothers often have no rights at all.

In 1994, I had helped a Saudi diplomat, Mohammed al-Khilewi, defect from Saudi Arabia. Then Pat Roush approached me with further evidence of Saudi corruption. By that time, almost eight years had passed since her husband had kidnapped their children and taken them to Saudi Arabia. She met her husband in college. Roush was an older student just spreading her wings and opening herself to new things. One of those new things was Khalid al Gheshayan, one of numerous young Saudi nationals sent to study in the United States. Although not an outstanding student—he failed or withdrew from all but two of the courses he took over four years—he was charming, attentive, and persistent. They married in 1978, and Roush soon gave birth to a baby girl, Alia. But Gheshayan’s drinking put a strain on the family, especially when he was arrested for drunk driving, battery, and vandalism. He also had mental problems and

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