ERO Washington, D.C. removes high-ranking Somali national convicted of human rights violations

WASHINGTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington, D.C., removed Yusuf Abdi Ali, 71, a citizen of Somalia, from the United States to Somalia Dec. 20.

Ali, aka “Tukeh,” had been residing in Springfield, Virginia, and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Somali National Army and Commander of the Fifth Brigade in Northwest Somalia from approximately May 1987 to July 1988. The Somali National Army committed numerous serious human rights violations against civilians during that time, including the arbitrary arrest and execution of suspected political opponents, the burning of entire towns, the unlawful use of landmines and the destruction of water reservoirs to target the civilian population.

“The United States will not be a safe haven for those who commit human rights violations, and we will persist in our efforts to pursue justice for the victims of these crimes,” said ERO acting Executive Associate Director Russell Hott. “Though justice was delayed in this case, it ultimately prevailed.”

Homeland Security Investigations’ Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center requested HSI Washington, D.C., initiate an investigation into the whereabouts of Ali in March 2020. HSI Washington, D.C., subsequently located and arrested Ali and in November 2022, and ERO Washington, D.C. took custody and detained Ali at that time.

A Department of Justice immigration judge issued a 65-page decision on February 8, 2024, finding that Ali personally engaged in torture while a Lieutenant Colonel in the Somali National Army. In addition, Ali ordered Somali National Army soldiers under his command to detain, torture and assist in extrajudicial killings. The DOJ immigration judge ordered him removed to Somalia.

A jury in the Eastern District of Virginia found Ali liable in a civil suit for the torture of a Somali herder and awarded the plaintiff damages in May 2019.

The case was supported by the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center and led by ICE’s Office of the Principal Legal Advisor Human Rights Violators Law Division; OPLA Washington litigated the case and the Department of State provided valuable assistance.

Established in 2008, the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center is led by HSI and leverages the expertise of criminal investigators, attorneys, historians, intelligence analysts and federal partners to identify, investigate, prosecute, and remove from the United States individuals who have carried out genocide, torture, war crimes and other serious human rights violations. The center has issued more than 79,000 lookouts for potential perpetrators of human rights abuses, and stopped over 390 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S. Currently, HSI has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,945 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries.

Since 2003, ICE has arrested more than 520 individuals for human rights-related violations of the law under various criminal and immigration statutes. During that same period, ICE obtained deportation orders against, and physically removed, 1,152 known or suspected human rights violators from the U.S. Additionally, ICE has facilitated the departure of an additional 199 such individuals from the U.S.

Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to contact HSI by calling the toll-free HSI Tip Line at 1-877-4-HSI-TIP (1-877-447-4847) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also email HumanRights@hsi.dhs.gov. Both are staffed around the clock and tips may be provided anonymously.

ERO conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the United States, including at the order of immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. EOIR is a separate entity from DHS and ICE. Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal.