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SALT LAKE CITY — An Iraqi refugee who the U.S. government considers a terrorist will have to wait until the end of the year to find out whether he can get a green card.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups on Thursday postponed for six months his earlier order requiring U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to make a decision on Kassim Alshamsawi's longstanding application by June 13.
Alshamsawi, who came to the U.S. as a political refugee in 1997, sued USCIS last year after it failed to act on his green card application for six years.
Government attorneys argue he isn't eligible to become a legal permanent resident because he joined an uprising against Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War in 1991. That activity against a government, they contend, makes him a terrorist.
President George H.W. Bush in February 1991 called on Iraqis to take matters into their own hands to stop the bloodshed. Alshamsawi, a 42-year-old Salt Lake cab driver, said he should not be called a terrorist for joining the revolution against the Iraqi dictator. He carried a gun and manned a checkpoint in Nasiriyah in March 1991.
Alshamsawi said America saved his life and he hopes to become a citizen.
Waddoups' order to hold his earlier directive in abeyance came at the request of attorneys for both sides.
Email:dromboy@ksl.com
