March 2, 07

NEWS / Behind The False US Immigration Charges: George Boley explains ordeal

When it was first reported in the US and Liberian media that former Liberian minister and chairman of the defunct Liberian Peace Council, Dr. George Saigbe Boley was arrested by US Home Land Security on immigration violation charges, many people, especially Liberians, thought the immigration charges would lead US government to his political past in Liberia. However, the Immigration violation charges against the former education minister were dismissed and up to the time of the dismissal of the case, US government found no clue to link Dr. Boley to atrocities in Liberia.

Staff Writer Thomas Kai Toteh contacted Dr. Boley and obtained copies of his reaction and court proceedings:



Mr. George E. S. Boley Photo: (courtesy of FPA)

A few months ago, my arrest on 11th July 2006, at my residence in Clarkson, New York, for alleged visa fraud, was circulated world-wide, courtesy of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle news organization. Coverage of my arrest by the Democrat and Chronicle appears more of a report of �who�s who in Africa� than it is about the purported crime of �visa fraud� of which I was accused. That these experienced investigative reporters found a dossier of alleged atrocities committed by the LPC and me in far away Liberia, but failed to mention a single count of the alleged crime of visa fraud in Rochester, New York, was troubling, but understandable.

Vilified, ridiculed and portrayed as a criminal�a �mob lynching� by the local press of sorts, led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer and company, found favor in certain quarters within the community. The contrived plot against me was a sheer fabrication concocted by ICE Agent Matthew R. Meyer, a consummate liar; a rogue agent whose disingenuousness and propensity for criminality know no bounds.

The criminal charges (Criminal Compliant, Case No. 06-MJ-597) filed against me, by Agent Matthew R. Meyer, in United States District Court, Western District of New York, in the City of Rochester, New York, were dismissed upon the request of Assistant United States Attorney, the government prosecutor, Bret A. Puscheck, on 6th October 2006. The charges, it is reported, were dropped under a federal rule allowing dismissal �if there is unnecessary delay in presenting the charge to a grand jury.�

The government had two months between 11th July 2006, the date of my arrest and 6th October 2006, the date the government asked the Judge to dismiss the charges against me, to present the case to a federal grand jury for indictment. For someone the government claimed to have been looking for over eighteen plus years, it is beyond comprehension the government of the United States would pass up an opportunity to obtain a grand jury indictment to prosecute.

I was arrested; paraded through the court building; brought before a federal Judge who appointed a federal public defender, Mark D. Hosken, to represent me during my appearance before the court and thereafter until otherwise determined by the court. The news media and press reporters were pre-assembled in the courtroom awaiting my arrival. After a brief appearance before Judge Jonathan Feldman, I was released on my own recognizance to appear in court 5th September 2006, my court appointed attorney, Mark D. Hosken, offered me a ride home; no indictment!! The whole process was carefully choreographed and scripted. But, as with all evil deeds, a simple inadvertence is often revealing.

So was the first of what would become routine inadvertences, by the U.S. Government, in my �visa fraud saga.� In the courtroom the afternoon of 11th July 2006, when I appeared before the U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Feldman, he asked me whether I am employed. I confirmed my employment with a local Temp agency. Judge Feldman then deferred to the Immigration official, ICE Agent Meyer, the arresting officer and the government prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA), Bret Puscheck, whether I could continue to work. Agent Meyer and AUSA Puscheck told Judge Feldman, who in turn told me, I could return to work.

I knew there and then that the government�s case of visa fraud against me, was, as we say in Liberia, �a cartoon,� a joke; a very bad joke orchestrated by evil souls. It is inconceivable that the U.S. Government would arrest an alien, fraudulently and illegally in the country, and at same time sanction the alien�s continued illegal employment.

My appearance in court on 5th September 2006 lasted less than five minutes. Ms. Carter can attest to this for she and her colleague at the Democrat and Chronicle were in the courtroom (the Judge even granted her colleague permission to sit in the jury box to get an unobstructed view of me for whatever assignment he had to carry out). The government requested additional time, through another US attorney who informed Judge Jonathan Feldman the case is not hers; but that she was sitting in for her colleague. I never heard of the case again until 9th October 2006 when the following telephone message was left on my voice mail:

�Good morning Mr. Boley, this is Mark Hosken at the federal defender office. I am calling you on Monday morning, October 9th , it�s about 10:50 in the morning. I am pleased to inform you that as of Friday, United States attorney has dismissed the pending criminal charges that had been filed against you in the Western District of New York. As I understand it, they do not intend to pursue those charges any further. However, you will need, I assume, to make arrangement to retain or hire a Immigration counsel that can represent you throughout the balance of the potential issue that you have with staying in the country. I will call Mr. Levine and give him this message as well. I will be in and out the office today, even though it�s a holiday, if you need to reach me, I will give you my direct line � therefore, there is no need for you to appear in court on Tuesday morning, tomorrow. Thank you, George, please feel free to call me��

The case ended as mysteriously as it began. From all indications, the government never intended to prosecute this case; had no case, as there was not an iota of truth to this allegation of visa fraud; it was all a scam, orchestrated by Agent Matthew R. Meyer and co-conspirators of similar disposition.

Since my initial contact with U.S. Immigration upon arrival in the United States of America on 8th September 1970, not only have I have kept abreast of Immigration regulations governing aliens, I have complied with Immigration regulations.

Unexpectedly, on 11th July 2006, federal arrest and search warrants were served on my person and premises by ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer and others, who did not identified themselves, accompanied by Roy Stillman, identified as representing the U.S. Department of State. The criminal compliant by Agent Matthew R. Meyer, filed in federal court, alleged visa fraud��abandonment of lawful permanent resident status��some eighteen years rarlier, on 25th June 1988 to be exact. The truth is I never committed visa fraud as alleged in Agent Matthew R. Meyer�s compliant.

According to ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer:

�In January 2006, a Monroe County, New York, Department of Social Services Investigator from the Special Investigation Unit, contacted Agent Meyer. The subject and his family had applied for Medicaid. During the course of her investigation, the Investigator learned that the subject was from Liberia and had some concerns about how the subject claimed to support himself and his family. The Investigator also located some derogatory information on the subject relating to human rights violation, while searching the Internet.

Based on the information provided by the Investigator, a file was located for the subject, GEORGE SAIGBE BOLEY,�requested and eventually received by Buffalo, New York ��

ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer claimed he discovered I was in the United States illegally while reviewing my Immigration file based on the above information provided by the Investigator from the Monroe County Department of Social Services.

Interesting, isn�t it? First of all, Medicaid is funded by taxpayers� money to help the needy. Not only am I a taxpayer, I pay more taxes (School, Town and County Tax) in Monroe County, New York, than the average taxpayer in Monroe County; and have, consistently, for well over twenty years. So, what�s wrong with applying for Medicaid when it�s my turn to seek help? Some fifty million Americans have no medical/health insurance.

I recall, not so fondly, the incident with this lady Investigator from the Monroe County Department of Social Services when she stopped by our home to speak with my wife, Kathryn, who had applied for Medicaid, at a local health facility in the community, for one of our children who required medical attention as we had no health insurance. This lady, whose name I now do not recall, came in; specifically requested my passport and resident visa (Green Card). Strange that she would request to see my resident visa (Green Card), I thought; but we provided her the documents, anyway. I distinctly recall this same lady Investigator made the remark, rather sarcastically, �how can you afford to support your daughter at an Ivy League University?� At that point, I thought she had crossed the line. I left her with my wife.

Additionally, of what relevance is the so-called �derogatory information� about me, relating to alleged human rights violations, found on the Internet by the Investigator of the Monroe County Department of Social Services, to determining my need or the need of my family for eligibility for Medicaid? When the letter denying her application for Medicaid was received, I told my wife we should expect worse, given the attitude of this Investigator from the Monroe County Department of Social Services.

That Agent Matthew R. Meyer would determine I am illegally in the United States based on concerns conveyed to him by the Investigator from the Monroe County Department of Social Services is utterly ludicrous.

Firstly, on 9th August 2002, I wrote the U.S Immigration a letter relative to a family member in which I indicated my legal resident status in the United States. Agent Meyer confirmed receipt of this letter. In fact, when Agent Meyer first contacted me by telephone, Friday, 7th July 2006, having already obtained a warrant for my arrest on 6th July 2006, his story line was he wanted to talk to me about the letter I had written Immigration concerning on 9th August 2002.

If there were a scintilla of truth to Agent Meyer�s claim that I am in the United States by use of a fraudulent visa, would Agent Meyer not have come after me in 2002 when he or the Immigration office received my letter four years ago claiming to be in the United States legally?

I have traveled in and out of the United States, countless times, using the same visa Agent Matthew R. Meyer accused me of using fraudulently; the U.S. Immigration has never once questioned the validity of this visa at various U.S. ports of entry; and, I have entered the United States at practically every major port of entry over the years.

That my arrest on charges of visa fraud was a scam perpetrated by Agent Matthew R. Meyer, is evidenced by the comments he made repeatedly, in the presence of witnesses, including his colleagues, during my arrest at my residence on 11th July 2006. Christian, my fourteen-year old son and daughter, Gabrielle, 20, were present through all of this; though the rogue agent tried without success to keep them out of sight and hearing range of his reckless and irresponsible utterances. They both watched and listened, but I did not know Christian listened as carefully as he did to every word spoken by Agent Meyer throughout the whole disgusting charade.

After serving the arrest and search warrants, ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer slapped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists; hands behind my back, he tightened the handcuffs such that they began to cut into my wrists, momentarily cutting off blood circulation to my palms and fingers (an act of torture in effect) while repeatedly directing the following threatening and menacing comments at me:

�You were with the LPC, uh. Bad things happened, uh. My government is interested. If you want to talk about that, we can ask the judge to drop these charges (pointing to the document containing the Criminal Compliant he handed me a few minutes prior to putting the handcuffs on my wrists). It�s up to you.�

Ignoring the buffoonery and antics of the seemingly functionally literate agent, I remained unflustered by the charade being orchestrated by Agent Matthew R. Meyer and his co-conspirators. At the court building, reporters from the local daily, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, awaiting my arrival at the court building were seen hurdled in the courtroom with Agent Meyer. Interestingly, the press stories were exclusively of allegations of atrocities committed by the LPC in Liberia, the same absurdity echoed by Agent Meyer in the above comments without once mentioning specifics of the alleged visa fraud for which I was arrested.

It is rather strange that Agent Meyer and the Democrat and Chronicle would be consumed by an unrelated issue, such as the LPC, to the exclusion of the alleged crime of visa fraud for which I was arrested. Three successive feature articles in the Democrat and Chronicle publications of 12th July 2006, 2nd and 10th October 2006, excluding an Online publication of 11th July 2006 by Democrat and Chronicle staff writers Gary Craig and Matt Daneman support this assertion. Did my fourteen year old.

In fact, the story of my arrest, I am told, had been written in advance of my arrest and appearance in federal court. Asked how did the reporters know of my pending arrest to have assembled in the courtroom awaiting my arrival, I was told a news reporter checks regularly with the court for cases of interest. If this were the case, why would the arresting officer, Agent Meyer and the news reporters give prominence to a non-case; namely, the LPC in Liberia rather than the issue of visa fraud? My intent is not to insinuate a conspiracy; I am simply presenting the facts as to what actually happened; to put into perspective a response to my son�s query: �Why the Disclaimer.�

Within an hour of my appearance in court, the story of my arrest was circulated world-wide via the Internet. Interestingly, in an unrelated story about me published on the Internet on 11th July 2006, the Democrat and Chronicle staff writer found the court records of a civil law suit I had filed years earlier against Frontier Telephone Company of Rochester, and reported details of that civil suit; but, strangely, the same news organization showed no apparent interest in the specifics of alleged visa fraud charges against me; choosing to publish outright lies and slander.

For example: (a) The Liberia Peace Council (LPC) that I led in Liberia during the Liberian armed conflict was not a political party as claimed by the uninformed writer(s). To suggest otherwise, as did the Democrat and Chronicle reporter(s), is indicative of the pervasive ignorance of the writer(s) who probably know as much about their neighborhood(s) in Western New York, as they know about Liberia. (b) I never ordered the execution or summary execution of anyone in Liberia, directly or otherwise, nor did I order the arrest and beating of anyone or looting of anything in Liberia or any place in the world for that matter, as claimed by the �credible source� quoted by the Democrat and Chronicle reporters. Anyone on planet earth with a shred of evidence to the contrary should not be timid about presenting such evidence. (c) I earned my bachelors and masters degrees at State University of New at Brockport 1974 and 1975 respectively, not 1971 and 1974 as reported by the local press; just a few examples of the types of disinformation contained in the featured local publications, syndicated world-wide.

I might add, with pride, for the record, that my role and that of the Liberia Peace Council (LPC) in the Liberian conflict, contributed in no small measure to the peace and establishment of the enfant democracy being presently nurtured in Liberia and the West Africa sub-region by the international community.

I have since communicated, by letter, with Honorable Michael Chertoff, Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security about the conduct of ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer and this outrageous crime against me by an agent of the Department of Homeland Security.

On 20th November 2006, a telephone message from the office of the Assistant Federal Defender, Mark D. Hosken, my court appointed attorney, informed me that my Resident Visa (Green Card) was at his office; that I should pick it up at my convenience. I collected the Green Card on 22nd November 2006 from Mr. Hosken�s office and issued a receipt for it. Determined to find out the status of the returned visa by Agent Meyer�the same Resident Alien Card (Green Card)�I allegedly abandoned 25th June 1988 and surrendered voluntarily on the day of my arrest, as reported by Agent Meyer�was returned to me by Agent Meyer, without explanation.

On 28th November 2006, I proceeded to the Immigration office to ascertain whether the Resident Visa (Green Card) returned by Agent Meyer was valid; and, if it is, was it tampered with. Upon inspection of the Green Card by the attending Immigration officer, I was told the visa (Green Card) is indeed valid; has always been valid and that it would not have been returned to me if it were not valid. The officer further informed me it could not be determined whether the Green Card had been tampered with.

On 29th November 2006, I received a letter addressed to me, post marked 27th November 2006, supposedly from the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C. Dated 22nd October 2006, the letter is signed by Anna-Marie Kilmade Gartons, Director, Executive Secretariat, purportedly of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, D.C., reads:

�We received your October 18, 2006, and November 1, 2006, letters to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, regarding your Alien Registration Card (Green Card).

This card was provided to Mark D. Hosken via DHL Services on November 17, 2006. Please make arrangements with Mr. Hosken to obtain the card.�

Since the English language is not my native tongue, I might not have understood the content of the above letter, leading me to ponder the following:

(a) How is it possible that Secretary Chertoff�s office, in a letter dated 22nd October 2006, would acknowledge receipt of a letter I had written 1st November 2006; ten days after 22nd October 2006?

(b) If the month of October precedes November, in the Gregorian calendar, the official calendar used in the United States of America, how is it possible that Secretary Chertoff�s office would inform me, on 22nd October 2006, that my Green Card� �was provided to Mark D. Hosken via DHL Services on November 17, 2006?�� twenty-seven days before the card was actually dispatched �to Mark D. Hosken via DHL Services�?

(c) My letter of 18th October 2006 to Secretary Chertoff was not about my Alien Registration Card (Green Card) illegally seized by ICE Agent Meyer; it was a compliant about the conduct of Agent Matthew R. Meyer and an inquiry as to the relevance of the LPC to U.S National Security as conveyed to me by Agent Matthew R. Meyer when I was arrested on 11th July 2006, an issue Agent Meyer chooses to ignore despite repeated pleads to address the matter; and,

(d) My letter of 1st November 2006, acknowledged by Secretary Chertoff before it was written, was addressed to ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer, operating out of Homeland Security Office in Buffalo, New York, with copy to Secretary Chertoff.

Understandably, the Department of Homeland Security is a huge, new agency trying to get organized; but, the �English� in this letter, written, presumably by an English-speaking American, is certainly confusing. Could somebody in the Department of Homeland Security be confused or having a hard time trying to �cover up� a misdeed?

In response to Director Anna-Marie Kilmade Gartons� letter of 22nd October 2006, however, I intimated that my letters were about much more than a Green Card; indeed, I reminded director Gartons that I live in fear daily, cognizant of Agent Matthew R. Meyer�s disingenuousness and the possibility he could craft yet another �Criminal Compliant� against me which conceivably, could lead to my arrest and indefinite detention at undisclosed location(s) around the globe without due process.

Speculations

Speculations abound as to individuals and organizations responsible for my arrest. Human Rights groups, the government of Liberia, are among those named. One must, however, deal with facts rather than �hearsay,� though recent slanderous comments, on Minnesota Public Radio 17th November 2006, by Jennifer Presholdt, Deputy Director of the Minnesota Advocates Human for Rights, Implementing Partner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia, leaves one wondering as to the validity of these speculations. I choose to deal with the facts at hand devoid of speculation.

Jennifer Presholdt�s remarks on Minnesota Public Radio that I am in custody in the United States for human rights-related crimes in Liberia, I dismiss as purely symptomatic of her criminal mindset that, regrettably would discredit the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights group.

Though communications, on advise of counsel, dated 13th December 2006 to Kerri Miller, host of the Minnesota Public Radio program, Jennifer Presholdt and Robin Philips, Deputy and Executive Directive respectively, of the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, remained unanswered, the issue of defamation and slander will certainly be addressed at the appropriate venue and time.

As to the suspected role of the Government of Liberia in my arrest last July, I fail to understand the logic therein. The U.S. Department of State, supposedly represented by Roy Stillman, at the time my rest, at my residence, has a Bureau of Human Rights armed with authority to bring me or any person to justice, should it so wish, for any alleged violation of existing U.S. laws. Assuming the U.S. Government elected to arrest me at the request of the U.S.-supported Liberian Government, why would the U.S. Government, given millions of statues in its legal arsenal, choose to trump up charges of �visa fraud� only to request dismissal of the charges?

To bring this episode to conclusion, I wish through this medium, to urge ICE Special Agent Matthew R. Meyer�that he has returned, without explanation, my Resident Visa illegally seized�to commence, without delay, the much-publicized promised �civil Immigration proceedings� for my deportation from the United States, reported in news organs the world over, that the criminal case is resolved.

Was my arrest for a crime I never committed, an act of a lone renegade agent and a few criminal-minded bigots violating my civil liberties or was it truly the act of the U.S. Government? Any one with answers to these understandably troubling questions should please let me know, for like my son, Christian, I also would like to know: Why the Disclaimer by agents of the federal government?.

To those who may have put Agent Matthew R. Meyer up to this crime against my family and me, I urge you not to behave cowardly about your bigotry. Should you truly believe I have wronged you or anyone, cease the courage to confront me rather than, as we say in Liberia��using someone else�s hand to take the burning coals from the fire hearth.�
By Thomas Kai Toteh

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