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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― He's a Pakistani immigrant who helped the United States in the war on terror, but now the U.S. government wants to deport him. His lawyers are working furiously to try to allow him to stay in his adopted country.

The man, who wants to remain unidentified, said he put himself in harm's way by working as an undercover informant in California for ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, searching out terrorist connections.

He said ICE agents told him if he worked for ICE, he could stay here indefinitely or even get a green card.

The former informant is originally from Karachi, Pakistan and has lived in the US for over 20 years, first as a student and then as a white-collar professional. But now he faces deportation back to Pakistan.

"I thought I had a chance to live here without being deported or you know that's what they told me, (ICE agents) said if I work with them as an informant I will be able to stay in this country indefinitely," he said.
ICE agents approached him in 2004 after he was charged with overstaying his legal visa and suggested there was another way to stay in the United States.

"They told me if I helped them they would get me a green card, but later on they changed their statement and they said I can stay in the United States indefinitely, you know," the informant said in describing those events.

In exchange, the agents wanted him to work as a confidential informant, to help crack the case of a Fresno paralegal named Akram Sabar Chaudhry, who the agents said was filing false asylum claims for immigrants.

San Francisco immigration attorney Katherine Lewis represents the informant.

"They needed his assistance," Lewis explained. "They needed him to go wear a wire and go to an asylum interview with this notary, who had been repeatedly filing false asylum claims, but they needed the evidence to show that he was actually doing this."

His work paid off for ICE. The government indicted Chaudhry, who pled guilty on two counts. But that wasn't all. The man said the agents had another job for him.

The informant said, "They said go to the mosque and talk to the people and engage them in conversation to find out if there's any activity going on like money laundering, or you know there's terrorist activity going on in the United States."

Which he did, working for ICE for three years.

At the same time, the informant himself had to go back to court for a deportation hearing. So he says he asked the agents if he needed a lawyer. But he said instead, the agents came to the hearing, and then gave him this
advice:

"They told me to take the deportation order. They say don't worry about it we will take care of it and everything will be okay," the informant recalled.
So he said he followed their advice and then waived his appeals. His attorney said the informant, understandably, believed what the agents told him.

"I mean, it's reasonable to think that the agency that's deporting you tells you it's okay to go take a deportation order," Lewis said. "We'll take care of you, you know, it's reasonable for...any kind of reasonable person would say, 'Okay, that seems like a reliable source of information to say I can take this deportation order and yet you know, it's not going to be enforced, they're going to let me stay in the United States.'"

But Lewis said it's advice those ICE agents should never have been giving.

"It seems like there's some misconduct on government officials of misleading him into believing that he wasn't going to be deported," said Lewis.

ICE won't discuss its confidential informants and did not answer questions about its agents' conduct in the case. (The agency sent CBS 5 Investigates a list of what it says is facts relevant to the case; the list and a response from attorney Katherine Lewis are posted separately with this story.)

ICE said its former informant has no right to stay. But Lewis says the case raises troubling questions.

"Who's going to cooperate if this is the way you treat your informants?" Lewis pointed out.

"I think if you want individuals cooperating with immigration, which I think everyone agrees is something we probably need for our security and our country, this is sending a terrible message", she explained.

The former informant says he feels betrayed.

"I feel taken advantage of, you know. I've been used and I feel like they have deceived me," he said.

His attorney has filed motions to get him a new hearing. Lewis says other reasons he would have had a valid claim to asylum are his bisexuality and religious beliefs. ICE was asked to join in the motion to grant a hearing but the agency's chief counsel declined.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent the following information regarding this case. The informant's attorney's response is also posted below.

ICE Statement:
Over the course last 15 years, "Mr. A" has filed two applications for immigration benefits that proved to be fraudulent.

In 1994, he filed an application seeking to obtain lawful immigration status with the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Mr. A" failed to appear for his subsequent scheduled interview.

DHS records indicate "Mr. A's" most recent admission the United States was in 1998. At that time, he entered the country on an H-1 B visa as a skilled worker. "Mr. A" apparently ceased to work for the sponsoring employer in 2000, meaning he no longer had a legal basis to remain the United States.

Three years later, in 2001, "Mr. A" applied for adjustment of status based upon marriage.

"Mr. A" was placed in removal proceedings in 2004 after it was determined the marriage was fraudulent and that he entered into the union solely to obtain a "green card."

"Mr. A" was subsequently ordered deported by an immigration judge in December 2004 and waived his right to appeal.

As a matter of investigative integrity, we can't disclose whether an individual is, or was, a confidential informant for the agency.

Attorney Katherine Lewis responds:

"Mr. A" does not dispute, and in fact is completely forthcoming in his motion to reopen, about violating his immigration status. In fact, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agents were aware of these violations when they requested that he work as an undercover informant and assured him that they would permit him to remain in the United States indefinitely in return for his cooperation. Furthermore, none of the violations of immigration law made him ineligible for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture at the time of his December 2004 hearing, when ICE agents affirmatively advised him to accept a removal order to Pakistan, despite the fact that he is bisexual and rejects Islam. "Mr. A" is simply seeking an opportunity to have his day in court that he should have had in December 2004.

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