Ann Arbor father faces deportation for 2010 weed conviction

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WKBK) - Some University of Michigan students came together to help a family missing a brother, husband and father since the ICE raids in June - all due to a 2010 marijuana conviction.

Kamiran Taymour was picked up during the ice raids in June from his Ann Arbor home, leaving behind a wife and three kids ages 13, 12, and 9.

"No it's not fair," said Zilan Taymour, whose brother is facing deportation. "Kam didn't murder anybody. Kam didn't rape anyone. Kam didn't steal, he didn't commit fraud."

"There are other people who do worse things and they get by through the system," said another of his sisters, Shano Taymour.

The Kurdish Iraqi native fled war-torn Iraq as a child along with his two sisters.

"We fled the war in 1990 after the Gulf War, the prosecution of Sadam Hussein, and the people of Iraq," said Zilan. "We left in the middle of the night and we escaped by foot to Turkey."

They went on to live in difficult conditions, staying in a United Nations camp in Turkey for three years before being granted a new start in America in 1993.

But in 2010, Kam was arrested and convicted of felonious marijuana possession and distribution, when he was found with more than one pound of marijuana.

"Marijuana, seriously, who doesn't do marijuana these days," said Zilan.

Kam served probation, and now owns a collision shop. And while he awaits his fate in a jail in Ohio with more than 100 others from metro Detroit, some U of M students are trying to help the family, doing legal research, teaming up with other organizations, and hosting public discussions at the Ann Arbor Public Library.

"I think that these sorts of opportunities to talk to the people who are being directly affected by these detentions and deportations, really opens people's eyes up, and makes them understand, this is your neighbor," said U-M student Keysha Wall, of Stop Trump Ann Arbor.

Kam's family says they risk retaliation by speaking out, but there's an even greater risk that Kam will be killed if he is sent back to Iraq.

"Our face is out there, his face is out there, his name is out there," said Shano.  "I personally think the minute he steps off the plane, if he's sent back, he's gone."

Kam and the other detainees have been protected from deportation due to a federal judge's stay. Because of a recent extension of the stay, they are hoping that will protect him to at least October.

The family has had some contact with Kam on the inside but no one seems to know what to expect whether it be on the inside or outside.