Salazar Disbarred, Malkandi Kicked Out

It took 20 years of client complaints, but immigration attorney Antonio Salazar, subject of our cover story three weeks ago ("You Say Hello, I Say Goodbye," April 21), has finally been disbarred.

The state Supreme Court issued the order last week, putting an end to the legal career of one of the first Latino attorneys in the state, one who continually missed deadlines and failed to perform work he promised. As a result, clients lost their legal status in this country—sometimes without even knowing it—or, worse, were deported.

Washington State Bar Association spokesperson Judy Berrett says the bar is still working on a plan to help Salazar's many clients who will be left hanging. As for Salazar himself, perhaps he'll devote more time to his business putting out racy calendars of "Seattle Latinas."

Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced last week that it had deported Sam Malkandi. The Kurdish Iraqi immigrant was suspected of ties with al-Qaeda, though believed by supporters to be unjustly accused. We wrote about his case two weeks ago ("Between Iraq and Tacoma," April 28).

The onetime Kirkland resident and U.S. military contractor had been held at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma for four-and-a-half years, and his attorneys recently demanded he be released if the U.S. couldn't deport him. The government promised a federal court it would deport him soon, and finally did so.

ICE did not say where exactly it had dropped Malkandi. But his 22-year-old daughter Nicole, a student at the University of Washington, says she had a brief phone call with her dad last Thursday morning, and he said he was in Kurdistan. The family has not heard from him since.