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Supporters demand release of Greensboro detainee Mohamed Naser

Image shows State Senator Michael Garrett speaking in front of a crowd
PAUL GARBER/WFDD
State Rep. Michael Garrett (D-Guilford) speaks during a press conference at One February Place in downtown Greensboro on Friday.

Supporters of detained immigrant Mohamed Naser gathered in downtown Greensboro Friday to call for his release.

More than 100 people assembled at February One Place to protest Naser’s detainment.

Naser was taken into custody about two weeks ago and was scheduled to be released on a $20,000 bond. But U.S. Immigration and Customs officials appealed the decision. He’s currently being held at a Georgia detention center.

State Sen. Michael Garrett, a Guilford County Democrat, blasted the federal government for arresting Naser.

“North Carolina will not — I repeat — will not be a hunting ground for federal agents who think badges give them the right to ignore the United States Constitution,” he said.

Naser’s attorney, Helen Parsonage, says she has filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, asking a judge to find his detention unlawful.

Parsonage says authorities have invited Naser to voluntarily deport himself, but he has declined.

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

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