googs
04-14-2006, 08:19 PM
CLEARWATER - An Iraqi-born woman whose ex-husband was lauded by Gov. Jeb Bush as a symbol of progress in Iraq was detained at Tampa International Airport and is scheduled to be deported tonight.
Safana Jawad, 45, who lives in Spain, said federal agents told her she was barred from the entering the country because she is connected to someone they view as suspicious. She was being held in the Pinellas County jail Wednesday night.
Homeland Security Department agents refused to identify the suspicious person, Jawad said.
"It's a nightmare," Jawad said in a phone interview from the jail Wednesday afternoon. "I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why this happened. I feel like I will wake up holding my son in my arms."
It was Jawad's first trip to the United States, and she planned to surprise her 16-year-old son, Hany Kubba, who lives in Clearwater with her ex-husband, Ahmad Maki Kubba, 49.
"I expected it to be a very happy visit, and now it's like hell," said Kubba, a real estate agent. "She has done nothing, and they sent her to jail with all these criminals."
Safana Jawad, 45, who lives in Spain, said federal agents told her she was barred from the entering the country because she is connected to someone they view as suspicious. She was being held in the Pinellas County jail Wednesday night.
Homeland Security Department agents refused to identify the suspicious person, Jawad said.
"It's a nightmare," Jawad said in a phone interview from the jail Wednesday afternoon. "I don't know why I'm here. I don't know why this happened. I feel like I will wake up holding my son in my arms."
It was Jawad's first trip to the United States, and she planned to surprise her 16-year-old son, Hany Kubba, who lives in Clearwater with her ex-husband, Ahmad Maki Kubba, 49.
"I expected it to be a very happy visit, and now it's like hell," said Kubba, a real estate agent. "She has done nothing, and they sent her to jail with all these criminals."