CLEVELAND — Here in Ohio, a man remains behind bars in Butler County Jail tonight — not because he failed to comply with a deportation agreement, but because ICE did not pick him up for a flight he had already paid for. Now, his family and attorney are demanding answers.
Mhamed Kerkoub came to the U.S. in April of 2023 and filed for asylum, with his case still pending. He obtained a work permit and checked in annually with the Department of Homeland Security in 2024 and 2025. But during his November 2025 check-in, he was detained by ICE.
“He's not a criminal. He never did something wrong,” said Karoub’s good friend Hassane Fall.
According to Kerkoub’s attorney, Bassel Abdallah, his client has a clean record aside from a single traffic violation. After being detained, Kerkoub decided he wanted to return to his home country of Mauritania.
"He doesn't want to stay in jail…He came here seeking refuge, and now he's detained, and the fastest way to get him out was to seek voluntary departure,” said Abdallah.
Abdallah coordinated the departure with a deportation officer over email. ICE secured Kerkoub’s passport. A flight was booked for the exact date and flight ICE requested — Jan. 21 — and paid for by his friend Fall.
But when the day came, Kerkoub was never taken to the airport.
"He called me from jail, telling me they didn't pick me up. I'm still here,” said Abdallah.
In an email responding to Abdallah’s questions, a deportation officer acknowledged the mistake, writing:
“I spoke with our removals team, and they dropped the ball on coordinating getting him on the flight. We are taking every step to ensure this does not happen again.”
"You tell us to do this in the way that you wanted. We did it. And at the end, you did not comply with that, and you are telling us that it was miscommunication,” said Fall.
In that same email, ICE asked whether Fall could get a refund for the ticket, but he couldn’t.
"I bought it out of my pocket. ICE did not buy it at all, and I lost it. I lost these tickets…they are not refundable,” said Fall.
So we looked into what’s supposed to happen when someone is granted voluntary departure.
"What it is, is I will leave, I will waive my appeal rights, and I’ll leave on my own in lieu of a deportation order,” said Aleksandar Cuic, Director of Case Western's Immigration Clinic.
Cuic says in most cases, the process is straightforward.
"I'm buying my own plane tickets. These are days I’m leaving, and ICE has to know what's going on, obviously, because they're ones that are going to transport you,” said Cuic.
When asked why ICE might not transport someone, Cuic said he couldn’t explain it.
"I have no idea,” he said. “You would think under this administration they’d be happy to transport people.”
We asked the Department of Homeland Security why ICE did not transport Kerkoub. As of now, we have not received a response.
We also reached out to Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, who sits on the Senate committee overseeing DHS and has publicly supported voluntary departures. He also has not responded to our request for comment.
"We did our part. They need to do their part,” said Fall.
Two weeks later, Abdallah says Kerkoub remains in detention.
"I got back to the deportation officer, let her know that he cannot get a refund, and requested that DHS buy his ticket, which is an option she offered,” Abdallah said. They are still waiting for a response.
As they wait, Fall says it’s painful seeing his friend remain in a place he should have already left behind.
"He's still sitting--frustrated. He still says, 'Why? I signed for everything. I signed for self-deportation. I complied.' And still he's sitting in there for any reason at all,” said Fall.
