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Amish Beliefs At Odds With Border Rules
An Amish man’s religious beliefs — which prohibit him from having his photo taken are running afoul of anti-terrorism efforts and have prevented him from returning to his home in this country after a visit to Canada.
Daniel Zehr was barred from returning to the United States from Canada for nearly three months after federal security officials at the Peace Bridge blocked him from re-entering because he lacks photo identification.
The Canadian-born Zehr traveled from his current home in a Pennsylvania Amish community to Aylmer, Ont., near Kitchener, in December to visit his ill father.
In early January, when he planned his return, he learned he would not be allowed to re-enter the United States because he does not have the required photo ID.
Attorney Mark T. Knapp of Pittsburgh was finally able to get Zehr back into this country last Thursday on a temporary basis as he awaits an April 20 hearing in federal court.
Knapp said the Department of Homeland Security’s photo identification requirements infringe on Zehr’s First Amendment rights allowing freedom of religion.
“The question is whether the government’s claim of national security can override personal religious freedoms,” Knapp said. “This is a very serious situation for my client. For this man, having a photo taken is a grave sin, almost to the level of killing someone.”
While his client’s religious beliefs prohibit the use of photo identification, Knapp said, he would agree to fingerprint identification and possibly retinal scanning or other high-tech identity screening that does not involve photographic images.
Zehr and other members of the Old Order Amish sect believe that the Bible instructs that it is a sin to make a “graven image” and that a photo falls into the same category as creating an idol out of wood or stone.
Zehr, who is in the United States on “parole” status, faces possible deportation if it is determined he is “illegally present.”
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Zehr faces removal proceedings stemming from his refusal to submit a photograph along with his application for a green card.
The Canadian man, who has lived in Pennsylvania since 2002, is married to an American woman, and the couple has a U.S.-born child. Zehr’s family remained in Licking Township, Clarion County, Pa., during his involuntary stay in Ontario.
In an interview with a Canadian newspaper prior to his return to Pennsylvania, Zehr talked about the prospect of being permanently banned from the United States.
“I don’t know what’s true and what’s not,” Zehr told the paper. “That’s what keeps me shaking in my shoes.”
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