Amers Announce Lawsuit against Michigan for Taking Children

A civil lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court contends a local husband and wife were the victim of a racially motivated conspiracy to take away custody of their children after the death of another son in 1985. The plaintiffs are Ahmed and Rehab Amer as well as their son Hussein, whose relationship the parents hid for 18 years. The suit contends the state and adption agencies conspired to wrongly remove and keep three of the Amers children from their house because they are Arabic. The trouble experienced by the Amer family led to a new Michigan law that was passed in December. The law makes the state give adoption priority to foster children’s relatives and, if a relative isn’t capable, give special consideration for placement into a family of the same religion and culture of the child’s immediate family.