How did he come to this pass?  On July 30, 5:00am, agents from BICE picked him up from his home for deportation after his appeal of a long-standing political asylum claim was denied, in spite of his not having received notification of that denial due to faulty counsel. An article  about the case appeared on August 9, 2003 in the Washington Post: WP_Branigan. 

Suffice it to say that on September 4 the Board of Immigration issued a stay of deportation, pending a hearing in a federal court.  At first we thought that this meant he could be released to prepare for the hearing and to return to support his family. However, Djordjevic continued to be held until Dec. 23 because of the "flight risk" claim. 

This situation remained this way for more than four months despite vigorous efforts by Rep. Tom Davis (R-11th Congressional District, VA, the district covering the Djordjevic family home in Falls Church) to remedy it, and despite continuing efforts on the part of the physics community to make authorities aware of his case.

To sign a petition and for additional information about the case on behalf of Branislav Djordjevic please see: http://homepage.mac.com/nmousseau/bane/petition.html.