Emprise Bank Has Entire Arab-American Family Arrested After Father Attempts Deposit Check From Home Sale

An Emprise Bank employee had an Iraqi-American doctoral student and his entire family arrested.  In incident happened when Sattar Ali attempted to deposit a large check from the sale of the family’s Michigan home.

Sattar Ali took a check for $151,000 from the sale of his family’s old house in Michigan to Wichita’s Emprise Bank. Ali gave the check and supporting documents to the teller. Within minutes, Police arrived and arrested Ali.

Police handcuffed Sattar Ali and took him outside. They also arrested his wife and their 15-year-old daughter. In addition, police called the school of Ali’s 11-year-old son and told school officials to detain the son.

Police stated the bank could not verify the check and believed the check was fraudulent. Consequently, bank management then called the police.

Ali told local news station KAKE that he brought verification documents with him.

Ali told Wichita State’s student newspaper The Sunflower:

No one told me why I was being arrested until we were being released. They didn’t read me rights or anything.

We were devastated. Terrified. Crying the whole time. We had no idea what the arrest was for.

Sattar Ali and his family are American citizens. They lived in Wichita from 1998 to 2008. He was returning to Kansas to get his doctorate in engineering from Wichita State. His oldest is also attending the university where he is currently a freshman. Ali said the arrest marked his first time feeling unwelcome in the Kansas city.

Ali said the arrest marked his first time feeling unwelcome in the Kansas city.