The Niqabi Paralegal

PITTSBURGH (AP) - An Amish man said the government violated his rights by denying him U.S. residency and barring him from re-entering the country because he refused to be photographed on religious grounds.

The man is a Canadian citizen and a member of the Old Order Amish, a sect that takes literally the Bible's prohibition of graven images. The man's wife, who is also Amish, is an American citizen. The lawsuit identifies the couple only as John and Jane Doe and names as defendants Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Attorney General John Ashcroft and customs and immigration officials.

The couple wants the federal rules requiring photographs to be submitted with a residency petition to be ruled unconstitutional. The plaintiffs also ask that the man be allowed to return to the United States as a permanent resident, said their attorney, Mark Knapp.

The man had first come to the United States in July 2001 as a nonimmigrant visitor after he married his wife on June 29, 2001. He went to Canada the next year and was told upon his return to have his wife petition for his permanent residency, according to the lawsuit.

The man's wife did just that. The couple was interviewed by officials with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in June 2002, where they were told they would have to submit their photographs, according to the lawsuit. The couple refused and the petition was later denied.

"Similar objections - and requests for religious exemptions - to photograph requirements routinely have been honored in the past. ... Jane Doe's petition would have been approved but for her refusal on religious grounds to submit a photograph of herself," the lawsuit alleges.

In December 2003, the man traveled with his wife and daughter from their home in Pennsylvania to Canada to visit his father, who had had a heart attack. In January 2004, the family was returning home when the man was stopped at the border and told he could not return because he didn't have a photo ID.

He was allowed back into the United States on Thursday so that he can attend an April 21 removal proceeding. Knapp said he will ask the courts to delay that hearing until the lawsuit is heard.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh declined comment, saying they hadn't seen the lawsuit.