By The Baghdad Post
Chaldeans and elected officials in metro Detroit are asking the U.S. government to block the deportations of up to 1,000 Iraqi nationals.
"For many people, this may be life or death," Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, told the Free Press. "All we ask is they get additional time to get their due process in courts. ... They will likely face persecution in Iraq."
After a federal appeals court last week ruled against the Iraqis in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Iraqi American Christians and their supporters in Congress and the Michigan Legislature are mobilizing to lobby the Department of Homeland Security to halt the removal of Iraqis with criminal records.
Chaldeans and elected officials in metro Detroit are asking the U.S. government to block the deportations of up to 1,000 Iraqi nationals.
"For many people, this may be life or death," Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, told the Free Press. "All we ask is they get additional time to get their due process in courts. ... They will likely face persecution in Iraq."
After a federal appeals court last week ruled against the Iraqis in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Iraqi American Christians and their supporters in Congress and the Michigan Legislature are mobilizing to lobby the Department of Homeland Security to halt the removal of Iraqis with criminal records.
The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went into effect
on Tuesday, which means many Iraqis could be deported at any time.
Manna spent two days this week in Washington meeting with members of Congress in an effort to craft legislation that could halt the deportation.
Also this week, four House members, three of them from Michigan, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking him to help block the deportation. And some legislators are now working on a potential bill that would ask the Trump administration to halt deportations based on a policy known as Deferred Enforced Departurepreviously used to halt the deportations of Liberian immigrants.
"We write to urge you to halt the wholesale detention and deportation of Iraqis living in the United States, including numerous Iraqi Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities," the letter reads.
After a federal appeals court last week ruled against the Iraqis in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Iraqi American Christians and their supporters in Congress and the Michigan Legislature are mobilizing to lobby the Department of Homeland Security to halt the removal of Iraqis with criminal records.
The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went into effect on Tuesday, which means many Iraqis could be deported at any time.
Manna spent two days this week in Washington meeting with members of Congress in an effort to craft legislation that could halt the deportation.
Also this week, four House members, three of them from Michigan, sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking him to help block the deportation. And some legislators are now working on a potential bill that would ask the Trump administration to halt deportations based on a policy known as Deferred Enforced Departurepreviously used to halt the deportations of Liberian immigrants.
"We write to urge you to halt the wholesale detention and deportation of Iraqis living in the United States, including numerous Iraqi Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities," the letter reads.
After a federal appeals court last week ruled against the Iraqis in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Iraqi American Christians and their supporters in Congress and the Michigan Legislature are mobilizing to lobby the Department of Homeland Security to halt the removal of Iraqis with criminal records.
The decision by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went into effect on Tuesday, which means many Iraqis could be deported at any time.