Federal judge temporarily blocks Iraqi Christians’ deportation

A federal district judge on Thursday temporarily halted deportation orders for 114 Iraqi immigrants, mostly Chaldean Christians. Judge Mark Goldsmith said the order would last at least 14 days while he decides whether his court has jurisdiction to hear the case. Customs officials earlier this month conducted raids around the Detroit area and rounded up most of the immigrants. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have said the immigrants all have criminal records. The American Civil Liberties Union last week filed a class action civil lawsuit against the local ICE office. The union’s attorneys argued many of the Iraqis had lived in the United States for decades and “now face imminent removal to Iraq, and the very real probability of persecution, torture, or death.”

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