Judge suspends deportation of Iraqis nationwide

A federal judge in Detroit ruled today to expand his order blocking the deportation of some Iraqi nationals. Last week, Judge Mark Goldsmith temporarily stopped the removal of 114 Iraqi immigrants, mostly Chaldean Christians, who were detained in Detroit-area raids. There are 1,444 Iraqi nationals who have final deportation orders against them, but only 199 of them were detained as part of a nationwide sweep by immigration authorities, according to Reuters. “The lives of these individuals should not depend on what part of the United States they reside and whether they could find a lawyer to file a federal court action,” American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt told Reuters. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said all of the detainees had criminal records and final orders of deportation against them. ICE maintained the arrests were lawful, but said it would comply with the judge’s ruling. The order against the deportations will last two weeks while the judge considers whether his court has jurisdiction in the case. In the meantime, the judge ruled the stakes were too high for the Iraqis who could face persecution and death at home to proceed with their immediate deportations.

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