Excerpted:
Despite judicial intervention, Iraqi Christians in the US face uncertain times
A protester fights back tears during a downtown rally November 8, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. (AFP)
By Phoebe Leila Barghouty Special to Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 2 August 2017
Moayad Barash was very young when he travelled from Baghdad to the United States. But he has spent years building a life in America. All four of his children were born and raised here.
After all these years, he never imagined that after almost 38 years, he would be apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in front of his seven-year-old daughter on a sunny Sunday morning, while driving home from the beach.
Until recently deporting immigrants to countries in which they may face immediate danger or persecution was not condoned by the US government. However, recent crackdown under the Trump administration have led to negotiations between the US and countries like Iraq that changed this landscape for longstanding immigrants.
...
For the dozens of Iraqi nationals with alleged prior offenses, fighting decades-old charges for minor crimes will be a key factor in pleading their cases to avoid the dangers of returning to Iraq. And even if those minor offenses are pardoned, there is no guarantee that ICE will release them from indefinite detention.
According to Aukerman, however, the country has a legal obligation not to send immigrants and refugees back to a place where they might get tortured or killed. “To paint these individuals as disposable because of an offense they committed decades ago is to deny them basic humanity,” Aukerman said.
Continued: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/08/02/Despite-judicial-intervention-Iraqi-Christians-in-US-continue-to-face-uncertainty.html
In a statement on the recent influx of seizures and detentions, ICE said: “Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal.”
