Deportation orders grip Iraqis with fear
Judge puts temporary halt to immigrants’ removal across U.S. as members of Christian sect feel ‘betrayed.’
Ghassan Kassab was 5 years old when his family fled Saddam Hussein’s brutal government in Iraq.
He has lived most of his life — 47 years — in the United States. But the Detroit gardener now faces the threat of being sent back to a country where he has no ties — and where his family fears his Christian faith could get him killed.
Kassab, who was issued an order for removal after a conviction for marijuana possession, was one of scores of Iraqi immigrants swept up in immigration enforcement raids across the country in recent months.
Many are Chaldean Christians who fled their war-torn homeland decades ago and fear persecution by extremist groups such as Islamic State if they return. They thought they had found a haven in the U.S., but with the threat of deportation looming over hundreds of families, some are questioning their place in a country that no longer seems so welcoming.
“It’s like they are throwing him to his death sentence,” Kassab’s niece, Marvit Bahoura, said of her uncle. “He does not know how to read Arabic, and he does not remember anything from that country.”
Kassab, who was picked up at his home in late May, was given a temporary reprieve last week when a federal judge issued a stay of removal for at least 114 Iraqis detained in the Detroit area, saying he needed time to weigh whether he has jurisdiction over the case.
U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith agreed Monday to a request from lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant rights advocates to extend the order nationwide for 14 days to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement from deporting people they said could face persecution, torture or death in Iraq.
“Such harm far outweighs any interest the government may have in proceeding with the removals immediately,” Goldsmith said in a decision.
The order applies to more than 1,400 Iraqi immigrants who have been issued final orders of removal, either for overstaying a visa or because of a criminal conviction.
In many cases, those orders were issued years ago, the ACLU said in its petition. But Iraq refused to accept the immigrants, so the government eventually released them, often under supervision orders. Some have lived in the U.S. for decades and have spouses or children who are citizens.
The roundups began after an agreement was reached with Iraq in March to take back its nationals, said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for the ICE field office in Detroit. In addition to those detained in Detroit, at least 85 other Iraqis have been taken into custody across the U.S. since May, he said.
“The Iraqi Chaldean community is shocked and don’t understand why this is happening,” said Wisam Naoum, an attorney and Chaldean community leader in Detroit. “We feel a bit betrayed. It’s a direct assault on our community.”
Many of the city’s Iraqi Christians were staunch supporters of President Trump, who in January tweeted, “Christians in the Middle East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!” They did not expect to get swept up in Trump’s crackdown on immigration.
“My entire family voted for him because he said he would help protect Christians,” said Bahoura, 38.
Because Kassab’s parents didn’t speak English, the family never applied for U.S. citizenship, she said. They found the process confusing. So when he was convicted on the drug charge more than a decade ago, he was issued a removal order.
But Bahoura said her uncle had served his time and had been reporting regularly to ICE ever since.
“He’s worked at the same landscape company for 23 years,” she said. “He’s a hardworking man.”
The possibility that her uncle will be deported has her fearful not only for his safety, but for her health. She has a debilitating autoimmune disorder and received a bone marrow transplant from Kassab this year.
“There’s a 70% chance that if my body rejects the bone marrow, I’ll need another one,” Bahoura said. “But if they deport Kassab, there’s a slim chance I’ll be able to find another match.”
Many of those detained in Detroit were picked up June 11 near churches and restaurants favored by the Iraqi Chaldean community, according to immigrant rights advocates. Others were detained at their homes or at one of their regular appointments with ICE.
Six ICE agents arrived early one morning at the door of Brittany Hamama, 20. They were there for her 47-year-old father, Usama Hamama, who she said left Iraq as a child.
The threat of deportation has loomed over the family since he was convicted of aggravated assault in a road-rage incident. But that was 30 years ago, his daughter said.
“My dad’s roots are in the U.S.; he knows nothing else,” she said. “This doesn’t seem real.”
‘It’s like they are throwing him to his death sentence. He does not know how to read Arabic, and he does not remember anything from that country.’ — Marvit Bahoura, niece of Ghassan Kassab