DEPORTATION OF DETAINED IRAQI IMMIGRANTS BLOCKED

A Detroit judge has blocked the potential deportation of Iraqi immigrants with criminal records who were arrested by federal immigration agents in June.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith granted a preliminary injunction request made by attorneys for the Iraqi nationals who had asked him to halt their deportation, saying they would be persecuted in Iraq.

In his decision, Goldsmith wrote that the case involved “extraordinary circumstances,” noting that the Iraqis suddenly faced deportation after years of many of their cases being “dormant.”

Goldsmith said the constitutional rights of the Iraqis were being violated, writing that “the writ of habeas corpus — the fundamental guarantor of liberty — must not be suspended, unless in the rare case of foreign invasion or domestic rebellion.”