Detroit - A federal judge in Michigan
halted on Monday the deportation of more than 1 400 Iraqi
nationals from the United States, the latest legal victory for
the Iraqi nationals facing deportation in a closely watched
case.
US District Judge Mark Goldsmith granted a preliminary
injunction requested by lawyers from the American Civil
Liberties Union, who argued the immigrants would face
persecution in Iraq because they are considered ethnic and
religious minorities there.
Goldsmith said the injunction provides detainees time to
challenge their removal in federal courts. He said many of them
faced "a feverish search for legal assistance" after their
deportation orders were unexpectedly resurrected by the US government after several years.
Goldsmith wrote, in his 34-page opinion and order, that the
extra time assures "that those who might be subjected to grave
harm and possible death are not cast out of this country before
having their day in court,"
The decision effectively means no Iraqi nationals can be
deported from the United States for several months.
It was not immediately known whether Goldsmith's ruling
would be appealed by the US government. A representative for
the US Attorney's Office in Detroit did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
There are 1 444 Iraqi nationals who have final deportation
orders against them in the United States, although only about
199 of them were detained in June as part of a nationwide sweep
by immigration authorities.
The ACLU sued on June 15 to halt the deportations of the
detainees. They argued the Iraqis could face persecution,
torture, or death because many were Chaldean Catholics, Sunni
Muslims, or Iraqi Kurds and that the groups were recognized as
targets of ill-treatment in Iraq.
Those arrested by immigration authorities had outstanding
deportation orders and many had been convicted of serious
crimes, ranging from homicide to weapons and drug charges, the
US government said.
Goldsmith sided with the ACLU, expanding on June 26 an
earlier stay which only protected 114 detainees from the Detroit
area to the broader class of more than 1 400 Iraqi nationals
nationwide. Goldsmith's Monday decision came hours before that
injunction was set to expire.
The ACLU argued many Iraqi detainees have had difficulty
obtaining critical government documents needed to file
deportation order appeals, and also that the government has
transferred many detainees to facilities in different parts of
the country, separating them from their lawyers and families.
"The judge is giving them a realistic and meaningful
opportunity to make their cases," ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman
said after the decision.
The roundup of Iraqis in the Detroit area followed Iraq's
agreement to accept deportees as part of a deal that removed the
country from Trump's revised temporary travel ban on people from
six Muslim-majority countries.
Some of those affected came to the United States as children
and committed their crimes decades ago, but they had been
allowed to stay because Iraq previously declined to issue travel
documents for them.
That changed after the two governments came to the agreement
in March.