Chaldean Christians Archives

Avoiding deportation: Shifting policies leave many on tenterhooks

Complicating matters for immigrants apprehended by ICE is that the agency moves detainees rapidly from location to location, making it even tougher for them to obtain counsel and access to federal or immigration courts, according to the ACLU suit.

Judge blocks deportation of Chaldeans and other Iraqis

Clarence Dass, an attorney representing many Iraqi Christians the U.S. government wants deported deported, said he was “ecstatic” over a court decision delaying the order. “When your life is on the line, each day is a victory. And in this case, 14 days,” Dass said. “We now have the breathing room to ensure that every individual detained has the proper motions filed and, ultimately, a chance to be heard. The work continues.”

USCCB officials urge Homeland Security to defer deportation of Chaldeans
- Catholic News Service, Church in the US
- Jun 22, 2017
Recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq have led to the deportation of more than 100 Chaldean Christians who were residing in the country, leading the Catholic bishops to write a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security urging him to halt the arrests.
READ MORE
Chaldeans in U.S.: Why aren’t more Christians speaking out against deportations to Iraq?
- Church in the US, Religion News Service
- Jun 18, 2017
“On a practical level, this is mind-boggling,” said Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer who runs the Center for Religious Freedom at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. She can’t think of a safe destination for the Chaldeans in Iraq. “The director of Homeland Security — does he know that there has been a genocide declared there by the United States? Had anyone told him? Does ICE know this?”
READ MORE
Iraqi martyr remembered in Rome ten years after murder
- Global Church
- Jun 13, 2017
Rome’s Pontifical Irish College celebrated Holy Trinity Mass in the memory of Father Ragheed Ganni, a former resident. In 2007, the 35-year-old Iraqi priest was shot to death by Islamic militants. Also killed were three subdeacons: Basman Daoud, Ghasan Bidawid and Waheed Isho’a.
READ MORE