Death Sentence’ For ICE-Detained Chaldeans: Advocate

DETROIT, MI — About 40 members of Metro Detroit’s Chaldean community were arrested and detained BY U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers Sunday, and their families fear they will deported back to Iraq, where an advocate says they face persecution and possibly death because they’re Christians.

The undocumented residents ICE detained have criminal records and were on a final order for removal, the president of the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights told the Detroit Free Press. For them, an uncertain future awaits in Iraq. There are fewer than 200,000 Christians remaining in Iraq, compared with 1.3 million in 2003.

Those detained lived primarily in Macomb and Oakland counties, the newspaper reported.

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Returning them to Iraq “lis like a death sentence,” Martin Manna, an Iraqi-American Christian, told the Free Press.

ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls said in a statement Sunday that the arrests were routine.

“ICE regularly conducts targeted enforcement operations during which additional resources and personnel are dedicated to apprehending removable aliens,” he said. “The focus of these targeted operations is consistent with the routine, targeted arrests carried out by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Teams on a daily basis.

Last month, between 20 and 30 Chaldeans were detained, according to the report.

Photo by John Moore / Staff / Getty Images News / Getty Images