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Lori Lutz, Detroit Jews for Justice, holds up a sign bearing a quote from Exodus at an anti-deportation protest on June 21
ahead of the ACLU lawsuit aimed to slow the deportation procedures of Iraqi Christians living in Metro Detroit.
Offering Support
W
hen news broke on June 11 of the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) roundup of 114 Iraqi
Christian immigrants with fears of deportation,
the phones at the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC
lit up. Executive Director David Kurzmann said his agency
received fearful calls from rabbis and other leaders in the
Jewish community asking what they could do to help.
“As soon as the arrests happened, we received dozens of
phone calls asking how to support our Chaldean neighbors,”
Kurzmann said during a phone interview and again reiter-
ated at a June 21 anti-deportation rally held outside the U.S.
District Court Clerk’s office in Detroit.
“As Jews, it is very distressing to hear about this,” he said.
“We recently commemorated the anniversary of the return
of the St. Louis to [Europe], where Jews seeking refuge in this
Jewish community
stands together
with Chaldeans
over deportation
issue.
STACY GITTLEMAN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER/
PHOTOGRAPHER
country were turned away and sent back to their deaths. The U.S. risks
repeating this same dark mistake. The Jewish community knows the
tragic consequences of shutting down pathways to safety for people in
harm’s way. We must not let this happen again. ‘Never Again’ is as appli-
cable today as it has ever been.”
On June 21, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith listened to a class-
action lawsuit filed by area attorneys and the American Civil Liberties
Union designed to postpone deportations to Iraq, where Christians
have faced brutal persecution, torture and death in recent years
because of the rise of ISIS. Goldsmith concluded the detainees would
not be deported to Iraq until at least June 28.
Inside and outside the courthouse, and in the days leading up to the
filing of the lawsuit, Jews and other ethnic minority groups reached
out to the Chaldeans with legal, moral and social support. But until the
deportation ruling is appealed or reversed with reopening of individual
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June 29 • 2017
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