14 July 25 • 2019
jn

and ’
90s, in general. With the beginning 
of the Trump administration, ICE began 
sweeping these people up for deportation 
to Iraq.” 
In spring 2017, the Trump administra-
tion pressured Iraq to accept about 1,400 
deportees in exchange for dropping Iraq 
from the list of nations under a travel ban. 
According to Levin, “The Iraqi nationals 
with standing deportation orders come 
from all Iraqi communities: Sunni, Shia, 
Yazidi and Chaldean,” in addition to mem-
bers of smaller Christian groups. In the 
Detroit area, most belong to the Chaldean 
Catholic community.
Levin observes: “Many of these people 
do not speak Arabic; many have no family 
in Iraq or no community in Iraq. Yazidis 
and Chaldeans may come from villages 
that no longer exist.”
In summary, he says: “I have not found 
a single person who can explain why it is 
in the national interest of the United States 
to kick these people out.”

NO GOOD NEWS TO REPORT
Levin recounts the circumstances of “a 
man deported to Iraq who had literally 
never been there. He was born in a 
refugee camp in Greece to Iraqi parents, 
so technically he was an Iraqi national. 
He has multiple problems: diabetes, 
bipolar disorder, drug addiction. Maybe 
he isn’
t the most appealing person: He 
has problems. He was deported literally 
without being given a chance to make 
a phone call or pack a suitcase. He 
showed up in Iraq without any money 
and without papers showing his right to 
be there. He had to borrow a cell phone 
from another passenger in the airport to 
call his family in the States to let them 
know where he was.” 

He is not the only one. Margo 
Schlanger, professor at the University of 
Michigan Law School, says, “There are a 
couple deportations to Iraq most weeks 
at this point. We continue to try to help 
individuals facing imminent deportation. 
For many of these folks, there are no legal 
maneuvers left. But others are successful-
ly getting stays of removal. 
“For most of the Iraqis who might 
be deported at some point, it remains 
available to try to reopen their cases and 
keep fighting. We’
re continuing to try to 
facilitate that and to keep people out of 
detention while they fight.” 
A member of the Chaldean community, 
attorney Nora Y. Hanna, says, “I wish we 
had good news to report but that is not 
the case. Everyone, at this point, is fight-
ing individual cases in immigration court.” 
Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney 
with the ACLU of Michigan, advises immi-
gration attorneys how to protect targeted 
clients. “Given that we no longer have a 
stay of removal, we wanted to share infor-
mation about how to explore immigration 
relief options in Canada,” she says. 
Levin has been pressuring the exec-
utive branch to reconsider its policy and 
has introduced bipartisan legislation to 
protect these immigrants. 
“I chose to lead in this effort for two 
reasons: I represent the Ninth District of 
Michigan, which has the largest Iraqi-born 
population of any district in America. I am 
simply representing my constituents. And 
this is a basic human rights issue. Human 
beings are entitled to seek asylum. We 
need to ‘
love the stranger as yourself’
 
(Leviticus 19:34). We need to see each 
person as worthy of dignity and respect. 
It is part of a larger web of commitments 
[as Americans and as Jews].” ■

Signs referencing the Holocaust were prevalent at the anti-ICE protest on July 12.

LOUIS FINKELMAN

jews d
in 
the

continued from page 13

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