A federal judge in Michigan on Thursday blocked the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians, according to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) press release.

The ACLU filed for a restraining order, which the judge granted. The 114 Christians, most of whom are from the Chaldean sect, say they risk death if they are forced to return to Iraq.

“The court took a life-saving action by blocking our clients from being immediately sent back to Iraq,” the ACLU said in a statement. “They should have a chance to show that their lives are in jeopardy if forced to return.”

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According to the ACLU, many of the 114 Iraqis have been living in the U.S. for decades. They were arrested in recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the greater Detroit area.

“We are thankful and relieved that our clients will not be immediately be sent to Iraq, where they face grave danger of persecution, torture or death," the ACLU statement continues. "It would be unconstitutional and unconscionable to deport these individuals without giving them an opportunity to demonstrate the harm that awaits them in Iraq."

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith halted the deportation for 14 days while he decides whether his court has jurisdiction to hear the case. ICE says that all of the detainees have criminal convictions.</s>A federal district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians who attorneys said would face death or persecution if returned to their birth country.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) arrested 114 Iraqis, mostly Chaldean Christians, during a series of raids this month in and around Detroit.

Those arrested had been subject to deportation orders and had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. But attorneys challenged whether it was fair to return this population to Iraq, where Islamic State and other jihadist groups have targeted Chaldeans and other Christian groups.

In a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the local Ice field office, attorneys said most of the 114 people had lived in the US for decades and “now face imminent removal to Iraq, and the very real probability of persecution, torture or death”.

Judge Mark Goldsmith said in an order on Thursday that those arrested would not be deported for at least two weeks. At the end of that period, he would make a new ruling.

The judge’s order applies to “all Iraqi nationals within the jurisdiction of the Detroit Ice field office with final orders of removal, who have been, or will be, arrested and detained by Ice, including those detained in Michigan and transferred outside of Michigan to other detention locations”.

Most of the people arrested were ordered removed several years ago because of criminal convictions or for overstaying their visas, but the government had released them under orders of supervision that required them to check-in regularly with Ice. They had not been prioritized for deportation under past presidential administrations.

The lawsuit described defendants who had built lives in the US, including Atheer Ali, 40, who entered the US as a child.

Ali, the father of a 12-year-old girl, has been subject of an order of removal since 2004. He had a felony conviction for breaking and entering in 1996 and two marijuana charges from 2009 and 2014, but had never been sentenced to prison.

“Mr Ali fears removal to Iraq, especially because his visible status as a Christian, he will be a target for violence and persecution,” the lawsuit said. “In addition, he shares the same name as his father, a former general in the Iraqi Army, and fears targeting as a member of his father’s family.”

Another petitioner was a Shiite Muslim, Sami Ismael Al-Issawi, who also feared persecution because of his religion. He has been subject to an order of removal since September 2013, though his wife and three children are all US citizens. He was convicted of aggravated assault in 1998, was given a sentence of less than a year, and has not reoffended, according to the lawsuit.

Attorneys are seeking for the removals to be blocked until those arrested have been provided with a process to determine whether they would be in danger when returned to their birth country.

“The decision to detain and deport these Iraqi Christians is unfathomable, unethical, and un-American,” said Mark Arabo, president of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation (MHF), which provides aid to Iraqi minorities. “This temporary stay is a sign of hope for our Iraqi Christian community that has been plagued by injustice at the hands of President Trump”.

Previously, Iraq did not provide travel documents to people the US was attempting to deport, but a new policy was negotiated in March after Trump issued a travel ban for seven Muslim-majority countries including Iraq.

That ban was struck down by a federal court and the revised ban, which does not include Iraq, is also subject to a legal challenge.

Raids also took place this month in Nashville, where members of the Iraqi Kurdish community said Ice agents went door-to-door questioning people after arresting people with removal orders.</s>DETROIT (AP) — Detroit judge temporarily halts deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians who fear torture if sent back .</s>A federal US judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of over 100 Iraqi Christians who might face death or persecution if returned to their birth country, media reports said.

Attorneys argued that the 114 Iraqis mostly Chaldean Christians, who were picked up during a series of raids in Detroit by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) would face persecution in their homeland if returned.

Judge Mark Goldsmith said in an order on Thursday that those arrested would not be deported for at least two weeks. At the end of that period, he would make a new ruling, the Guardian reported.

The judge’s order applied to ‘all Iraqi nationals within the jurisdiction of the Detroit Ice field office with final orders of removal, who have been, or will be, arrested and detained by Ice, including those detained in Michigan and transferred outside of Michigan to other detention locations’.

Those arrested were subject to deportation orders and had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.

But the attorneys challenged whether it was fair to return this population to Iraq, where Islamic State (IS) and other jihadist terror groups have targeted Chaldeans and other Christian groups.

In a class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the local Ice field office, attorneys said most of these people had lived in the US for decades.</s>A judge on Thursday temporarily halted the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians living in the Detroit area who fear torture and possible death if sent back to Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said in a written order that deportation is halted for 14 days while he decides if his court has jurisdiction to hear their plight.

The Justice Department had argued that the detainees, including many who were recently rounded up after decades in the U.S., must go to immigration court to try to remain in the U.S., not U.S. District Court. But the American Civil Liberties Union said they might be deported before an immigration judge can consider their requests to stay.

Goldsmith heard arguments Wednesday. He said he needs more time to consider complex legal issues.

Potential physical harm "far outweighs any conceivable interest the government might have in the immediate enforcement of the removal orders before this court can clarify whether it has jurisdiction to grant relief to petitioners on the merits of their claims," Goldsmith said.

Most of the 114 Iraqis are Chaldean Christians, but some are Shiite Muslims and converts to Christianity. They were arrested on or about June 11 and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said all have criminal convictions.

Iraq recently agreed to accept Iraqi nationals subject to removal from the U.S.

"The court took a life-saving action by blocking our clients from being immediately sent back to Iraq," Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, said in a release. "They should have a chance to show that their lives are in jeopardy if forced to return."

Besides the 114 arrested in the Detroit area, 85 other Iraqi nationals were arrested elsewhere in the country, according to ICE. As of April 17, there were 1,444 Iraqi nationals with final orders of removal from the U.S. Eight already have been returned to Iraq.

The detainees include Louis Akrawi, who served more than 20 years in Michigan prisons for second-degree murder. He was accused of arranging a shooting that killed an innocent bystander in 1993.

"He's 69 years old, he has two artificial knees, and he needs surgery on both eyes. Sending him back to Iraq is unfair," his son, Victor Akrawi, told The Detroit News.</s>DETROIT — A judge has temporarily halted the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians living in the Detroit area who fear torture and possible death if sent back to Iraq.

U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith Thursday halted their deportation for 14 days while he decides if his court has jurisdiction to hear their plight.

The Justice Department said the detainees must go to immigration court to try to remain in the U.S., not U.S. District Court.

Most of the 114 Iraqis are Chaldean Christians, but some are Shiite Muslims and converts to Christianity. They were arrested about June 11 and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said all have criminal convictions.

The American Civil Liberties Union says they fear torture or death in Iraq, which agreed to accept them.</s>MICHIGAN - A US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the deportation of about 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up in Michigan in recent weeks who argued that they could face persecution or torture in Iraq because they are religious minorities.

US District Judge Mark Goldsmith in Michigan issued an order staying the deportation of the Iraqis for at least two weeks as he decides whether he has jurisdiction over the matter. Goldsmith said it was unclear whether the Iraqis would ultimately succeed.

The arrests shocked the close-knit Iraqi community in Michigan. Six Michigan lawmakers in the US House of Representatives urged the government to hold off on the removals until Congress can be given assurances about the deportees' safety.

The Michigan arrests were part of a coordinated sweep in recent weeks by immigration authorities who detained about 199 Iraqi immigrants around the country.

They had final deportation orders and convictions for serious crimes.

The roundup followed Iraq's agreement to accept deportees as part of a deal that removed the country from President Donald Trump's revised temporary travel ban.

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.

A US Department of Justice spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.

Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union representing the Iraqis in Michigan, said: "The court's action today was legally correct and may very well have saved numerous people from abuse and possible death."

The US government has argued that the district court does not have jurisdiction over the case. Only immigration courts can decide deportation issues, which can then only be reviewed by an appeals court, it said.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said that people with convictions for murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, burglary and drugs and weapons charges were among the Iraqis arrested nationwide.

The ACLU argued that many of those affected in Michigan are Chaldean Catholics who are "widely recognized as targets of brutal persecution in Iraq."

Some Kurdish Iraqis were also picked up in Nashville, Tennessee. In a letter on Thursday, Tennessee Representative Jim Cooper, a Democrat, asked the Iraqi ambassador whether Iraq would be able to ensure safe passage for them if they were returned.</s>Lawyers for the detainees argue they could face persecution or torture in Iraq because they are religious minorities.

A US judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the deportation of about 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up in Michigan in recent weeks who argued that they could face persecution or torture in Iraq because they are religious minorities.

US District Judge Mark Goldsmith in Michigan issued an order staying the deportation of the Iraqis for at least two weeks as he decides whether he has jurisdiction over the matter. Goldsmith said it was unclear whether the Iraqis would ultimately succeed.

The arrests shocked the close-knit Iraqi community in Michigan. Six Michigan lawmakers in the US House of Representatives urged the government to hold off on the removals until congress can be given assurances about the deportees' safety.

The Michigan arrests were part of a coordinated sweep in recent weeks by immigration authorities who detained about 199 Iraqi immigrants around the country. They had final deportation orders and convictions for serious crimes.

READ MORE: What makes Trump's revised travel ban different?

The roundup followed Iraq's agreement to accept deportees as part of a deal that removed the country from US President Donald Trump's revised temporary travel ban.

Some of those affected came to the US 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.

A US Department of Justice spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.

Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union representing the Iraqis in Michigan, said: "The court's action today was legally correct and may very well have saved numerous people from abuse and possible death."

The US government has argued that the district court does not have jurisdiction over the case. Only immigration courts can decide deportation issues, which can then only be reviewed by an appeals court, it said.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said that people with convictions for murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, burglary, and drugs and weapons charges were among the Iraqis arrested nationwide.

The ACLU argued that many of those affected in Michigan are Chaldean Catholics who are "widely recognised as targets of brutal persecution in Iraq".

Shia Muslims and Christian converts were also detained in Detroit. Kurdish Iraqis were also picked up in Nashville, Tennessee, activists and family members told Al Jazeera.

OPINION: The Muslim ban and the ethnic cleansing of America

One of the petitioners, Moayad Barash, 47, was detained by immigration agents during a family beach outing in June. The Chaldean Christian served time for drugs and other offences while a teenager, but has become the breadwinner in a family of four children - all US citizens.

"We're hoping they release him and stop the deportation and bring the families back home, where they belong, before Father's Day," his daughter, Cynthia Barash, 18, told Al Jazeera earlier this month, referring to the June 18 celebration.

"We really want our best friend to come back home. We don't need our father or anybody else in the Chaldean Christian community to be sent back to Iraq to be tortured. If you look up what they do to people in Mosul, it's crazy."

Chaldeans are indigenous Iraqis linked to the Roman Catholic Church and mainly based in northern Iraq for centuries. They began migrating to the Detroit area in the 1920s. According to the Chaldean Community Foundation, an estimated 200,000 Chaldeans live in the US.</s>A federal court judge has temporarily halted the deportation of more than 100 Iraqi Christians living in the Detroit area who were detained in raids by federal agents. Many of them fear torture and possible death if sent back to Iraq.

US District Judge Mark Goldsmith said in a written order on Thursday that deportation is halted for two weeks as he determines whether the court has jurisdiction.

Judge Goldsmith agreed the Iraqis, many of them Christian, could face persecution in Iraq, and so they should be allowed to stay until the court can make a further ruling.

Attorneys for 114 Iraqi immigrants and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan cheered the judge’s decision, according to the Detroit News.

In a statement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it will comply with the order.

One of the attorney's Clarence Dass told RT lawyers have 14 days to file individual motions for all of their clients and get hearings in the interim.

The vast majority of the people rounded up in raids, Dass explained, left Iraq 20 or 30 years ago and lack fundamental documentation that would make them legitimate residents of Iraq, such as birth certificates and passports.

The ACLU of Michigan had filed a class-action lawsuit on June 15 to halt federal immigration officials from deporting more than 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up by federal agents. The ACLU argued it’s illegal to deport the detainees without giving them an opportunity to prove they could face torture or death if returned to Iraq.

The ACLU also filed a motion asking the court for a restraining order of the people held in custody until it’s determined whether they are entitled to protection.

Judge Goldsmith heard arguments on Wednesday. Goldsmith did not make a final determination on the lawsuit, which was filed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Goldsmith said that "the court is unsure whether it has subject-matter jurisdiction," according to Detroit News.

Dass told RT the court fight is likely to be the first to resolve the issue of jurisdiction as there doesn’t appear be legal precedent.

More than 114 Iraqis, many Chaldean Christians, were arrested by federal immigration officials in raids on June 11 in the Detroit metropolitan area.

The arrests sparked protests in Metro Detroit by supporters who say the Iraqis would face persecution in their homeland since many of them are Christians. Almost 200 Iraqi nationals with criminal records have been arrested recently nationwide by federal immigration agents.

ICE has defended the arrests, saying the Iraqis arrested all had criminal backgrounds and final orders of deportation from an immigration judge.

One of the questions is how deportation will work to a country that is embroiled in war, where towns like Mosul are occupied by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

“The biggest concern here is the vast majority of the Chaldeans, Syrians and Christians come from what is known as ISIS territory. The city of Mosul, which is the largest Christian village in Iraq, was the first raided by ISIS. Their Christian brethren have left these areas,” Dass told RT. “For them to return for sure will be to face discrimination, torture, if not the death penalty when they get there.”

Dass said a lot of these people wear their Christian faith on their bodies in the form of tattoos, with scriptures on their wrists, or crosses on their forearms. 



Dass said he had two clients that contacted him when the Trump administration first announced its immigration policy. That client base has ballooned to 23 since the raids.

Dass said he was surprised the Chaldeans were targeted as a week before Congress had passed a resolution recognizing there was a genocide underway against Chaldeans, the Syrian Christians, and Christians in Iraq.

“Just one week prior our federal government declared religious discrimination against this group,” Dass remarked. “A week later they round up the same group and are attempting to send them back to the same place where genocide is occurring, so it was very ironic.”

Chaldeans are an Iraqi indigenous community and speak Aramaic. The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church and uses the East Syrian rite.

The Chaldean Catholic community in Detroit dates back to the early 20th century. There are about 150,000 Chaldeans in the Detroit area, which is the largest Chaldean diaspora community living outside the Middle East, according to the Chaldean Community Foundation.</s>Protesters rally outside the federal court just before a hearing to consider a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Iraqi nationals facing deportation, in Detroit, June 21. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook A U.S. judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the deportation of about 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up in Michigan in recent weeks who argued that they could face persecution or torture in Iraq because they are religious minorities. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith in Michigan issued an order staying the deportation of the Iraqis for at least two weeks as he decides whether he has jurisdiction over the matter.

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A judge in Michigan halts the possible deportation of over 100 Chaldean Iraqi Christians.