Review Denied In Deportation of Iraqi Christian

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in Shabo v. Barr, (Docket No. 18-827, certiorari denied 5/20/2019). (Order List).  In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant relief under the Convention Against Torture to an Iraqi in the United States who was being deported after serving 5 years in prison for a drug conviction.  Appellant claimed that as a Chaldean Christian he would be subject to torture if he returned to Iraq. National Law Journal reports on the case.

Court Orders Release of Iraqi Chaldean Detainees

A Michigan federal district court yesterday, in the latest installment in a case filed last year, ordered the release from federal detention of hundreds of Iraqi deportees who have been issued final removal orders, but whom the government has been unable to repatriate. Most of the detainees, according to the court, "are Chaldean Christians who would face persecution, torture, and possibly death if returned to Iraq." In Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, Nov. 20, 2018), the court said in part:

The law is clear that the Federal Government cannot indefinitely detain foreign nationals while it seeks to repatriate them, when there is no significant likelihood of repatriation in the reasonably foreseeable future. This principle emanates from our Constitution’s core value of rejecting arbitrary restraints on individual liberty.

The issue the Court now resolves is whether there is such a likelihood of repatriation for scores of Iraqi nationals whom the Government has detained for an extended period—many for well over a year—while it engages in a diplomatic dialogue with Iraq that has yet to produce any clear agreement on repatriation. In fact, the weight of the evidence actually uncovered during discovery shows that Iraq will not take back individuals who will not voluntarily agree to return. This means that the Iraqi detainees could remain locked up indefinitely—many in local jails.... [T]he Government has acted ignobly in this case, by failing to comply with court orders, submitting demonstrably false declarations of Government officials, and otherwise violating its litigation obligations—all of which impels this Court to impose sanctions.

As explained fully below, the Court will grant a preliminary injunction, as requested by Petitioners in this case, ordering that those detained more than six months be released under orders of supervision.

ACLU issued a press release announcing the decision.

Judge Orders ICE To Stop Pressuring Iraqi Religious Minorities To Agree To Deportation

Last year, in exchange for Iraq being removed from President Trump's travel ban Executive Order, Iraq agreed to take back its nationals who are subject to deportation orders in the U.S.  Many of these are Chaldean Christians and members of other minority religious groups in Iraq who say they fear persecution or torture if they are returned. (See prior related posting.)  As reported by Bloomberg, a Michigan federal district court yesterday issued an order preventing ICE agents from pressuring these Iraqis to agree that they wish to be returned.  Iraq will take them back only if they sign such an agreement. Yesterday's Order (full text) in Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, June 20, 2018), also requires posting of notices in detention facilities holding these Iraqis informing them that they will not be penalized if they refuse to state they wish to be removed from the U.S.

6th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Challenge To Deportation of Iraqi Chaldeans

Yesterday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals hear oral arguments (audio of full arguments) in Hamama v. Adducci. In the case, a Michigan federal district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing Iraqi nationals (many of whom are Chaldean Christians) subject to long-standing deportation orders from being removed from the United States while they attempt to convince immigration courts that their return will subject them to persecution, torture and possible death.  Subsequently the court also ordered bond hearings for those detained 6 months or longer. The appeals largely raise issues of whether federal district courts have jurisdiction to grant relief here, or whether plaintiffs should have pursued the matter through administrative immigration courts.  AP reports on the 6th Circuit oral arguments

Bond Hearings Ordered For Detained Iraqi Immigrants

As previously reported, in July a Michigan federal district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing Iraqi nationals who are subject to long-standing deportation orders from being removed from the United States while they attempt to convince immigration courts that their return will subject them to persecution, torture and possible death.  Those affected are mostly Chaldean Christians, but some are Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Muslims.  Nevertheless, immigration officials began to arrest and detain some 300 of these Iraqis. 274 remain in custody.  Yesterday in  Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, Jan. 2, 2018), the same judge ordered bond hearings for those who have been detained for 6 months or more. Summarizing its more detailed holding, the court said:

Our legal tradition rejects warehousing human beings while their legal rights are being determined, without an opportunity to persuade a judge that the norm of monitored freedom should be followed.  This principle is familiar to all in the context of the criminal law, where even a heinous criminal — whether a citizen or not — enjoys the right to seek pre-trial release.  In the civil context of our case, this principle applies with at least equal force.  In either context, the principle illustrates our Nation’s historic commitment to individual human dignity — a core value that the Constitution protects by preserving liberty through the due process of law.

The court also granted in part plaintiffs' motions for nationwide class certification.  Detroit News reports on the decision.

Court Bars Removal of Iraqi Christians and Shiites Until They Get Judicial Hearing

In Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, July 11, 2017), a Michigan federal district court issued an injunction barring the enforcement of removal orders against 1,444 Iraqis-- mostly Chaldean, but also other Christians and Shiite Muslims-- until they are given a judicial hearing on their claims that they are entitled to relief from removal because of their status as persecuted religious minorities in Iraq. The injunction extends a temporary suspension of their removal granted by the court last month. (See prior posting.)

While a federal statute-- 8 USC Sec. 1252(g)-- removes federal district court jurisdiction to hear any claim on behalf of an alien arising from action by the Attorney General to execute a removal order against the alien, the court held that enforcing that provision here would be an unconstitutional suspension of the right to habeas corpus. The court said in part:

The mechanism provided by the REAL ID Act for judicial review of removal orders — filing motions to reopen proceedings in immigration courts and subsequent review in the courts of appeals — does not take into account the compelling confluence of grave, real-world circumstances present in our case. This makes relegation to the immigration courts, without a stay from this court in place, an alternative that is neither adequate nor effective.

Without a stay in place, deportations will begin immediately, which may mean a death sentence for some deportees.... Beginning in August 2014, ISIS began carrying out large-scale killings.... Religious minorities were particularly vulnerable to these atrocities, with Christians being given the horrific choice to “pay a protection tax, convert to Islam, or be killed.”... 

While death is certainly the most egregious outcome deportees face, other persecution would also compromise their ability to pursue their removal challenges from foreign shores.... ISIS routinely commits arbitrary executions, torture, and sexual enslavement against religious minorities and those affiliated with the United States....

Detroit Free Press reports on the decision.

Court Temporarily Halts Deportation of 100 Iraqi Chaldeans and Minority Muslims

A Michigan federal district court yesterday issued a 14-day stay of the immediate deportation of over 100 Iraqi nationals who were arrested in immigration raids earlier this month.  Many of those arrested were Chaldeans. (See prior posting.)  In Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, June 22, 2017), the court described the claims raised:

Petitioners state that because of their having resided in the United States and their status as religious minorities – many are Christian, others are members of oppressed Muslim sects – they are likely to be persecuted, tortured, or killed by members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the de facto government in many parts of Iraq. 

The government argues that the district court lacks jurisdiction because of the provisions in 8 USC 1252(g).  The court concluded however:

In light of these complex jurisdictional issues, and the speed with which the Government is moving to remove Petitioners, it is necessary to stay Petitioners’ removal pending the Court’s determination regarding its jurisdiction. 

The ACLU issued a press release announcing the court's decision.

UPDATE: In a June 26 opinion, the court expanded its order to cove all Iraqi nationals in the United States subject to final orders of removal, and extended the temporary order to July 10.

ICE Roundup of Chaldean Christians Leads To Lawsuit

Last week ACLU of Michigan sued to stop the deportation of 114 Iraqi nationals, many of whom are Chaldean Christians, who were arrested in immigration raids in metropolitan Detroit. Some of the Iraqis arrested were Shiite Muslims and converts to Christianity, while raids in other states arrested Kurdish and Yezidi Iraqis. According to the complaint (full text) in Hamama v. Adducci, (ED MI, filed 6/15/2017):

U.S. law prohibits the removal of individuals to countries where they would face a likelihood of persecution or torture. Yet despite the clear danger that many of these individuals face in Iraq, ICE is attempting to deport them based on outstanding removal orders that do not take account of intervening changed circumstances which should entitle them to protection. For example, many of the Petitioners are Chaldean Christians, who are widely recognized as targets of brutal persecution in Iraq.... Nonetheless, Chaldeans whose order of removal was entered years ago are now facing removal to Iraq as if nothing has changed, and without any inquiry into the dangers they would currently face.

ACLU in a press release  announcing the filing of the lawsuit says:

The arrests come in the wake of a recent deal between Iraq and the US that removes Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority nations whose citizens could be prohibited from coming to the US under an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump. In exchange for removal from that list, Iraq has agreed to accept Iraqi nationals sent back to the country by US immigration officials, a sudden reversal of a long-standing policy against repatriation.

As reported yesterday by the Washington Post, evangelist Franklin Graham last week urged the President to look further into the issue in light of Trump's promise earlier this year that he would give priority to persecuted Christians.