The ICE officials have targeted several Iraqi nationals in Atlanta, Detroit and Nashville, arresting 199 Iraqi nationals all across the country in the recent weeks, prompting fears that they will be deported to their Middle Eastern homeland in order to dislodge the activities of Islamic State(ISIS).
Three Kurdish men from Iraq, who came as asylees, were arrested in Atlanta in this month, and also 114 Iraqi nationals have been detained in the Detroit area during the last weekend. Many of the detainees were Christians. The Iraqi Kurds and Christians, who were detained are the strong U.S. allies in a fight against the Islamic State.
This is the second enforcement operation, which is targeting the people from a Muslim-majority country in the period of three months. In the month of April, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested many Somalis in the parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett counties, including the Clarkston, a haven for the immigrants and refugees.
Citing the concerns about terrorism, President Donald Trump has unsuccessfully sought to temporarily ban the travelers from Iraq, Somalia and also five other Muslim-majority countries through a pair of executive orders in the recent months. But his order have been stalled in the federal courts under constitutional challenges. Trump administration has also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the order again.
An ICE spokesman has emphasized that his agency is not targeting the people for deportation o the basis of religion. He also said that, he would not disclose how many Iraqi nationals have been arrested so far, though he said that more details would be announced in the coming days. All those arrested have been committed serious crimes, including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, drug trafficking, robbery, sex assault and also weapons violations, according to the ICE.
“As a result of recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal. Each of these individuals received full and fair immigration proceedings, after which a federal immigration judge found them ineligible for any form of relief under U.S. law and ordered them removed,” ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said in a statement.
Cox said that, as of 17th April, there were 1,444 Iraqi nationals with standing deportation orders. Since the Trump administration has reached its agreement with the Iraqi government on 12th March, eight Iraqi nationals were deported to that country from the U.S.
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Mrudula Duddempudi.
