Thread: Judge extends Iraqi deportation stay to July 24

Judge extends Iraqi deportation stay to July 24



By Jameson Cook, The Macomb Daily
POSTED: 07/06/17, 8:23 PM EDT |
UPDATED: 59 SECS AGO
# COMMENTS

A Detroit-based federal judge extended the stay of more than 200 Iraqi nationals slated for immediate removal by another 14 days, providing time for attorneys to argue and the judge to decide on whether his court should hear objections to the removals.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith issued an order Thursday evening that extends the stay to July 24 in case of about 220 Iraqi nationals, at least half in Michigan and Ohio, who have been detained for deportation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in recent weeks.

Goldsmith says attorneys from both the federal government and the Iraqi’s agree another stay is warranted due to the complex nature of the case.

He noted the issues in the case have not changed since attorneys for the Iraqi’s filed for a temporary restraining order late last month. He said in a prior ruling that the Iraqi’s lives could be in danger if they are unilaterally deported immediately.

“In light of the complexity of the issue involved and the time necessary to prepare an opinion -- along with the essentially unchanged facts relative to the equitable factors that were taken into account -- the court faces the same circumstance that were extant when the (stay was) entered,” he says in a three-page opinion.

Goldsmith also notes he has “other emergency matters” on his docket that “make it difficult to issue an opinion on jurisdiction.” He did not elaborate on the other matters.

The judge did not rule on the Iraqi’s attorneys’ request to expedite the legal briefing schedule on the legal merits of a preliminary injunction, which could extend the stay for months. It “will be addressed in a further order,” he says.

The stay also extends to a total of about 1,450 Iraqi nationals subject to removal orders, although about 220 have been detained.

The Iraqi’s contend that deporting them back to Iraq will place them in danger due to the persecution of Christians, nonconforming Muslims and any other non-Muslim by radical Muslims, notably the Islamic State.

The Iraqi’s attorneys want time so each detainee can seek to reopen his or her case in immigration court. To date, nearly 100 motions to reopen have been filed nationally.

Of the Iraqi nationals detained in recent months, including 114 in metro-Detroit, many in Macomb and Oakland counties, in a single-day sweep June 11. The additional 1,200 or more Iraqi nationals could be subject of detention at any time.

The detainees all have criminal convictions, some in recent years and some many years ago, and all have served their punishment.

The sweeps came after President Trump removed Iraq from the travel ban in exchange for Iraq to repatriate deported Iraqi’s.

http://www.macombdaily.com/governmen...tay-to-july-24

ICE Arrests Dozens For Deportation During Immigration Sweeps In Metro Detroit

I'm assuming most of these folks were already targeted for deportation but Iraq had refused to take them back.

The stay will expire this Monday evening at 11:59 p.m.

@ Ruling keeping Iraqi immigrants from deportation may expire

Load them up on military transport planes and send them back to Iraq!