Thread: Man set to be deported to Iraq doesn't even speak Arabic, family says

Man set to be deported to Iraq doesn't even speak Arabic, family says



Updated on June 19, 2017 at 2:55 PM Posted on June 17, 2017 at 8:00 AM

DETROIT - Hadeer Siba, who grew up in the U.S., according to relatives, was one of 114 Chaldean immigrants from Iraq facing deportation after widespread Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests that took place in Metro Detroit on June 11.

If he gets put on a plane to Baghdad, the 46-year-old from Sterling Heights, will find himself in a country so foreign to him that it might as well be Mars, family members said.

He can't speak Arabic, the primary language in Iraq, and his family also believes the Virgin Mary tattooed on his arm will get him murdered by Muslim extremist groups like ISIS that have been targeting Chaldeans in recent years.

"Seeing him arrested was terrifying," said Nora Issak, Siba's niece.

"He came here when he was 5 years old. He has no connections there. We don't know how we'll contact him. We don't even know how he'll get around."

Siba's story is not unique, with ICE ramping up efforts to reduce a backlog of immigrants who have been ordered removed, but remain in the U.S.


An undated photo of Hadeer Siba, a 46-year-old Sterling Heights man who was arrested by ICE on Sunday, June 11, 2017

The recent wave arrests was sparked by a March agreement with the Iraqi government in which the war-torn Middle Eastern nation agreed to take back Iraqi nationals subject to removal from the U.S., according to ICE.

Khalid Walls, a spokesperson for ICE's Detroit office, said agents are primarily targeting those with criminal convictions, which can effectively revoke a green card.

A criminal past

Siba is no angel.

He was scheduled to face trial on June 22 trial in Macomb County for intimidating a witness, according to circuit court records. Siba was accused in 2015 of threatening a woman who was a witness in an arson case.

Before that, Macomb County Circuit Court records show he pleaded guilty to a marijuana possession charge in August 2016, and pleaded no contest to a drug use charge in August 2014.

Family members acknowledged that he was also arrested in New Mexico on a drug charge 15 to 20 years ago. Court records show he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute in July 2002 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in New Mexico.

He also pleaded guilty in 2005 to a federal bank fraud charge related to the theft of checks from the U.S. Post Office and was ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution, court records show.

Most recently, Siba served a seven-month probation term that ended in April for lying to a law enforcement officer, according to state corrections records.

Correction: An earlier version of this story indicated Siba spent those seven months behind bars. He was in fact free on probation.

Siba's relatives argue that he's served his time for his nonviolent criminal history, and that even if he should spend more time behind bars, he doesn't deserve to be sent off to face violence in an unfamiliar country.

They also claim he waived his deportation hearing year ago, expecting to be protected by a previous U.S. policy of not sending Chaldeans back to Iraq because of the dangers they'd face.

"When immigration picked him up 10 years ago, he served his time in prison but they held him for 9 months instead the (stated) 3 months," Issak said.

"He was told that if he did not sign a waiver to be deported, he would not leave jail."

She said Siba signed the deportation waiver under advice that he had no reason to worry.

A federal immigration judge ordered Siba removed in October 2013, according to ICE.

"They told him that he would not be deported because Iraq was unsafe," Issak said. "He has always reported to his immigration officer on time (ever since)."

But in March, around the same time Iraq was removed from President Donald Trump's travel ban list, Iraq agreed to start taking back immigrants ordered removed from the U.S.

Seeking asylum, again

Now, multiple activist groups are turning to federal court to try and prevent the deportations.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday.

"Until recently, Petitioners were living peaceably in the community, reporting regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and complying with their other conditions of release," the ACLU argues in
the court complaint. "This changed suddenly on June 11, 2017, when, with no warning, ICE began arresting and detaining Petitioners on the grounds that Iraq has now agreed to take them back. ICE then transferred most of them to a detention center in Youngstown, Ohio, far from their families and their retained counsel... U.S. law prohibits the removal of individuals to countries where they would face a likelihood of persecution or torture."

And the group By Any Means Necessary was planning its own lawsuit aiming to label this round of deportations unconstitutional.

Shanta Driver, lead attorney for the group, said the group will seek an injunction to halt the new deportation policy in the same way a handful of federal judges struck down the president's travel ban.

"These are constitutional issues dealing with people's due process rights," she said.

"I think they should be given a fair trial and a hearing instead of being sent away with nothing."

She said previous protections promised to those arrested last weekend affected they way they defended themselves in legal proceedings.

"The people being picked up now relied on the contract they made years ago with ICE that said 'you're not going to be deported. Don't worry about bringing legal proceedings forward,'" Driver said.

"So these people did nothing. And now, they're facing deportation and we're in this mad rush to file their paperwork... ICE knows the people that they're picking up. There is no question about it. For 25 years, they have not sent people back to Iraq."

A sense of betrayal

For Doaa Ali Aldilaimi, the deportation of her father could mean them losing him for good.

Abidoon Aldilaimi is 68 years old, uses a breathing machine to treat sleep apnea and has a stent in his heart.

He can barely walk now, she said, but in his past, according to ICE, he served 15 years in prison for aggravated assault and was ordered removed from the U.S. in March 2006.



His daughter claims the assault occurred when he witnessed his son being jumped by a group of men and went after the attackers.

She fears that although he's long since served his time, he could die in jail, or on a flight to Iraq.

"He's an old man who is very sick," Doaa said.

"He has medical needs and usually has doctors and nurses come to him. What do they want from an old guy? An old guy isn't going to hurt anyone."

ICE argues that the arrests and deportation efforts are meant to protect Americans from criminal aliens.

"The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested," said Rebecca Adducci, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Detroit, in a statement.

"The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases. I applaud the efforts of the law enforcement personnel who, day in and day out, put their lives on the line to protect this community."

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...d_to_iraq.html

WE DON'T CARE!! Whoever brought him here when he was 5 (does anyone believe he's been here for 43 years illegally? Not sure I believe that) and didn't take him back home where he belongs is responsible, not US. Bye Bye!! There's lot of people in Iraq who speak English now.