Court Opens Door to Deporting Iraqi Detainees
A U.S. appeals court has ruled a federal judge in Detroit did not have the legal power to stop Iraqis held in U.S. custody from being deported. The judge had said the detainees, many of them Christians, face violent persecution in Iraq.
An appeals court says a federal judge in Detroit did not have the authority to stop Iraqis held in U.S. custody from being deported.
The ruling means the government can soon begin sending some Iraqi detainees back to their native country.
About two years ago U.S. Immigration officials arrested roughly 1,400 Iraqis nationwide, including 114 in Metro Detroit, who had already been ordered to be deported.
But U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled circumstances had changed in Iraq and the detainees, many of them Christians, faced torture or death if deported. He said they deserved to make that case in immigration court and also ordered any detained six months or longer released.
But an appeals court panel ruled in December that Goldsmith over-stepped his legal bounds.
Now the full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld that ruling. That means some of the Iraqi detainees could be deported after April 9th.
Hundreds of the Iraqis have already been released.
Those still held in custody or who have not yet requested an immigration hearing could face deportation.
The Iraqi government has reportedly said it would not accept any of the detainees who did not want to willingly return there.
