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On Sunday, June 11, when some Iraqi Christians were on their way to church, Detroits Immigration and Customs Enforcement office arrested dozens. More were arrested on their way home from church. Torn from children and families, they were sent to various detention centers, most going to a facility in Youngstown, Ohio. They are now facing deportation to Iraq.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence promised earlier this year to prioritize protecting Christians from persecution in the Middle East. In a speech in May, Pence said that protecting religious freedom is a foreign-policy priority of the Trump administration and that the persecution of Christians around the world was of enormous importance. He also declared that the administration would be reaffirming Americas role as a beacon of hope and life and liberty and that America was and is and ever will be a shining city on a hill.

'Protecting Religious Freedom Is a Foreign-Policy Priority of the Trump Administration'

It was a sermon-like speech brimming with allusions to Christian scripture and with explicit vows to help followers of Christ. And yet, by rounding up these followers within that shining city, the Trump administration is now sending the very people it pledged to saveMiddle Eastern Christiansback into the hands of their persecutors.

Families and advocates fear this is a death sentence for loved ones because Christians are a minority group in Iraq and face likely persecution or torture there. On Monday, a federal judge ordered a nationwide temporary stay for the 199 detainees, who can legally fight their deportation for two more weeks.

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court partially reinstated Trumps travel ban. Iraq was originally one of seven Muslim-majority countries whose residents were banned from entering the United States, but after negotiating with the U.S., Iraq won an exemption. Unfortunately for Iraqi Christians, this victory appears to have come at their expense by prompting Iraq to take some of them back. 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, ICE said in a statement.

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, the field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Detroit. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases.

The weekends arrests sparked major protests in Detroit outside of the Federal Building and at Chaldean churches. The Chaldean Community Foundation has been preparing ways to halt or slow the process until conditions improve in Iraq, something CCF president Martin Manna says is highly unlikely.

This is of great concern for the community, Manna told me. It isnt your typical deportation scenariothis is a community with a [threat of] genocide [leveled] against them. Its been an ongoing persecution.

Some of the Iraqi Christians being detained are former refugees who have lived in the U.S. for many years. Other Iraqi Christians living in the U.S. are refugees who escaped from Iraq more recently, under threat of genocide and torture at the hands of ISIS. Both the Obama and Trump administrations declared the latter individuals victims of genocide. Metro Detroits Iraqi Christian population is the largest in the world outside of Iraq and is one of the hardest hit by ICE raids on the religious community.

Iraqi Christians are one of the oldest Christian communities in existence, with most belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Theyve long been subject to persecution as non-Muslims in Iraq. In 1987 there were more than 1.4 million Christians in Iraq (about six percent of the population). In August 2014, there were about 500,000 Christians, but only 300,000 remained following an ISIS cleansing. As of last year, the number fell to an estimated 250,000. Canon Andrew White, called the Vicar of Baghdad, said, The time has come where it is over, no Christians will be left.

Justin Hanna, a Michigan attorney representing Iraqi Christian detainees, said that sending these individuals back to Iraq violates the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and that emergency motions have been filed on their behalf to reopen their cases to prevent them from being deported. Motions have also been filed to stay their cases so theyre not deported in the meantime.

The Convention Against Torture its not optional, its mandatory that the U.S. does not send or deport an individual back to a country where there is likelihood that they will be tortured or persecuted, Hanna said.

The U.S. government argues that conditions have improved in Iraq and that there isnt likelihood of either torture or persecution. But Hanna insisted that even though ISIS has been losing territory in Iraq, conditions will still be dangerous for the detainees: Theres still likelihood that these people will be persecuted and tortured to the extent that theyre minority Christians and that theyll be seen as supporting Western governments and having been Westernized to the point where the people that live in Iraq would persecute them.

Many detainees came to the U.S. when they were young, and are well into their 50s and 60s now. In some cases, theyve lived in the U.S. for up to 50 years. A lot of these people dont speak the [Arabic] language anymore, or never did, said Hanna. Although Arabic is the majority language of Iraq, it is not a native tongue for some minority groups.

Take 57-year-old Laith Francis, for instance, who left Iraq with his family when he was just four years old. On June 11, he was taken from his home in Walled Lake, Michigan, by two ICE agents who said he was being brought in for routine questioning. Instead, they pulled over on the side of the road and handcuffed him. Francis now waits in the Youngstown detention center, where hes allowed two phone calls a day.

Laith was charged with possession in 1991, a crime for which he was convicted and served time. Lawyers and family members believe that his orders for deportation have been in place for years, as have orders for many of those currently being detained by ICE. The orders previously did not go through because it was deemed too unsafe to send individuals back to Iraq, but they are going through now that the Trump administration deems the country safe enough.

Our whole family is very hurt, said his sister Joanne Francis, who hasnt heard from her brother in several days. Everybody is praying that they let him out. This was unexpected.

Just two months ago, Laith had major surgery and is still recovering. His sister was taking care of him up until his arrest. Laith was the only member of their family who did not get U.S. citizenship, and Joanne fears for his future.

Laith has a cross tattoo on his arm and doesnt speak Arabic, she said. Iraq is the last place he should be. Hell be tortured and killed.

Like Laith, many other detaineesnotably those who came to the U.S. as children with their families and built their lives in Americadont have family, friends or contacts in Iraq. Without a sponsor or connection, they wouldnt be able to seek refuge in northern Iraq, and would instead get stuck in Baghdad, where theyd likely be persecuted, according to Hanna. The attorney added that the village where many of Detroits Iraqi Christians originate fromTel Keyf, also known as Tel Keppenow has zero inhabitants, due to ISIS activity.

One detainee Hannas firm represents has a niece with blood cancer. The detainee is her bone marrow donor. Shes already had two bone marrow transfusions and should she need another, theres no other match, Hanna told me.

This detainee was originally held in a facility in Monroe, close to Detroit, and was subsequently moved to Louisiana and then to Arizona. We dont understand why theyre moving him. Theyre claiming theres not enough space in Michigan, Hanna said. Detainees are being shuffled around. I could get on a plane and fly to Arizona tomorrow to have my client sign documents with the court, Hanna continued, but I could get there and he might not even be there and I wouldnt know.

Khaalid Walls, a spokesperson for the ICE Detroit Field Office, wrote in an email that an overwhelming majority of the 199 Iraqi nationals arrested nationwide had criminal convictions for crimes including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, and other offenses.

The statement from Walls noted that the agency focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security.

According to Hanna, however, roughly 85 percent of detainees committed nonviolent crimes. They are people who entered the country legally, but lost their legal status due to criminal activitysomething for which theyve already been punished.

These people have paid their dues to society through probation or jail time, he said. Theyve paid those consequences, and now theyre being criminalized again 10, 20, 30 years later after theyve been members of the community.

Continue reading here:
Which Christians Is Trump Willing to Protect? - The Atlantic

Northern Iraq

A doctor measures a baby at the MSF-supported primary healthcare centre in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul.

West Mosul MSF has started to provide life-saving trauma assistance for the war-wounded at a medical structure in the Old City of west Mosul, the final conflict area, where an estimated 60,000 residents remain.

Teams are carrying out surgery for war-wounded patients, performing emergency caesarean sections, and providing short-term post-operative care and maternity care. The facility in Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, is equipped with an emergency room and a mass casualty intake room for triage in case of an influx of wounded patients.

Emergency and Post Operative Care, Al Taheel At Al Taheel hospital, where MSF opened a 24/7 emergency room on 26 March, a surgical unit and 32-bed post-operative ward have been set up to provide medium-term care to patients in and around Mosul suffering from violent trauma injuries.

The emergency room has received more than 1,000 patients since it opened and more than 175 surgical interventions have been carried out.

Al-Khansaa Teaching Hospital, East Mosul MSF has just started supporting this Ministry of Health facility in the Al-Sukkar neighbourhood, which has suffered extensive damage during the conflict. The hospital currently has a 120-bed capacity to respond to the massive needs in Mosul. Mental health support is to be provided to all patients.

Maternal Health, Karama MSF opened a 15-bed maternity hospital in Karama, east Mosul on 19 March. The team, composed of international and Iraqi midwives and obstetricians, has assisted 376 births at the hospital, which is open 24/7.

Trauma care and primary healthcare, Hammam al-Alil Hammam al-Alil (known as HAA) is located 30 kilometres south of Mosul and is the closest camp for internally displaced people. The town has received a big influx of displaced people, with more arriving daily to be settled in different camps and with many in transit as they return to east Mosul.

MSF opened a field trauma hospital in HAA on 16 February. It is equipped with a 22-bed emergency room, two operating theatres, a seven-bed intensive care unit/recovery room and a 32-bed inpatient department. Between 19 February and 10 June, the emergency room received 3,144 patients, 56 per cent of whom were women and children. To date, the team has performed 305 major surgical procedures and 67 minor procedures. The majority of cases are emergency surgeries.

Since April 15, MSF has also supported the local department of healths primary healthcare centre in Hamman Al-Alil town. More than 18,000 consultations for the host population and the internally displaced were carried out by 10 June.

MSF has run an ambulatory therapeutic feeding centre for children suffering from acute malnutrition since June. The majority of patients come from two nearby camps for internationally displaced people. Psychosocial support is offered to the patients in the trauma centre and primary healthcare centre.

Post-operative and rehabilitation care, Al Hamdaniya At Al Hamdaniya hospital, MSF has provided post-operative care with rehabilitation and psychosocial support in collaboration with Handicap International since 15 March. Of the 255 patients admitted to date, nearly half have been women and children, and the 43-bed facility is almost constantly full. A room for advanced dressings, where minor surgical procedures can be performed, is expected to open in the next few days.

A child is tested for malnutrition in the triage tent of the MSF-supported primary healthcare centre in Hammam al-Alil.

By 1 June, the team had treated 7,100 patients in the emergency room, around 10 per cent of whom were admitted to the inpatient department. A total of 1,350 surgical interventions were performed between December and 1 June. A four-bed intermediate care unit, opened in mid-April to provide care to patients in critical condition, has been equipped with seven observational beds and two resuscitation beds.

MSF set up a 12-bed intensive therapeutic feeding centre in March to provide care to children recently displaced from west Mosul or Shirqat Region, as well as those from camps for displaced people in Hammam al-Alil and Qayyarah. In May, 178 patients were admitted, including 91 infants under six months old. The centre works regularly over capacity, with as many as three babies per bed. Since February, MSF has run a mental health clinic for patients in the hospital and those referred from Qayyarah camps. The team consists of a psychiatrist, two psychologists and two psychosocial counsellors.

Camps for internally displaced people The population of four camps for displaced people from Mosul sharply increased to 80,000 by the end of March following the mid-February offensive in west Mosul. Some 10,000 people have since left the camps to stay with relatives or rent houses in retaken areas of east Mosul.

In Chamakor and M2 camps, MSF mobile teams are offering treatment for chronic diseases (mainly diabetes and hypertension).

An MSF team is providing psychological and psychiatric consultations, group therapy, psychosocial counselling and child therapy to people suffering from moderate to severe mental health conditions.

Since the beginning of 2017, MSF teams providing mental healthcare in 13 sites have carried out more than 19,400 medical consultations and 12,200 mental health consultations in the camps near Mosul.

MSF teams are also working in Kirkuk, Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah, Salah Al-Din, Diyala, Al-Anbar, Baghdad and Babylon governorates.

Kirkuk governorate Teams are providing medical and mental health services to people displaced from Hawija. MSF runs a non-communicable diseases clinic and mental health activities, including referrals for psychiatric care in Daquq camp for displaced people. At Maktab Khalid entry point and Debes screening site, MSFs medical and humanitarian presence through the provision of mobile clinics ensures that the people with the greatest health needs fleeing Hawija receive timely treatment. MSF also supports the emergency rooms of the two main Kirkuk hospitals with training for Department of Health doctors and nurses in emergency room-related skills, donations of crash carts, and trauma room reorganisation.

Zummar Staff at the MSF-run maternity clinic in the village of Tal Maraq have assisted more than 500 safe deliveries since the start of the project in November 2016. The clinic offers pre- and post-natal consultations, basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care, manages minor obstetric complications, and refers patients with more serious obstetric complications to hospitals in Zakho and Dohuk. Since February, the clinic has a small paediatric ward.

MSF teams run mobile clinics in surrounding villages offering general healthcare and mental health consultations, as well as follow up and treatment for patients with non-communicable diseases.

Dohuk governorate In the Domiz refugee camp for Syrian refugees, MSF is running a maternity unit where women can deliver their babies safely and access reproductive healthcare. Since January 2016, MSF teams have assisted more than 1,000 births.

Sulaymaniyah Governorate MSF works with the health authorities in Sulaymaniyah emergency hospital and provides hands-on training to improve the quality of medical services in the intensive care unit and emergency trauma ward. The rehabilitation of the emergency room and intensive care unit wards has improved layouts and patient flows. Since the start of the project, staff have seen more than 200,000 patients in the emergency room and over 500 in the intensive care unit.

MSF has worked in camps for internally displaced people in the governorate since 2015, conducting health promotion activities and providing psychological and psychosocial care.

Salah Al-Din governorate As military operations expand in northwestern Iraq, thousands of Iraqis continue to flock to relatively safer areas. Since June 2016, MSFs mobile clinics have offered outpatient and mental health consultations in the city of Tikrit and the surrounding areas. In January 2017 MSF established a primary healthcare centre in one of the camps.

Diyala governorate Since May 2016, approximately 100,000 displaced people have returned to the towns of Sadiya and Jalawla, which were retaken from the Islamic State group. MSF supports the primary healthcare clinics in Sadiya and Jalawla, focusing on chronic diseases, sexual and reproductive health, maternity, mental health and health promotion services for displaced people, returnees and the host community.

MSFs field trauma hospital in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul.

Baghdad Governorate MSF teams in Abu Ghraib provide medical and mental health services to people displaced from central Iraq. A mobile medical team operates in impoverished neighbourhoods in the Abu Ghraib district, where many displaced people have settled in the past two years. A second team, based in a primary healthcare clinic in the Al Shuhada II area, is assessing the needs of thousands of people who were displaced and are now returning to their homes in villages in northern Abu Ghraib and Karma district in Anbar. In 2017, MSF has so far provided over 12,700 consultations, more than 2,300 consultations for non-communicable diseases and over 450 mental health consultations.

Babylon Governorate Since spring 2017, MSF has been fully supporting the 60-bed Ibn Saif Paediatric Hospital in Musayib. The team will concentrate on capacity-building, training and logistics support. Psychosocial services are to be supported at the hospital and within the community.

Read more from the original source:
Iraq: crisis update 29 June 2017 | Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF ... - Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) International

After 18 months covering the battle against Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, Emilienne Malfatto felt compelled to show a less-violent side of the war-torn nation. And she found one in Chibayish, a small district in the Mesopotamian marshes.

When you say Iraq, people just think war: the two wars in Baghdad or bombings, Ms. Malfatto said. But you also have this beautiful place with beautiful people. Its like another face of Iraq.

The marshlands, comprising a nearly 8,000-square-mile area, are at the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Their denizens, the Madan also known as the Marsh Arabs live free from threats posed elsewhere by ISIS and militias.

She had first journeyed to Chibayish in late 2016, going alone to develop rapport and trust with members of the community. She benefited both from her command of the language and by being female. Women were quick to embrace and engage her, Ms. Malfatto said, explaining that a male stranger would not elicit that same quick trust or openness.

People were really willing to open up, said Ms. Malfatto, who extolled the Madans remarkable hospitality. She forged strong bonds with several families who offered shelter in their reed houses, provided food and arranged boat rides into the marshes, which she described as having a mythical quality. She also made sure to be respectful of their conservative customs.

I am absolutely not a religious person, and I am quite fascinated by faith as an object of study, she said. In particular, she was struck by the levity that accompanied daily prayer, and by the way such worship was integrated into everyday moments. She hopes her portrayal of Muslims will be a counterbalance to the current stigmatization of Islam in political debate and the media.

The families gave Ms. Malfatto intimate access to everyday life in the marshes, including a family eating a breakfast of fresh buffalo milk, sugary tea and homemade bread; boat drivers piloting along murky waters; and portraits of Madan women with well-worn faces and hands.

The last few decades have brought changes to the Iraqi marshlands. Once, they had been a tourist destination, home to a variety of wildlife. But in the 1990s, Saddam Hussein drained the marshlands in an attempt to flush out Shiite rebels who had fled there after the Persian Gulf war of 1991.

After U.S. forces toppled Husseins regime in 2003, the Madan returned to the marshes, destroying the dams and dikes that had been constructed. Water again flowed through the area, once more allowing vegetation and livestock to thrive.

However, threats to the marshlands remain, a result of climate change and dam construction on the rivers. Rising temperatures have led to large amounts of water evaporation. Construction of newer dams upriver in Turkey, where the headwaters of the Tigris and the Euphrates are located, has also reduced the rivers flow.

Twice in the last 10 years in 2008 and in 2015 those conditions led to the marshes nearly vanishing. Its likely they will dry up yet again, perhaps this time for good. And though Iraq is still grappling with ISIS and war recovery, Ms. Malfatto hopes that the threat to the Madan and their livelihood will not go ignored.

Iraq has other problems, she said. Maybe they think they have more important stuff to deal with. On the other hand, they cannot let this part of the country die.

Follow @emalfatto and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.

See the rest here:
In the Marshlands, 'Another Face of Iraq' - New York Times (blog)

Trudeau said: Its also something to be understood as being entirely consistent with what Canada is expected to be doing as part of the coalition against Daesh. Photograph: Canadian Press`/Rex/Shutterstock

A record-shattering lethal shot fired by a Canadian sniper in Iraq has reignited a longstanding debate over Canadas role in the region, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telling reporters it was entirely consistent with the countrys non-combat mission and should be celebrated.

Last week, the defence department confirmed reports that a Canadian sniper had shot an Isis militant from 3,540 metres (2 miles) away. The shot surpassed the previous world military record for the longest confirmed kill held by a British sniper who took aim at a Taliban fighter in 2009 by more than a kilometre.

Officials said the sniper was a member of the Canadian militarys elite counter-terrorism unit. The shot was fired last month after Canadian snipers noticed that Isis fighters were poised to ambush Iraqi security forces, according to the Globe and Mail.

The news rekindled a long running debate based on a 2015 campaign promise by the Liberals, led by Trudeau, to end Canadas combat mission in Iraq.

Months after sweeping into power, they said they were doing just that; pulling Canadas six fighter jets out of the US-led coalition against Islamic State and instead putting roughly 200 special forces troops on the ground to support Kurdish forces in Iraq.

But questions as to what exactly this support entails have continued to plague the Liberals, particularly after Gen Jonathan Vance, Canadas chief of defence staff, told a parliamentary committee in November that Canadian troops have been allowed to fire first against Isis militants. We dont have to be shot at first, he said. We can take the first shot if it is to save lives.

The recent news of the sniper casts further doubt on the governments assertion, said Tom Mulcair, leader of the New Democratic party, last week. Has your definition of combat changed since forming government? Mulcair asked in a letter to Trudeau, adding: Canadians deserve no less than to know the true extent of our involvement in Iraq.

Reporters put those concerns to Trudeau on Tuesday. The prime minister began by addressing the kill shot. What happened there is, first of all, something to be celebrated for the excellence of the Canadian forces in their training, in the performance of their duties, he said. But its also something to be understood as being entirely consistent with what Canada is expected and Canadians expect our forces to be doing as part of the coalition against Daesh.

The sniper had been defending Iraqi and Kurdish forces when he took the shot, said Trudeau. The advise-and-assist mission that our forces are engaged in in northern Iraq has always had an element of defence of, obviously, Canadian troops and of our coalition partners.

Mulcair said he remained unconvinced. You cant have people shooting people to death on the frontlines and still claim this is not a combat mission, he told the Globe and Mail.

He said he was surprised to hear the prime ministers view on the sniper. It is certainly not part of my values to say that we should be celebrating the death of a human being, no matter what the circumstances.

The renewed debate comes just days before the mandate guiding Canadas mission to Iraq is set to expire. The Liberal government is expected to announce either an extension or changes to the mission shortly.

Originally posted here:
Sniper's record kill shot in Iraq 'should be celebrated', Trudeau says - The Guardian

WARREN, Mich. (WXYZ) - A Warren woman is in the fight of her life because every day could be her last.

Thirty-eight-year-old Mirvet Bahoura is battling a rare auto-immune disease, which requires daily medication - and a bone marrow transplant at any given moment.

In something most, would call a miracle, Mirvet found a match in her 55-year-old uncle, Ghassan Kassab.

He's already saved her life, not once but twice.

But on June 11th, a routine visit to ice, turned into a nightmare, which could be a matter of life and death for them both.

Kassab was detained because of his past criminal record and is now being held behind bars in Arizona, with the threat of being deported back to Iraq.

So now, her uncle -- her donor and lifesaver is gone.

"He's not here to provide and then I have to be put on a waiting list and that can take years and years and especially like with Mediterranean, Middle Eastern it's hard to find a match like that," says Mirvet Bahoura, tearfully.

Kassab did have a drug conviction two decades ago, and a DUI conviction almost 10 years ago.

According to a court of law, he has paid his debt to society.

Kassab has been in this country since he was 6-years-old and does not want to return to Iraq.

Mervit and her family have been working with CODE Legal Aid. They have helped them to secure legal counsel, with hope of bringing their case before the immigration court and bring her uncle back home.

See the article here:
Man facing deportation to Iraq is only available donor for his ill niece - WXYZ