DETROIT _ Federal immigration officials said Monday that the Iraqi immigrants detained Sunday in metro Detroit have criminal backgrounds and are to be removed under a deal struck with the Iraqi government.
"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," said Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for the Michigan office of ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"As part of ICE's efforts to process the backlog of these individuals, the agency recently arrested a number of Iraqi nationals, all of whom had criminal convictions for crimes including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, drug trafficking, robbery, sex assault, weapons violations and other offenses."
Local Iraqi-American Christian leaders have criticized Sunday's deportation raids as overzealous.
But Walls said: "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."
Walls did not say how many Iraqis were detained Sunday. Attorneys representing some of the men detained gave estimates ranging from 90 to more than 300. They were taken to a detention facility in Youngstown, Ohio.
Late Sunday night, a crowd of Iraqi-Americans gathered outside the Detroit office of ICE attempting to block buses transporting the detainees to the Ohio detention facility. Videos posted to social media show them chanting "Let our people out" as they appear to stand in front of a bus.
Attorneys said the Iraqis who were arrested came to the U.S. legally, but after they committed crimes, were subject to be deported. However, such cases were not seen as priorities before Donald Trump became president, said Southfield attorney Clarence Dass, who represents ten of the Iraqis arrested.
Dass said one of his clients is a 41-year-old man who had a conviction for marijuana, but was a legal immigrant who came to the U.S. in the 1980s.
A majority of those detained were Christian, said attorneys.
Iraqi-American Christian advocates and defense attorneys say that the raids were cruel since Christians are currently being persecuted in Iraq, where they are a minority.
"We're sending them to die," said Warren attorney Eman Jajonie-Daman, who is representing 25 of the Iraqis detained. "How do you justify that? It's an egregious violation of human rights."
Jajonie-Daman said that 307 were detained on Sunday in raids involving many ICE agents.
Walls said: "ICE does not target individuals based on religion, ethnicity, gender or race. ICE's enforcement actions target individuals who are subject to immigration enforcement.
"These efforts are targeted and lead driven. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately."
