U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith
U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith
A Detroit federal judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday to halt the deportation of Iraqi nationals with criminal convictions. The ruling gives them hope that they can appeal their fate before an immigration judge, and the U.S. Court of Appeals if necessary.
The ruling applies to about 1,400 Iraqi nationals around the country facing deportation. Of that number, more than 100 in Metro Detroit and about another 85 around the country have already been rounded up and are awaiting deportation. The government wants to deport them as quickly as possible.
U.S. Federal Judge Mark Goldsmith issued the 34-page ruling on the same day a temporary stay blocking deportation was set to expire.
The judge noted in his opinion that the Iraqis can legitimately argue before the immigration court that deportation would subject them to "the lawlessness and senseless religious hatred that engulfs much of Iraq (and) would subject them to persecution, torture, and possible death."
The ruling came as little surprise since the judge's previous rulings have noted that deportation poses great danger to the immigrants.
The judge went on to state:
"Without warning, over 1,400 Iraqi nationals discovered that their removal orders — many of which had lain dormant for several years — were now to be immediately enforced, following an agreement reached between the United States and Iraq to facilitate removal. This abrupt change triggered a feverish search for legal assistance to assert rights against the removal of persons confronting the grisly fate Petitioners face if deported to Iraq."
"That legal effort has, in turn, been significantly impeded by the Government’s successive transfers of many detainees across the country, separating them from their lawyers and the families and communities who can assist in those legal efforts."
The judge noted that more than 83 percent of those already detained have been subject to final orders of removal for at least five years, and more than 50 percent have been subject to deportation orders for a decade or more.
Iraq had recently agreed to accept the immigrants after the U.S. removed it from the list of nations subject to a U.S. travel ban.
