“Chaldeans have been targeted by ISIS and subjected to genocide, as have other religious minorities,” said Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), who is herself Chaldean Catholic of Assyrian descent, in a statement. “Their deportation represents a death sentence should they be deported to Iraq or Syria.”
And now one year later…
My dad is Assyrian/Chaldean and when the news broke last year that Iraq was no longer on Trump’s Muslim ban list we quickly learned that Iraqi nationals were now subject to deportation. Previously there were protections in place, especially considering the violence, discrimination, & you know literal genocide experienced by Kurds, Chaldeans, & Assyrians if they were to be deported. The raids happened in Detroit - another obvious move. The Assyrian, Kurdish, Chaldean population there is huge because literally all of them come through Detroit when they come to the US and most just settle there. The raids targeted those who had PRIOR felonies - most were non-violent, many were from years/decades ago, and they had served out their punishments. THIS IS RETROACTIVE PUNISHMENT and, in Jimmy Aldaoud’s case, it was a retroactive death sentence.