02/02/2020

U.S. President Donald Trump pledges to back off from deportation of Iraqi Christians

WARREN, Michigan – At a rally in Warren, Michigan, U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to back off from Iraqi Christian deportations. The Trump Administration has sought to return refugees from multiple countries back to their places of origin since the beginning of Trump’s first term. He did not provide more details.

During the rally, Trump stated that his administration would provide an “extension” for Iraqi Chaldean Catholic immigrants. “We will make sure that we do everything we can to keep the people who have done good in this country away from harm. We will give those (of them) who need an extension to stay in our country,” Trump added.

Trump narrowly won Michigan during the 2016 presidential election. He is seeking a second term in November.

At the beginning of his presidency, Trump launched a massive campaign against immigration. During his first term, a number of Iraqi Christians in Detroit region, some of whom had lived in the U.S. for decades, were arrested and deported.

In the past, Immigration authorities abstained from deporting Iraqi immigrants because the government in Baghdad had refused to receive them. As part of an agreement, Iraq has agreed to accept the deportees in exchange for being removed from the Trump Administration’s travel ban list established in 2017.