Detroit ICE protesters rally for 5 men on verge of deportation to Iraq

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Roughly 30 people protested outside of the Immigration Enforcement and Removal Office in Detroit Friday.

They were rallying for the cause of five Iraqi men said to be on the verge of deportation. Supporters say they’ve been on a list to be removed from the country for a few years and say at least two of the men were detained Friday under questionable circumstances.

"One of them was there for a check in, the other one was here, he was told to come in to have his tether fixed," said Kate Stenvig.

Stenvig, from the Civil Rights group by Any Means Necessary, says the men and their families have been in the country for decades and their lives could be at risk in Iraq.

"The situation in Iraq has become worse, not better," Stenvig said. "More dangerous for anyone being deported from the US, not just Chaldeans, but Muslims too."

The Trump administration is in the middle of a nationwide Immigration Enforcement Operation - targeting people with final deportation orders.
 
A spokesman for ICE says a 2018 federal court decision lifted the legal barrier to removal of the five men, and the agency will continue making removal arrangements for others with deportation orders.

The group fears the men could be removed from the country in a matter of days.

"Most of the people that have been scheduled for flights out to Iraq have been put on Delta flights Sundays and Tuesdays," Stenvig said.

The group says a federal court granted at least two of the men temporary emergency stays. That gives them time to try to put up a legal fight against deportation, but not much of it.