Support our Neighbors and Defer Deportation

Approximately one thousand Iraqi nationals -- including many Christians who would face persecution, torture, and death in Iraq -- are facing deportation.

H.R. 2537, the Deferred Removal for Iraqi Nationals Including Minorities Act, will provide relief to Iraqi nationals who have orders of removal. The bill would defer removal for 24 months for nationals of Iraq who have been ordered removed at any time prior to the bill’s enactment in order to have their cases heard before an immigration court.

Scripture reminds us of our care for all those who face oppression and injustice, and of our particular care for fellow Christians who are in danger: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:26-27).

Ask your Representative to support H.R. 2537 and allow time for the immigration cases of our Iraqi neighbors!

Read a Backgrounder or return to the Office of Social Justice website.

Contact your Member of Congress!

Subject:

Defer the Deportation of over 1,000 Iraqi nationals

Dear Official,

I write you on behalf of the over 1,000 Iraqi nationals who are at immediate risk of deportation, and give time to these Iraqi nationals reopen their immigration cases by supporting H.R. 2537, the Deferred Removal for Iraqi Nationals Including Minorities Act.

Deportation at this time would be a grave injustice.
The U.S. cannot deport people back to countries that will not receive them. There has been a severe lack of clarity and transparency about whether Iraq will receive these people.

Further complicating any repatriation efforts, many of these Iraqis have been in the U.S. for decades, some since early childhood. The Iraqi government could face difficulty determining where they should be sent. Some speak only English.
It is also U.S. law that we do not deport people to countries where they will face persecution. The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits the government from removing a non citizen to a country where that person’s life or freedom would be in danger because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The U.N. Convention Against Torture, to which the United States is a signatory, prohibits the return of a person to a country “where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
It is a longstanding value in the U.S. that people are given due process. This requires consideration on a case-by-case basis of each of these individual stories and circumstances, many of whom will qualify for humanitarian waivers. Approximately 1,000 Iraqis have not yet had the opportunity access the immigration court system, and without deferment of their deportations, they may never have that opportunity.

Many of these people are Chaldean Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities. If removed, they will face grave danger in Iraq, likely be subject to discrimination, violence, and possibly torture or death if deported. Christians in Iraq have been the target of genocide at the hands of the Islamic State. There are only about 250,000 Chaldean Christians left in Iraq, and most had to flee their homes in the north because of ISIS.   The historic Chaldean Catholic Church had been the largest Christian group in Iraq, which now ranks No. 7 on Open Doors’s list of countries most dangerous for Christians.

As a Christian, I believe compassion should be at the forefront of decision-making that could result in the unjust suffering of Iraqi nationals. I ask that you support H.R. 2537 because the values that I see in Scripture are those of protection of the vulnerable, hospitality toward the stranger, and justice toward those who are oppressed.

Regards, Your Name

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