DETROIT (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to stop the government from deporting more than 100 Iraqi nationals rounded up in raids last weekend.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Detroit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeks a temporary stay of any deportations, which the ACLU fears could begin Friday.
The ACLU says most of the 114 Iraqis arrested in Michigan are Chaldean Christians but that there are also some Shiite Muslims and Christian converts. It says they all fear violent retribution, if deported.
ICE has said that all of those arrested had criminal convictions, including for murder, rape and drug trafficking, and were ordered deported by an immigration judge after “full and fair” proceedings.
An ICE spokesman says the agency doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
