Christian immigrants face deportation

Advocates for Chaldean Christians detained by federal immigration enforcement are in a race against time to halt their deportation back to war-torn Iraq. Beginning last Sunday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested dozens of Chaldean Christians in the Detroit metropolitan area, and most were quickly sent to detention at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Some were taken from their homes in front of their families, and others were reportedly arrested in public places like restaurants. An estimated 106 Iraqis have been arrested so far, Bishop Kalabat said, "the vast majority of them Chaldean Christian," though there are reportedly Muslims among the detained. The Knights of Columbus have written Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on the matter, and several members of Congress - Reps. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.), and John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) -- wrote Secretary Kelly as well.