Iraqi Christians Face 'Death Sentence' as Trump Prepares Mass Deportations

A large roundup of Iraqi Christians by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been met with widespread criticism toward President Donald Trump, who previously pledged to protect such communities from persecution in the Middle East.

Dozens of Iraqi Christians and other immigrants were seized over the weekend in a series of ICE raids, many of which took place in Michigan, a state known for its large Middle Eastern population. Those arrested face risk of deportation back to their home countries, some of which Trump had previously criticized as being hostile toward Christians.

Many of the detained are facing years-old charges and some having not committed any crimes in the past two or three decades, CNN reported. Activists such as Steve Oshana, an Assyrian-Christian who is executive director of A Demand for Action, a non-profit that assists at-risk religious and ethnic communities in the Middle East, have attacked Trump for allowing authorities to send Christians back to places like Iraq, where the U.S. has said a "genocide" against the faith was occurring.

"Someone like the president of the United States has to step in, he has promised in the past that he was going to protect our community, but the people that are being sent back now are being sent back as a direct deal between the United States and the Iraqi government to accept these people," Oshana, who claimed that some of those arrested had not committed any crimes at all, told Catholic news outlet EWTN Monday.

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