Nearly
30 Iraqi Chaldean Christians who fled ISIS are being held at the Otay Detention
Center.
ishtartv.com-
sandiegouniontribune.com
By Tatiana
Sanchez | 1:32 p.m. July 30, 2015
OTAY
MESA — Clutching rosaries, posters reading “Don’t jail Christians,” and
religious images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, members of San Diego’s Chaldean
community Thursday sought to call attention to the plight of 27 Iraqi
Christians being held at the Otay Detention Center.
The
group of about 30 demonstrators assembled for an hourlong prayer service
outside the detention center in support of the Christians, who were detained by
immigration authorities after they attempted to cross the U.S. border from
Mexico without documentation several months ago.
Iraqi
Christians, also known as Chaldeans, have been fleeing escalating persecution
in the Middle East at the hands of the Islamic State terrorist group for about
two years. The country’s Christian population has declined markedly since the
Iraq War began in 2003.
The
27 immigrants who were detained are in the custody of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement as their asylum cases proceed.
Family
members and activists say they’ve been given little details as to why they’ve
been detained for so long, despite being refugees from Middle East terror.
“We’re
asking for answers and we’re asking for an explanation,” said Mark Arabo, a
spokesman for the local Chaldean community and president of the Neighborhood
Market Association.
“These
aren’t people who just decided to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. These are
people saying, ‘we have nowhere else to go.’”
Arabo
said that with immigration processing completely shut down in Iraq, refugees
have no legal way of coming to the United States. Many of them flee to other
countries first and then make their way to Mexico to cross the border.
“There
is no other way,” Arabo said.
Lauren
Mack, spokeswoman for ICE, confirmed that there are 27 Iraqi nationals in ICE
custody at the facility but said she couldn’t comment on individual immigration
cases without the detainees’ written consent.
Mack
said that generally, once a credible fear claim is established — meaning a
person is afraid to return to his or her country for a specific reason — ICE
determines whether that individual will remain in custody or be put on parole.
The
time a detainee spends in custody is determined by a variety of factors, Mack
said. They include the person’s conviction record, immigration history, ties to
the community, risk of flight, and whether he or she poses a potential threat
to public safety.
Arabo
said that of the 27 Iraqi immigrants in custody, 20 have contacted his
organization for help. He said they have relatives in San Diego County who are
willing to be their sponsors, which typically allows asylum seekers to be
released as their cases proceed.
It’s
unclear why the detainees who have family members in the region remain in
custody.
The
story of the 27 Chaldeans is similar to the tens of thousands of Christians who
are fleeing Syria and Iraq in large numbers, fearing deadly persecution by the
Islamic State, in what some religious leaders are calling a genocide.
Islamic
State persecution has brought devastation to one of the oldest Christian
communities in the world. Refugees have fled to other countries, seeking safe
haven.
A
report by the Center for American Progress on the plight of Christians in the
Middle East found that some Christian communities in the region may eventually
die out.
“If
one of the most important religious groups in the world continues to be forced
out of the Middle East, this bodes negatively for pluralism, tolerance, and the
ability of the region’s people to live interlinked with the rest of the world,”
the report said.
East
County is home to tens of thousands of Chaldeans. Most came as refugees during
and after the Iraq War, drawn by the weather, and to follow early settlers.
Thursday’s
prayer service was led by local clergy members, in what organizers said was a
“last ditch plea” for the release of the men and women being detained. The
refugees survived the Islamic State only to land in a prison elsewhere, they
said.
Waheed
Butrus of El Cajon said he attended the event to call for the release of his
son-in-law and granddaughter, who have been detained for about six months.
Butrus,
61, said he’s unsure of why they’ve been held at the prison for so long. He
visits them on the weekends.
“I’m
very sad. I think about them every day,” he said through a translator. “It’s an
injustice.”
