A federal judge in Detroit says he plans to sign a settlement in a case involving the detention and attempted deportation of around 1400 Iraqi nationals.
The Trump Administration arrested the Iraqis with old criminal convictions or immigration violations in 2017. Most were from Michigan.
The ACLU and other groups sued the government as a result. Now, attorneys say the settlement will ensure Iraqis cannot be detained indefinitely, and cannot be arrested and ordered deported because they seek to address their immigration status.
ACLU of Michigan attorney Miriam Aukerman said one of the most important aspects of the case was that each class-action plaintiff got a chance to have their case heard by an immigration judge.
“What this case did was give people the chance to have their individual cases heard by an immigration judge, to have their individual cases assessed,” Aukerman said.
The matter ended happily for the case’s chief plaintiff, Sam Hamama. He became a U.S. citizen.
“I got expunged, and I got pardoned by the governor and became a citizen in 2020. It was a beautiful day. I was reborn again,” Hamama said.
