Friends and family members of the Iraqi-Americans who are facing possible deportation gathered in Detroit to protest.
Last weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounded up a large number of people who came to the U.S. legally. Most of them have criminal records but have already paid their debt.
"It's been so unnerving and knowing there are hunderds of other people who have been affected, I'm sorry. I'm with you." Britanny Hamama
Nahrain Hamama is the wife of Sam Hamama, one of the men arrested by ICE agents this week.
She says her husband did commit a crime, but it was over 30 years ago.
"For those people who know Sam Hamama, he’s done so much for the community he loves America, he knows nothing but America," Hamama said.
Hamama says her husband came to the U.S. when he was only eleven years old.
Britanny Hamama, Sam and Nahrain's daughter, is currently a student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She just wants her dad home for Father's Day.
"It's been so unnerving and knowing there are hundreds of other people who have been affected, I'm sorry. I'm with you," she said.
The ACLU recently filed a lawsuit against ICE because of these deportation sweeps.
"There isn't an ounce of evidence that these people arrested represent today a very real public safety threat. Zero evidence." Congressman Sander Levin
Congress members Sander Levin and Brenda Lawrence showed solidarity with the Iraqi and Chaldean residents of metro-Detroit at this protest.
Levin read a statement from ICE officials claiming that sweeps only target people who pose a real threat to the country.
"There isn't an ounce of evidence that these people arrested represent today a very real public safety threat. Zero evidence," Levin said.
Several members of the Chaldean community said that sending Chaldeans, who are Catholic, to an area where there is currently a Christain genocide is a "death sentence" of sorts.
Representatives from ICE were not immediately available for comment.
