A US government official said on Monday US immigration agents are conducting targeted operations to arrest Iraqi immigrants who had been ordered deported after committing serious crimes, the result of a deal struck after Iraq was dropped from a list of countries targeted by President Donald Trump's travel ban.
"As a result of recent negotiations between the US and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal," said Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Reuters.
While some reports of the arrests came out in recent days, it has not been reported that they were the result of negotiations between the two governments.
The Iraqi embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Christensen said the agency recently arrested a number of individuals, all of whom had criminal convictions for serious crimes.
"Each of these individuals received full and fair immigration proceedings, after which a federal immigration judge found them ineligible for any form of relief under US law and ordered them removed," Christensen said.
She declined to give more details about the operations because they were ongoing.
Attorneys, activists and family members interviewed by Reuters say ICE officials were arresting people in the Chaldean Catholic Community in Detroit, Michigan and Kurdish Iraqis in Nashville, Tennessee over the weekend and last week.
They say they have reports of dozens of arrests so far, but Reuters could not independently confirm all of the cases.
The moves come after the US government dropped Iraq from a list of countries targeted by a revised version of President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban issued in March.
REUTERS
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