Washington forcibly deported Iraqis, some threatening to jail and rape

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[rtl]US authorities have deported at least 30 people to Iraq out of 1,400 Iraqis, with some threatening long prison terms and rape if they do not agree to deportation, Human Rights Watch said.[/rtl]

[rtl]In all cases seen by Human Rights Watch, those with no valid identity documents lack the risk of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in Iraq.[/rtl]

[rtl]Before President Trump's travel ban in January 2017, the Iraqi government did not accept any citizen who was forcibly returned.[/rtl]

[rtl]But shortly after the ban, which prevented the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, including Iraq, Iraq agreed to receive a small plane of deportees and facilitate their deportation, the White House later removed Iraq from the list.[/rtl]

[rtl]"Any person living in Iraq without valid Iraqi identity documents is subject to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment," said the deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, calling on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to stop all deportations of Iraqis until they receive guarantees that they will not be exposed Arrest and ill-treatment ".[/rtl]

[rtl]It called on the Iraqi government to "ensure that all Iraqi deportees are given proper Iraqi identity documents before they return."[/rtl]

[rtl]In September and October 2018, Human Rights Watch interviewed six men who had been deported to Iraq between May and August, three of whom said that "agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (IEA) and Iraqi consular representatives contacted them during their detention at the Immigration Department and threatened them with years of imprisonment if they did not sign Iraqi papers approving the deportation. "[/rtl]

[rtl]"The two IAEA agents that accompanied them from the United States to Bahrain reiterated widespread threats in the event of a delay in return, and forced them to sign documents whose nature is still unclear," they added.[/rtl]

[rtl]A 26-year-old man said that before he boarded his plane from Bahrain to Baghdad, the two men from the agency who were accompanying him from the United States asked him to sign a document. "If you do not sign the papers, we will send an e-mail to the Iraqi government and tell them what kind of crimes you committed and how you were deported. You will be imprisoned there and God knows how long they will keep you in prison," he said.[/rtl]

[rtl]The agency deported at least one person in violation of a court order issued in August according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACU), which is negotiating the return of that person to the United States.[/rtl]

[rtl]After Iraq agreed to receive the deportees, the agency arrested more than 300 Iraqis and detained them. They were ordered to leave, although many have been legally settled in the United States for decades and have extensive family and community ties there.[/rtl]

[rtl]Human Rights Watch has long documented that the US immigration system does not take into account family relations and other long-term relationships in deportation decisions.[/rtl]

[rtl]Some have ordered to leave for criminal convictions, including old crimes and felonies. Under US law, even a legitimate permanent resident can be deported for one of a wide variety of offenses, even minor ones such as possession of marijuana.[/rtl]

[rtl]Others have ordered to leave for immigration irregularities, such as overstaying the visa, and face an additional 1,100 Iraqis who have not been arrested for deportation and deportation. According to the Federation, the agency has deported at least 30 of the more than 1,400 Iraqis ordered to be deported.[/rtl]

[rtl]The Union filed a collective lawsuit and a preliminary injunction was issued on 24 July 2017 to suspend the deportation of about 300 Iraqis throughout the country.[/rtl]

[rtl]Documents recently released in the Federation case show that, in opposing the release of the detainees, the Agency provided misleading information by saying that Iraq was prepared to receive them.[/rtl]

[rtl]On 20 November, the court ruled that the agency had provided "manifestly false" evidence to keep the Iraqis in prison.[/rtl]

[rtl]The Court ordered that unless they were deported by the Agency by 20 December or in the event of other exceptional circumstances, they should be released.[/rtl]

[rtl]Many detainees were released in late December, but are still at risk of deportation in the future.[/rtl]

[rtl]A lawyer for the agency, Joseph Darrow, admitted on October 24 to the court that there was an agreement between the United States and Iraq to deport all Iraqi citizens with deportation orders, some 1,400, many of whom do not want to return.[/rtl]

[rtl]Other countries are also considering the deportation of Iraqis. In late December, Iraqi media reported that the Netherlands had begun deporting Iraqis to Iraq, starting with a family that was unable to provide any valid documents upon its arrival in Erbil. Other countries, including Germany, Himself.[/rtl]

[rtl]"International law is clear; no individual can be returned to a country where he may be at risk of torture," Faqih said. "It is shameful for US officials to use threats and intimidation to force Iraqis to return in such circumstances."[/rtl]