• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

After 4 months, Iraqi Christians who fled ISIS still detained by immigration officials

Jul 12, 2015 6:53 pm By Robert Spencer

syria-refugees“This follows the disturbing pattern that we have seen from the State Department of ignoring the particular targeting of Christians by ISIS, while giving preferential treatment for asylum to other groups with expedited processing — like Somalis, Iraqis, and Syrians, some of whom could very well be members of jihadist movements.”

“After Four Months, Why Are 20 Chaldean Iraqi Christians Who Fled ISIS Still Detained by Immigration Officials?,” by Ray Nothstine, Christian Post, July 10, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Despite having family members to sponsor them, a group of 20 Chaldean Christians who fled ISIS have been detained for over four months at the Otay Detention Facility in San Diego. The large Chaldean community in Southern California are unhappy with the unexplained delays and are demanding their release.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claim they are undermanned and face a backlog of cases but have offered little to the media about the prolonged detention of the Chaldean 20.

Mark Arabo, an activist and spokesmen for the local Chaldean community says, “What we do know is that they are being held without a real reason.”

Arabo has pleaded with the highest levels of government demanding action for the group being held.

“We are protesting, we are talking to the State Department, and the White House and Congress, and we are putting pressure to make sure they release these twenty people,” he declared to Al Jazeera. Arabo believes the excuses from immigration officials about indefinitely detaining them for bureaucratic reasons is “hard to believe.”

Arabo pointed out that the men and women in detention have been held too long even by the government’s own standards. The vast majority of foreign nationals detained or arrested by ICE are released under some form of supervision, according to their own statement.

“They’ve escaped hell. Let’s allow them to reunite with their families,” says Arabo. According to a Los Angeles Times report and an ACLU attorney in San Diego, detainees held for six months that have not seen a judge are by law required to have a court hearing.

Faith, McDonnell, director of religious liberty at the Institute on Religion & Democracy told The Christian Post the detainment is “a disturbing pattern” by the State Department.

“The fact that these asylum seekers are Christians and not Muslim and potential members of ISIS or some other jihadist group (which, of course, we don’t discuss, anyway) does not make the “processing” any easier,” declared McDonnell.

“This follows the disturbing pattern that we have seen from the State Department of ignoring the particular targeting of Christians by ISIS,” said McDonnell, “while giving preferential treatment for asylum to other groups with expedited processing — like Somalis, Iraqis, and Syrians, some of whom could very well be members of jihadist movements.”

The number of Christians who have fled Iraq just since the rise of ISIS is estimated at well over 100,000. In March of this year the Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq, Raphael Louis Sako, testified at the United Nations Security Council saying, “The Islamic extremists groups refuse to live with non-Muslims. Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda has stated publicly that the only way to preserve Christianity in Iraq is to defeat ISIS militarily.”…

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: immigration, United States Tagged With: Chaldean Christians, Otay Detention Facility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. David, Thailand says

    Jul 12, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Serves them right, they know they can enter the US and get welfare for life and descendants simply by converting.

    • dumbledoresarmy says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 8:15 am

      Really? So you are claiming that ALL of these people are not Christians at all, but Muslims pretending to be Christians? How do you know that?

      Groups like the Barnabas Fund have been working with the indigenous Christians of countries like Iraq and Syria for YEARS. They would know the leadership, the people, the history of those communities, and the culture…and the language. They could very easily be called in – along with lots of bona fide Assyrian / Chaldean Christians who have lived in the USA and other places (eg. Australia, Canada) ever since the *last* wave of Christian refugees fled the Mideast around the time of the jihad genocide of the Armenians – to vet the refugees to make sure that they really were who they said they were. Arab Muslims wouldn’t very easily be able to fake, for example, a mother-tongue knowledge of Syriac-Aramaic liturgy…

  2. Angemon says

    Jul 12, 2015 at 8:29 pm

    “This follows the disturbing pattern that we have seen from the State Department of ignoring the particular targeting of Christians by ISIS,” said McDonnell, “while giving preferential treatment for asylum to other groups with expedited processing — like Somalis, Iraqis, and Syrians, some of whom could very well be members of jihadist movements.”

    Because diversity.

  3. jewdog says

    Jul 12, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    They can always sneak into San Francisco.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 7:10 pm

      jewdog, something tells me that SanFran would probably draw the line at this group.

  4. Matthieu Baudin says

    Jul 12, 2015 at 10:18 pm

    The United States has been an extremely generous nation in opening its doors to immigrants from all over the world, well ahead of comparable countries around the world; so judgement and opinion about processing and the like is best left alone to American Citizens to make.

    • Arthur says

      Jul 12, 2015 at 10:53 pm

      I’m an American citizen, and I’m disgusted that people of non-Islamic faith seem to be discriminated against by our current government. If it was up to me, the U.S. wouldn’t be taking any Muslim immigrants (except apostates), and we would freely take in every Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, atheist, etc. caught up in this middle east mess. Our population could do with a few more people who really know first hand the extreme value of the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and the right to bear arms!

      • dumbledoresarmy says

        Jul 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

        And speaking as an Australian, I wish that our authorities in Australia would do the same: take in the Christians and other non-Muslims. We could call in Barnabas Fund, and Voice of the Martyrs (both of whom have been working with those people for years and years) and the Arabic-speaking – and Syriac-speaking – emigre Christians who have been here since the time of the Armenian genocide, to vet the candidates to weed out any Muslims pretending to be what they weren’t.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 7:12 pm

      Matthlieu, I’m an American citizen myself, and formerly worked for the US Dept. of State as a consular officer and in refugee/migration affairs. I am thoroughly disgusted with the treatment of this group of Chaldaeans.

      • Kepha says

        Jul 13, 2015 at 10:01 pm

        Oops. My comment was addressed to Matthieu Baudin. Pardonez-moi, Monsieur.

  5. fudge says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 4:38 am

    I also think the governments of the west want to abolish christianity

  6. Jerry says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 4:41 am

    That’s what happens when the President is a fake Christian and probably even a fake American.

    Christian refugees get detention.

    Muslim terrorists get asylum.

    • fudge says

      Jul 14, 2015 at 3:17 am

      God help christians who get detention

  7. james hazan says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 5:07 am

    It happened in England in 1939,when Germans were interned in prison camps A few months later stabbed Nazi corpses were found all over the place,It was only then that they realised they had also interned German Jews. Ignorance is the bye word

  8. Vivienne Havalant (Leijonhufvud) says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 6:18 am

    Nothing about the OBAMA administration surprises me. Sweden is as bad, Christians are the real victims in this monumental Syrian crisis. No one but no one is helping them. This morning I read 240 Syrian Christians have been given sanctuary in Belgium. This is what all of Europe and in particular the US should be doing. We will be at War and I for one will not back Moslem until the Moslem President is indicted for high treason. The asshole is cutting US troops by 40,000 combat personnel at a time like this. They have given IRAN all it wants. G-d help us all.

  9. Concerned Citizen says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 7:31 am

    Are we sure these people are Christians? Jihadists saying they are Christians, but actually they are Muslims that want to do jihad in the US? The jihadists are known for committing taqiyya! This world is getting quite scary because of Obama! As the positive decisions that come out of Washington are all about Muslims! I truly feel we are being set up!!!

    • Mo says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 10:40 am

      @ Concerned Citizen

      “Are we sure these people are Christians? Jihadists saying they are Christians, but actually they are Muslims that want to do jihad in the US?”

      If they know anything about our current regime, they’d know that pretending to be Christians would keep them OUT, not let them IN!

      • Concerned Citizen says

        Jul 13, 2015 at 10:42 am

        Very true!

  10. pongidae rex says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 7:43 am

    The Muslims who aid and abet and, in some cases, perform the slaughter of religious minorities sail right through the immigration system. Someone needs to ask our leadership why.

  11. Laura says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 8:18 am

    I guess they are being held pending deportation back to the hell hole they fled from, as soon as there is a lull in hostilities. The Norwegians sent Iraqi Christians back to Iraq to face certain death.
    The sad truth is that Christians are not welcome anywhere, not even in ‘Christian’ countries.
    Those lovely ungrateful, demanding, grievance mongering, violent muslims are the refugees of choice.
    The $64,000 question is, WHY?

  12. shortfattexan says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 8:25 am

    The issue of Obama whether or not Obama is a closet Muslim has not gone away, even after six years of his Presidency.

    Personally, I think he is neither a Muslim, nor a Christian, nor a member of any particular religion (unless self-worship can be considered a religion).

    But the real question is not, “Is Obama a Muslim?”

    The real question is, “If he were secretly a Muslim, what would he be doing differently from what he is doing now?” And the answer is, “Very little, or nothing.”

    Seriously, consider the following (completely hypothetical) scenario: a jihadist organization selects one of their members, obtains false citizenship documentation for him, and trains him on how to win elections. Eventually the false-flag agent winds up in the Oval Office. In this case, what would that jihadi plant do once he became President? He wouldn’t simply declare Sharia to be in effect in the US – the President can’t do that. And he can’t publically turn his back on Israel – he still needs to get re-elected. But he could support “grass-roots protests” against secular Arab leaders, and he could apply as much pressure as possible to get Israel to stop defending themselves (all the while paying lip-service to “supporting Israel”), and as Commander-in-Chief he could definitely pull US troops out of Iraq, knowing full well what would happen when he did.

    I still don’t think Obama is a Muslim. But the fact that he’s not isn’t much help.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 10:02 pm

      Good comment, shortfattexan. Maybe the best we can say is that the O is a foe of Western civilization.

  13. Ayatrollah says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 10:41 am

    There should be an easy paper trail on these Christians as the places there are from keep,track of them. It is on their ID.

  14. Gene says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 11:42 am

    Because the administration’s official policy is that Islam is a Religion of peace and tolerance Christians are not entitled to asylum because they are officially not persecuted. Sure, they beaten, tortured, raped, murdered, they property stolen, denied basic human rights, but since that is officially not done by Islam they are not persecuted. Admitting persecution against Christians goes against official policy, so the process takes much longer than normal.

  15. shams78 says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    It is horrific how many people want to erase the presence of the Christians in the Middle East, both by those who use violence to drive them out of their homes and those who are more sinister and couch their desires in the language of compassion and concern and want to break up their communities to transfer their entire populations into western countries where their culture will be degraded, their identities washed away and where they will be racially subsumed and driven to extinction. Although since they are Middle Easterners, the Assyrian and Chaldean alpha males are more likely to impregnate easy western women than vice versa and their male dominated patriarchial families help them since they trace descent through the father.

    The Assyrians want to stay in Iraq and turn Ninevah into an autonomous region within Iraq. They do not want their community to be extinct and they don’t want to be part of Iraqi Kurdistan which is trying to annex Ninevah. They want to be part of Iraq.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 13, 2015 at 10:39 pm

      shams78: What’s wrong with patriarchy? I hear this word and I think of men who are able to raise, care for, and protect large families and groups of followers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is called Israel). I honor the memory of my own father-in-law, who was something of a “patriarch” himself; in that he raised and educated a large family, even during a period of hardship. In any case, Jewish connections of mine who knew him described him as a “mensch”–which is a term of praise. “Patriarchy” has been made a bad word by embittered feminists who, having had bad luck with men in general, want to disparage natural family life for everyone else.

      Further, having known a few Western women who got impregnated by such Assyrian and Chaldaean males, I can only say they got impregnated only after marriages blessed by church and state that lasted. Come to think of it, these United States are full of people who’ve crossed all sorts of ethnic lines in order to marry and produce children. Such people include my own dear parents, may they rest in peace.

      我猜一猜唐朝的中国也有类似之社会现象。它也有不少中东与中亚的移民,包括犹太人,基督徒,摩尼教徒,与伊斯兰教徒。 而且,唐代的大秦景教就是那些亚述人的基督教东方教诲。您大概知道黄巢做乱时,他在广州杀了不少那些移民与他们的家族。虽然我的客家亲戚本来位中原地区的汉人(他们自己说“宋人”),他们也认为他们当难民就是因为他们为黄巢作乱的受害者。

      I suspect that Tang dynasty China was also a land of similar social phenomena. It had lots of Middle Eastern and Central Asian immigrants, including Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, and Muslims. Moreover, the “Illustrious Religion of Great Qin” referred to in Tang records was the Assyrians’ own Church of the East. You, Shams, probably know that Huang Chao’s rebellion against the Tang。Emperor involved the massacre of such immigrants and their families in Guangzhou. My own Hakka kin, although a Han subdivision supposedly from the Central Plain, also regard themselves as victims of Huang Chao’s revolt. So, my dear Shams78, we have something in common in that we both have family connections to people victimized by Huang Chao’s revolt.

      By the way, some of the young students to whom I taught ESOL were Assyrian refugees. Apart having a general “Arab” world dislike of the Jews, they were pretty nice kids, and pleased to know that at least one of their teachers appreciated that their first language was not Arabic or Kurdish, but Lishana Suryaya. I’ll even say I’ve had a number of Muslim students (subcontinental, West African, and Arab) whom I like as people, even if I have my theological issues with Islam.

      Further, at this point, the Assyrians are a very vulnerable minority group, caught between the various warring Muslim factions. They are second class citizens in Iran, and have recently seen token numbers of their people allowed to return to souther Turkey. But otherwise, their position is very precarious.

  16. smarty says

    Jul 13, 2015 at 10:43 pm

    I am sorry for these people and I wish them well but I want the entire scam of refugee resettlement shut down until it is fully reviewed and all charities exposed for the grifters they are. 1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars last year alone.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • gravenimage on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic
  • Boycott Turkey on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • gravenimage on India: Police make first arrest for ‘love jihad’ under new law
  • Mojdeh on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.