deportation

An Iraqi-born Michigan man who successfully resisted deportation once is now arguing he should be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Immigration agents tried to deport Muskegon resident Oliver Awshana, 31, this summer. But he put up such a fight, the pilot refused to fly with him on the plane.

On Monday, Awshana—who came to the U.S. as a teenage refugee—was back in Detroit immigration court, pleading for a second chance at asylum.

Awshana’s lawyer, Shanta Driver, said that as a Chaldean Christian with no remaining family in Iraq, Awshana will be in grave danger if returned to Iraq.

A 19-year old Haitian man who came to the U.S. seeking asylum could be deported soon. The U.S. government being slow to act could be part of the reason.

Williams Sejour came to the U.S. when he was 16. He was looking to escape his abusive family. Sejour turned himself into authorities at the U.S. southern border, making him a so-called “arriving alien” rather than an illegal alien.

The ACLU says a new appeals court decision will deny people facing deportation the right to make their case in immigration court, even if they believe deportation puts them at risk of death.

An immigration judge has issued a reprieve – possibly a very long reprieve – for Ibrahim Parlak, who has been fighting deportation to Turkey for 15 years.

Parlak, a Kurd, fled Turkey 28 years ago and was granted asylum in the U.S.  He married, had a daughter, and established a popular restaurant in Harbert, Michigan, near Lake Michigan.

But in 2004, the government arrested him and began deportation proceedings, based on the fact that he did not disclose his affiliation with a Kurdish separatist group on his application for citizenship.

A group of immigrant advocates are walking from Detroit to Lansing to bring attention to deportations that separate families, including an Albanian man seeking sanctuary in a Detroit church.

The 90-mile journey started Monday at Central United Methodist Church in Detroit, where 48-year-old Ded Rranxburgaj has taken refuge since January. Rranxburgaj is facing an order for removal after his legal status expired. His wife has multiple sclerosis and depends on his care.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that will affect the fates of hundreds of Iraqi nationals living in Michigan.

Scores of Iraqi nationals living in Metro Detroit were picked up as part of a nationwide sweep by federal immigration agents.

Michigan, a border zone

When the term “border zone” comes to mind, one might think of El Paso, San Diego, or Tucson. But according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, the entire state of Michigan is a border zone.

There are now eight congregations in Washtenaw County committed to providing or supporting sanctuary for immigrants and refugees threatened with detention or deportation.

That's up from three last August, according to Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary, an interfaith coalition of Washtenaw County faith communities whose leaders gathered today to condemn U.S. immigration policy and to fight deportations.

According to WCS representatives, the  eight Washtenaw congregations are part of a growing movement of sanctuary faith communities currently estimated at 800 nationwide.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - A Polish-born doctor who legally came to the U.S. as a child is expected to be released from a Michigan jail following his arrest by immigration agents over misdemeanor convictions 25 years ago.

 WWMT-TV reports Lukasz Niec could be released Thursday from jail in Battle Creek. Bond was set at $10,000 during a hearing Wednesday.

Immigration officials are not saying much about the arrest last week of a Polish-born Michigan doctor who entered the U.S. legally almost 40 years ago.

Relying exclusively on a written statement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Dr. Lukasz Niec could be deported because of two 25-year-old misdemeanor convictions for property crimes Niec committed when he was a teen. One was for malicious destruction of property, and the other for receiving stolen property.

A Kalamazoo doctor was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, after living in the U.S. for nearly 40 years.

A Southgate family is now living above Detroit’s Central United Methodist Church.

They’ve sought sanctuary there in a last-ditch effort to save the father from a deportation order.

After 30 years of living in the United States, Detroiter Jorge Garcia was deported to his native country of Mexico on Monday.

Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper from Lincoln Park, came to the U.S. with an undocumented family member when he was 10 years old. He will be leaving behind his wife and two children, all of whom are U.S. citizens.

The Michigan Parole Board has agreed to conduct a full-but-speedy review of pardon requests from Iraqi nationals threatened with deportation.

The board agreed to review nine of nearly 70 requests that have been received since federal immigration authorities began detaining Iraqis with criminal records. Most of the offenses were years ago.

The Iraqis seeking pardons were detained because they have some type of criminal records. In most cases, the offenses occurred many years ago. A federal judge temporarily halted the deportations last month.

Ann Arbor resident and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainee Jose Luis Sanchez-Ronquillo is hoping to be released while the Board of Immigration Appeals considers whether to reopen his immigration case.

Supporters and family members of Sanchez-Ronquillo rallied outside of the ICE field office in Detroit on Tuesday as his attorney submitted a request for his release.

The woman's husband is among the more than 100 Iraqi nationals living in Michigan who were arrested by Immigrations and Customs agents in June. 

Friday, she sat in the back row of federal district judge Mark Goldsmith's courtroom, listening as the government argued her husband and the others they detained should face immediate deportation, and the ACLU argued that amounts to a death sentence for many -- and is against both U.S. and international law.

She withheld her name, for fear of retaliation in her husband's case, but agreed to tell his story.

Lafayette Street between Shelby and Washington Boulevard in downtown Detroit was flooded with people supporting several Iraqi-American immigrants facing possible deportation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, arrested these immigrants in metro-Detroit more than a week ago.

Most have criminal records, but have already served time or paid their fines.

Carrie Heichle is the wife of one of the men arrested during the ICE sweeps.

She says her two sons are having a hard time without their dad.

A federal judge in Detroit did not give a ruling on the pending removal of Sanchez-Ronquillo today. By law, that means he cannot yet be deported.

Hundreds of people protested outside the federal courthouse today, hoping to keep Jose Luis Sanchez-Ronquillo from being deported.

Two busloads of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School students came to Detroit to support Sanchez-Ronquillo, his wife and two sons.

Krystie Linton is a teacher at Pioneer, where one of Jose’s sons is currently a student.

She says the students have been taught to fight for the common good.

A federal judge accepted a plea deal from an alleged Palestinian American terrorist and activist today in Detroit.

Rasmea Odeh was initially charged with providing false information to the government when she emigrated to the U.S. over 20 years ago.

The charge was later changed to terrorism for two bombings she was allegedly involved in over 50 years ago.

Because of the plea deal, Odeh will lose her U.S. citizenship.

A man from southwest Detroit has two weeks before he is deported back to Mexico after living in the city for almost 20 years. 

Mario Hernandez came to the U.S. as an adult without a visa in 1998. He has no criminal record, and his friends and supporters say he has made a positive impact in the community.

But it's unlikely Hernandez will be able to stay in the U.S. after his stay of removal request was denied by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.

Cheers of joy and relief erupted outside a Detroit immigration courtroom Tuesday, when a judge granted a waiver sparing an Ann Arbor man from deportation.

Yousef Ajin is a Jordanian national, and has been a legal permanent U.S. resident since 1999. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, a naturalized U.S. citizen, and four U.S.-born children