By Beyza Binnur Donmez and Vakkas Dogantekin
ANKARA (AA) - The U.S. has been deporting hundreds of Iraqi Christians over the years, despite the official position Trump administration holds, which claims the group faces terror and extortion in the Middle Eastern country, according to a report released Wednesday.
"To deport Iraqi Christians, [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s immigration officials rely on testimony saying they won’t be at particular risk. But to justify funding and attention, officials elsewhere in the administration say the Christians face grave danger," ProPublica, an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization said.
The report echoed remarks by Hallam Ferguson, a top USAID development agency official for the Middle East who told the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last September, in northern Iraq, where many Christians live, militias aligned with Iran "terrorize those families brave enough to have returned, extort local businesses and openly pledge allegiance to Iran."
In some towns, the numbers of Christians who have returned after the defeat of the DAESH/ISIS terror group "have reached only one to two percent because of persecution by these militias," he said. "While the Iraqi government has pledged to rein in these militias, they continue to operate with impunity in many areas, with the authorities seemingly unable or unwilling to confront them."
- Unreliable expert reports
The report then took a turn to a sworn declaration by Middle East experts at the request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for use in its efforts to deport Iraqis.
One of those so-called experts is Michael Rubin of American Enterprise Institute, a controversial figure who is known for his support to military coups and dictatorial regimes in the region at the expense of democracies.
Rubin's articles in various platforms portray Iraq as an unsafe country, where Iranian militias allegedly control vast territories, but his sworn declaration prepared for DHS contradicts his articles, basically saying that Iraq is safe for deportation.
"Many Iraqis complain about militia looting, but the greater problem may be not what happens in disputed territories but rather on a macro-level," Rubin wrote in one of his articles recently, in stark contrast to his sworn declaration.
The so-called expert reports on Iraq are later used by DHS in court to justify deportation of Iraqi Christians.
"To stay in the U.S., many of the Iraqis have to prove that if they are deported, they are most likely to be tortured by, or with the tacit permission of, the Iraqi government -- a higher standard than what is used in typical asylum cases," it said, adding that this gave DHS a duty to emphasize Iraq's progress and portray the country’s government as competent and willing to protect all its people.
The report noted the State Department, USAID, DHS and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the issue, as well as the Iraqi Embassy in Washington.
Despite a Trump speech in January promising an "extension" to Iraqi Christians facing deportation, DHS continues deportation, according to lawyers of Iraqis in court proceedings.