IMMIGRATION officials in the US were accused of having “blood on their hands” after a former US resident of Iraqi Christian heritage, who spoke no Arabic and had never set foot in Iraq, was found dead in Baghdad on Tuesday just two months after being deported.
Jimmy Aldaoud suffered from mental health issues and diabetes. He is believed to have died because he was unable to get hold of the insulin he needed to survive and was not eating regular meals.
Video footage has since circulated on social media showing Mr Aldaoud struggling to cope in Baghdad where he was living on the streets.
“I’m diabetic. I get insulin shots. I was throwing up,” he said.
“Sleeping in the streets, trying to find something to eat. You know, I got nothing over here.”
Mr Aldaoud was born in Greece where his parents were waiting for their asylum claim from Iraq to the US to be processed. The family moved to Detroit when he was just six months old.
But Mr Aldaoud, who died aged 41, was deported after he was held during US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Michigan in 2017.
ICE had targeted Iraqi nationals who had criminal convictions or visa issues.
As many as 1,400 Iraqis were at risk of deportation after the action. Many do not know Arabic and had moved to the US as children.
ICE officials were censured in 2018 after a judge cited evidence that they had been threatening Iraqis held in a Michigan jail and had tried to make them sign paperwork stating that they agreed to be deported.
Mr Aldaoud was flown to al-Najaf airport which is in a region largely controlled by anti-US Shia militias. Airport officials said at the time they could not understand why the US would send him to an area where his life would be endangered.
Immigration lawyer Edward Bajoka blamed the aggressive approach adopted by ICE for Mr Aldaoud’s death.
“He did not speak Arabic. He was a member of the Chaldean minority group. He was a paranoid schizophrenic. His mental health was the primary reason for his legal issues that led to his deportation,” he said. “Rest in peace, Jimmy. Your blood is on the hands of ICE and this administration.”
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