Chaldean Community Leaders Criticize Lack of Christian American Response to Deportation Threats

Some Chaldeans and their supporters are questioning why more Christian Americans—particularly those who have spoken out against the persecution of Christians in the Middle East—are not raising their voices against the impending deportation of hundreds of Chaldeans from the U.S. to Iraq, which many describe as a “death sentence.”

About 200 Chaldeans—members of a Christian community indigenous to Iraq—were recently detained by ICE agents, including 114 in the Detroit area last weekend. Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation in Sterling Heights, Mich., expressed frustration with the silence of some evangelicals and others who have shown concern for Middle Eastern Christians but have been quiet about the Chaldeans facing deportation.

“They could be doing a lot more,” Manna said. “They could be saying, ‘Wait, we have been fighting to protect these people in their ancestral lands and now we are sending them back to those areas that we’re not doing enough to protect?’”

He cited evangelicals like Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, who held a summit in Washington last month to advocate for Middle Eastern Christians he described as victims of genocide. “They came to D.C., a whole bunch of them,” Manna said. “They brought up the issue that needed to be brought up, but we’re not seeing the follow-up. If they can’t stand up for the people who already made it here, then how can they stand up for the ones in the Middle East?”

Graham issued a statement on June 15 after an inquiry from RNS, expressing concern over the Chaldeans’ situation. “I find it very disturbing what I have read about Chaldean Christians being rounded up by ICE for possible deportation,” he said. “I would encourage the president to have someone investigate these cases thoroughly.” He acknowledged the policy of deporting undocumented individuals but urged consideration for the threat to Christian lives in countries like Iraq.

Philippe Nassif, executive director of In Defense of Christians, a Washington-based group that protects persecuted Christians in the Middle East, welcomed Graham’s statement but noted that the Chaldeans’ plight should have sparked more immediate concern. Although the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization and longtime ally of the Chaldeans, is circulating a letter on their behalf, Nassif said larger voices in the community have not been as vocal.

“If all these people really care about the persecution of Christians,” Nassif said, “then they should be speaking out more forcefully about the Chaldeans who are being deported.”

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