NPR

Iraqi Has Returned To U.S. After ICE Deported Him Against Court Orders

Muneer Subaihani says immigration agents told him he would be in jail for life if he didn't agree to be deported to Iraq. On Tuesday, in a rare event, he was admitted back into the U.S.
Muneer Subaihani at the airport in Baghdad on Tuesday, waiting to board the first of his flights back to the United States.

Muneer Subaihani had lived in the United States for almost 25 years when he was arrested by U.S. immigration authorities last summer and deported back to Iraq. That's when the U.S. lost track of him.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him in contravention of a U.S. federal court order two years ago halting the deportations of about 1,400 Iraqis. Subaihani was one of them. In a rare move, the court ordered ICE to find him and bring him back to the United States.

Subaihani, 52, arrived back in the U.S. Tuesday night — the first time an Iraqi deportee has been allowed to return, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which hired a private investigator to find

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