Detroit Man Who Was Deported To Iraq Dies After Family Says He Couldn’t Access Needed Insulin
Jimmy Aldaoud spent most of his life in the United States but was deported as part of increased immigration enforcement efforts. In Iraq, he was unable to get the insulin needed to treat his diabetes, his family says. "Jimmy Aldaoud ... should have never been sent to Iraq," Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) said. "My Republican colleagues and I have repeatedly called on the executive branch to cease deportation of such vulnerable people. Now, someone has died." Meanwhile, nearly 700 immigrants were arrested Wednesday in a raid that left children coming back from school to empty homes.
The Washington Post:
A Detroit Diabetic Was Deported To Iraq, Where He’d Never Lived. He Died From Lack Of Insulin, Family Says.
Jimmy Aldaoud crouched on a sidewalk, miserable, hungry and short on insulin. The 41-year-old with diabetes and severe mental illness had spent nearly his whole life in Detroit until just over two months ago, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported him to Iraq — a country he’d never set foot in. “I don’t understand the language,” Aldaoud said in an undated video shared to Facebook on Wednesday night. “I’m sleeping in the street. I’m diabetic. I take insulin shots. I’ve been throwing up, throwing up, sleeping in the street, trying to find something to eat. I’ve got nothing over here." (Elfrink, 8/8)
Politico:
Iraqi Man Dies After Trump Administration Deports Him
Edward Bajoka, an immigration attorney who described himself as close to Aldaoud’s family, wrote on Facebook that the death appeared to be linked to the man’s inability to obtain insulin in Baghdad to treat his diabetes. Aldaoud was an Iraqi national, but he was born in Greece and came to the U.S. as a young child, his family friend said. He had never lived in Iraq and did not speak Arabic, according to Bajoka. (Hesson and Toosi, 8/7)
Time:
Detroit Man Dies After Deportation To Iraq: Report
Representative Andy Levin responded to Aldaoud’s death on Twitter, saying that deporting the U.S. resident to a place where he ultimately lacked access to medical care “put his life in extreme danger.” (Gunia, 8/8)
CNN:
With 680 Undocumented Immigrants Arrested Across Mississippi, One Mayor Asks 'What Happens To The Children?'
It was the first day of school in Morton, Mississippi, Wednesday, and many undocumented parents and their children went together to the first morning drop off, said Elizabeth Iraheta. By the end of the day, some of those children were all alone, she said. US immigration authorities arrested about 680 undocumented immigrants at seven sites in six different cities in Mississippi on Wednesday. The raids are "believed to be the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation's history," said US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi Mike Hurst. (Holcombe and Shoichet, 8/8)
The Washington Post:
ICE Arrested Hundreds Of People In Raids. Now ‘Devastated’ Children Are Without Their Parents.
Elizabeth Iraheta was passing the Koch Foods processing plant in Morton, Miss., on Wednesday when she saw immigration officials swarming outside and a helicopter overhead. Big silver buses lined the driveway and agents blocked the entrance gates. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were sweeping through the workplace and rounding up all undocumented immigrants. By the day’s end, nearly 700 people would be arrested. Angie’s mother was one of them. (Fritz and Velarde, 8/8)
