ICC Note: The situation for Iraq’s Christian minority is unthinkable. Nearly 150,000 were driven from their homes last year as a result of the rise of the Islamic jihadist group ISIS. The attacks on Christians throughout the country have resulted in more than a million Christians leaving the country in the past decade. A prominent Assyrian immigration lawyer in the U.S. has become the target of an investigation for his work in helping Christian asylum seekers. The case is still pending, but there have been serious concerns about the motivation behind the investigation.
08/24/2015 Middle East (WND) Living as a Christian in many parts of Iraq or Syria has become impossible – a one-way ticket to martyrdom at the hands of ISIS – yet it remains a near-impossible feat for these persecuted religious minorities to find refuge in America.
But if you can get to America and get your case in the hands of Robert DeKelaita, your chances are greatly improved.
As it turns out, this high-powered Chicago attorney may have been a little too successful. He’s gained asylum for thousands of persecuted Christian from Iraq, Syria and Egypt, and that caught the attention of the Obama Justice Department, which is known to be no friend of Middle Eastern Christians.
DeKelaita, 52, grew up in Kirkuk in the heart of Assyria, a portion of northern Iraq that is home to one of the world’s most ancient Christian communities. Legend has it that the Apostle Thomas evangelized the long-pagan area shortly after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. The Christians there still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
After Saddam Hussein took power, DeKelaita’s family emigrated to the U.S. in 1973 and settled in the Chicago area. He was just shy of 11 years old at the time. He excelled in school, became a lawyer and vowed to use his legal skills to help his people escape religious persecution by the majority Muslims.
He’s helped reunite hundreds of families in the U.S., most of them since 2003 when the U.S. invasion and overthrow of Saddam unleashed a wave of Islamic terror against Christians that far exceeded anything that was seen under the secular Baathist regime.
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