Iraqis rounded up in Detroit headed to Youngstown prison

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A group of Iraqi detainees rounded up over the weekend in the Detroit area by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau are being sent to Youngstown.

The Iraqis, who an ICE spokesman said have criminal convictions in the United States, are in the process of being returned to Iraq thanks to an agreement between the United States and Iraq.

ICE would only respond to emailed questions and did not answer how many detainees are being housed in the former Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road, or when they were sent here.

Mayor John A. McNally IV also said he did not know how many detainees were sent to Youngstown. He said he first heard about the move Tuesday morning and has since contacted officials with CoreCivic, which runs the private prison, to get more information. National news reports from the Detroit area said those rounded up are Chaldean Christians, and their relatives are afraid if they are sent back to Iraq they will be killed because they are a minority. The reports said family members promised legal action to stop them from being deported.

Read more about the matter in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.