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A Detroit man was deported to Iraq, a country he’d never been to. He died from lack of insulin, family says - The Boston Globe

posted onAugust 9, 2019
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Article snippet: 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.’’ This week, Aldaoud died in Baghdad, his family and the American Civil Liberties Union told Politico, which first reported on his case. They believe his inability to obtain insulin was the cause of death. Aldaoud’s supporters say he never should have been sent to a country short on health care and racked with civil unrest, especially as he’s a member of the Chaldean Catholic community, which has faced violent persecution since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. ‘‘This is a total failure of the whole immigration system,’’ Edward Bajoka, a Detroit immigration attorney and friend of Aldaoud’s family, told The Washington Post. ‘‘This guy should have been protected somewhere along the way.’’ His death comes as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement, a move highlighted on Wednesday as hundreds were arrested in a massive raid. While most of the national argumen... Link to the full article to read more

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