Persecuted Christians

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The Obama administration has done everything possible to block the way for Christian refugees fleeing ISIS terror in the Middle East who seek to enter America. This includes the arrest of 27 Iraqi Christians who had family in this country. They were held in detention for six months before 15 were deported. Five have been charged with immigration fraud for failing to list that their passports originated in Germany. The remainder remain in detention. Despite the fact that thousands are crossing the Mexican border illegally, then quickly being processed and released after being given hearing dates, this same treatment is not afforded to Christians fleeing the Middle East and entering the country across that same border.

The tactics used by the administration are disingenuous, since there is no longer any way for Iraqi Christians to obtain passports to legally leave the country, so they must obtain European or other passports to leave. And despite the fact that the administration is fighting to bring thousands of Muslims into the country which may have terror ties to ISIS, and which don’t readily assimilate, Christians who have families ready to receive them and churches ready to support them are being treated as criminals when they try to gain asylum.

The administration seems bent on continuing Christian persecution for those in this country as well. Along with the detainees, the Justice Department began investigating Iraqi-born, Chicago attorney Robert DeKelaita in 2008, shortly after he was victorious in having a report which had been relied upon to deny asylum to Christians, reversed as inaccurate. He has assisted thousands of asylum-seekers during his twenty year career, yet only 12 cases are at issue, all concerning Assyrian Christians who were subjected to harassment and intimidation before making statements.

After years of investigation, finally both he and his interpreter were indicted in September, 2014. But his trial date has been moved three times, from May to October 2015, and now to 2016 due to the inadmissibility of statements which did not hold up, which were taken from the 12 immigrants. During this time he has been unable to represent any other Christian asylum seekers, something which has caused outrage in the Assyrian Christian community.

The basis for the charges against him were claims that he falsified or exaggerated Christian persecution in Iraq. This is patently untrue, as anyone watching news reports today knows. We have witnessed beheadings, crucifixions, seizure of property, women taken as spoils of war and other gruesome events. Yet the Obama administration remains determined to prevent Christian asylum seekers from gaining sanctuary in the US, minimizing their persecution by going to the lengths noted above.

A recent, short but powerful video featuring nine Assyrian Christians has been released by MORE International in which they describe the persecution and terror which led them to flee ISIS, leaving behind everything they owned. It’s hard to claim that persecution is exaggerated, watching this:

Even European Parliament President Martin Schulz stated at a recent meeting on religious persecution held in Brussels that, “the persecution of Christians is ‘undervalued’ and does not receive enough attention, which has also meant that it “hasn’t been properly addressed.’”

And EP Vice President Antonio Tajani argued that, “For Islamists…Christians are the new ‘crusaders’ of Europe, and because of Islamic persecution in the Middle East more than 70 percent of Christians have fled Iraq since 2003, with another 700 thousand Christians who have been forced to leave their home in Syria since the outbreak of civil war…No religious community is as subject to hatred, violence and systematic aggression as the Christians.” He also intimated that where one religion is the problem, another religion can be the solution, something Obama ignores.

Available as your Talk Show Guest is Atty. Robert DeKelaita, Martin Manna, Atty. Carol Oshana or Fr. Gewargis Sulaiman who can explain what Christians are facing, as the war against them, both in the Middle East and in the US, creates rising persecution. The determination of the Obama administration to deny them asylum and to use any tactic, no matter how outrageous, to prevent their acceptance into the US reveals the determination of the Obama administration to ensure only Muslim refugees are admitted. With a majority of the American public opposed to Muslim immigration, and much of it committed to accepting Christians, the question is why?

ABOUT ROBERT DEKELAITA:

Born in Kirkuk, Iraq in 1962, Robert DeKelaita’s family moved to Chicago when he was 11, due to fears for the Christian community in his home country.

Robert learned the Assyrian language, studied its history in depth and developed a passion for its art. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor’s Degree, obtained a Master’s from the University of Chicago, and a law degree from Loyola University Law School in 1997.

He was drawn to immigration law as a way to help his own people and other persecuted minorities, and has handled thousands of immigration cases. Robert has worked closely with various Assyrian organizations throughout the United States, and was a founding member of the popular Ashurbanipal Library in Chicago, as well as the Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Coalition of America, the Nineveh Council, the Assyrian Academic Society, the Assyria Foundation, and the newly-founded Assyrian American Chamber of Commerce.

A staple in Chicago’s Assyrian community, Robert has become a leader to Assyrians internationally, earning the respect of public officials and world scholars alike. More importantly, he has earned his people’s trust.

He currently lives in a Chicago suburb, while continuing to practice law at his renowned firm, R.W. DeKelaita & Associates in Morton Grove, Illinois. He is a loving husband of twenty-five years and a proud father to two sons.

OTHER GUEST SPEAKERS ON THIS TOPIC:

ABOUT CAROL OSHANA…

Carol Oshana has been practicing law for over 15 years and is a graduate of DePaul College of Law in Chicago.

She is the president of Oshana Law and has argued the law before the Federal District Courts, the Circuit Courts, the Illinois Appellate Courts, the Illinois Human Rights Commission, the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, National Labor Relations Board and the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board.

Carol Oshana has appeared on Fox News Chicago three times.

ABOUT MARTIN MANNA…

Martin Manna is President and co-founder of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce, a Farmington Hills, Michigan-based organization that has grown to about 1000 members in just four years.

Manna has a Bachelor’s degree in corporate finance and Master’s of Business Administration from Wayne State University. He is married with 3 children.

Manna started his career in finance – he was an advisor with Morgan Stanley. He also co-founded the Bank of Michigan in Farmington Hills, which serves primarily Chaldeans. He co-publishes The Chaldean News, a monthly publication distributed to 10,000 homes.

Martin has chosen to keep his biography short to make more room for the following article explaining who are the Chaldeans.

WHAT ARE CHALDEANS?

Chaldeans are the indigenous people of Iraq who speak a form of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ and the oldest continuously spoken language in the world.

Chaldeans mainly resided in Northern Iraq as mountain dwellers and farmers in villages dating back to before Christ. Historically, Chaldeans are from the Arab World but are not Arabs. The Chaldean people of today are descendants of the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations and the Aramean legacy of Mesopotamia. They have a 5,500-year history dating back to Mesopotamia—the cradle of civilization—which is present day Iraq. In its heyday, Mesopotamia encompassed all of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and parts of Iran. According to the Old Testament (Gen. 11:31), Abraham was from the city of Ur—which is identified as “Ur of the Chaldeans,” the city of his ancestors.

Ancient Babylonians were the first civilization to:

Invent the wheel
Discover how to make glass
Discover astronomy
Use a writing system
Invent the yearly calendar, composed of 360 days and 12 months
Use weights and measures, which were standardized in Babylon around 2,500 B.C.
They are also known for major contributions to civilization, such as:

Hammurabi’s Code, which was a revolutionary step in the development of fairness and equality under the law.

In 600 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar built the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” (one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) to console his queen who missed the mountains and greenery of her native Media.

Like many ethnic groups, Chaldeans began immigrating to the Metropolitan Detroit area in the 1920s in search of better economic, religious and political freedom and opportunities. While some were lured by Henry Ford’s famous $5-a-day working wage, in true Chaldean fashion entrepreneurial endeavors quickly took hold – particularly mom and pop food markets. Today, 61% of Chaldean households own one business and 39% own two or more. Chaldeans enjoy large, close-knit families. They are bound by their faith and unique culture.

Metro Detroit has the world’s largest population outside of Iraq, with an estimated 130,000 people. An estimated 300,000 more Chaldeans/Assyrians reside throughout the United States, particularly in Arizona, California, Illinois and other states. The population enjoys steady growth thanks to a constant influx of Christian refugees who have fled Iraq in the face of religious persecution.

Worldwide, Syria represents the 2nd largest Chaldean population with 2.2 million Christians. Many of these are Iraqi expatriates who are reliving the same horrors they fled due to the ongoing unrest in Syria. More Iraqi Christians may be displaced if the situation does not improve.

ABOUT GEWARGIS SULAIMAN…

Gewargis Sulaiman is the parish priest of St. George Cathedral in Chicago, Illinois, serving more than a thousand Assyrian-American families in the area. St. George is part of the Chicago Diocese of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East, headquartered in Erbil, Iraq. The Assyrian Church of the East traces its origins back thousands of years to the very beginning of Christianity.

Father Gewargis was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1973. He obtained two Bachelor’s Degrees from Bable University in Baghdad while serving the church as a deacon. The first was in Religious Studies and the second in Philosophy and Theology. He also studied at the Baghdad Seminary for the Assyrian Church of the East.

In 1999, he was ordained as the parish priest of St. Mary Cathedral in Syria, where he served for several years before being transferred to a parish in New York. He completed his Master’s Degree at Nyack College in New York City, and went on to serve New York’s Assyrian-American community for nearly a decade. In 2012, he was reassigned to Chicago, home to the largest Assyrian population outside the homeland.

In addition to clerical service, Father Gewargis provides counseling and teaches Assyrian languages courses. Having experienced religious persecution firsthand, he is also committed to advocacy work and raising awareness for the plight of the Assyrians in Iraq and Syria.

Father Gewargis is a loving husband to his wife of seventeen years, Shamiram, and is the proud father of two high-school aged daughters and a younger son.

(c) 2015 Special Guests, Inc.

Written by Georgann Ryan

To schedule an interview with ROBERT DEKELAITA, call: 630-848-0750 or fill out the Do-It-Yourself Booking Form.
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