In June 2017, Oshana and fellow activists scored a meeting with NSC officials, including Hall, and they used the get-together to bring up the third-country option.
Oshana said he also had been discussing the possibility with various officials from Armenia at the time. The country, which has a population of around 3 million people, is relatively poor, but it has a history of accepting vulnerable Christian refugees.
The Armenians did not rule out the idea, Oshana said. But they noted that diplomatic protocol required that the United States first raise the topic with them. Oshana isn’t sure whether the Trump administration ever approached Armenia — or any other country — about accepting the deportees. A former White House official said the suggestion didn’t go past that June 2017 meeting — at least not in the NSC.
In 2018, Oshana temporarily laid aside the third-country idea as he and other activists focused on pursuing legal challenges to the deportations. The court cases largely halted the deportations that year.
But in April, a federal court effectively gave the go-ahead on the deportations, and within weeks it became clear the administration would carry them out. Oshana began asking around again about the third-country option. In mid-June, he sent an email to the White House asking for another meeting on the topic. He said he never heard back.
By that point, Aldaoud had already been deported to Iraq — ICE removed him from the U.S. in early June without letting him contact his family.
ICE dropped him in Najaf, a Shiite Muslim stronghold in Iraq with few Christians. Aldaoud made his way to Baghdad, but he was in physical and mental distress, supporters said.
U.S. officials previously stressed that Aldaoud was deported because of his criminal record, which includes convictions for assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic violence, theft of personal property, and breaking and entering.
Aldaoud’s supporters argued he had mental health issues that might have contributed to his criminal record and which also often left him homeless in the U.S. None of his crimes justified a deportation to Iraq, they insisted.
Like many Christians who have faced or are facing deportation, many of whom also have criminal records, Aldaoud never obtained U.S. citizenship. He is believed to have been born in Greece to Iraqi refugees who came to the U.S. while he was a baby. He grew up in the Detroit area.
It’s unclear whether U.S. officials considered sending Aldaoud to Greece. But he didn’t have Greek citizenship, and Athens would likely not have taken him.
At least 16 Iraqi nationals have been deported since the April court decision, legal advocates say. The overall number of people deported to Iraq since Trump took office — non-Christians included — is believed to be more than 100.
Iraq for many years refused to accept Iraqi nationals facing deportation from the U.S. Past presidential administrations also hesitated to repatriate the people involved given the dangerous conditions in the Middle Eastern country, which the U.S. invaded in 2003.
The Trump administration told Iraq that it had to accept the deportees if it didn’t want to be one of the countries subject to the president’s 2017 travel ban, which would have barred most Iraqis from entering the United States. Iraq reluctantly agreed.