By David Zucchino | Los Angeles Times | April 28, 2008
The immigration lawyer and his client huddled at the defense bench in federal court, whispering in Aramaic.
Robert DeKelaita, born and baptized Christian in Iraq and raised in the United States, stood beside his client, a frightened young Iraqi named Yousif Ibrahim.
Ibrahim, a Christian, had been jailed as a “deportable/inadmissible alien” since crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Minutes later, DeKelaita described how Ibrahim’s father had been killed by insurgents in Iraq because he was a Christian working for the United Nations, and because another son had served in the U.S.
armed forces.
“He cannot go back to Iraq. He has established credible fear,” DeKelaita told the immigration judge.
Over the past decade, DeKelaita has obtained asylum for hundreds of Iraqi Christians fleeing religious persecution.
Yet each success carries a sense of conflict. “My heart is wedded to the idea that they should be safe and secure in their own homeland,” he said. “What I’m doing is temporary.”
Iraq’s Christian population has declined dramatically since 2003, with widespread violence targeting churches, clergy, and civilians.
“These are my people,” DeKelaita says. “I don’t even have to ask them what they’ve been through.”
DeKelaita’s family left Iraq in 1973. He later earned advanced degrees in the United States and has dedicated his legal career to advocating for vulnerable communities.
In one case, a woman facing deportation was granted a second chance after DeKelaita successfully argued her circumstances before the court.
In another, Ibrahim was ultimately granted asylum and released, beginning a new life in the United States.
For DeKelaita, each case represents both a victory and a reminder of a deeper loss — the displacement of an ancient community from its homeland.