Jun 27, 2017

A US judge has halted deportations of all Iraqi nationals -- some slated for removal as early as Tuesday -- on the grounds they could be tortured or killed if returned to the Middle Eastern country.

US District Judge Mark Goldsmith on Monday expanded nationwide an earlier order affecting mostly Chaldean Christians who were arrested in immigration raids in the state of Michigan, alarming local Iraqi communities.

The judge said his latest order temporarily halts removal proceedings against as many as 1,444 people, including in Tennessee and New Mexico, of whom 85 faced removal as early as Tuesday.

The order comes as the federal government prepares to block certain citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries from traveling to the US, after the Supreme Court Mo

nday partially reinstated President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban ahead of a hearing on the case.