89933039007 A Chaldean man who lived in metro Detroit for more than 30 years was deported to Iraq in February, several days after speaking out to a pair of U.S. congresswomen about what he described as inhumane conditions at the immigrant detention center in northern Michigan.Sanan Atou, 43 and previously of Macomb Township, is not an Iraqi citizen, does not speak Arabic, and has not been in Iraq since he was 7 years old, he said. He is also Christian, a long-persecuted religious minority in Iraq. His brother, Sarmad Atou, calls his deportation a "death sentence."Atou was shackled at North Lake Processing Center and taken to Detroit Metropolitan Airport for a flight to Baghdad on Feb. 22. When he refused to board, he said six U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents physically carried him onto the Royal Jordanian Airlines plane against his will.Joe Williams, an immigration attorney involved in Atou's case, said he believed Atou's removal was a reprisal for his speaking out to U.S. representatives Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, and Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, during their Feb. 17 visit to North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin. In a press scrum after the news conference, Scholten said the lone English speaking male detainee she and Stevens were permitted to meet reported being held in solitary confinement for several weeks in a room so cold he couldn't feel his toes and that his guards were throwing his food into the cell."I think it was retaliation for him talking to the Congresspeople, due to the timing, due to the fact that his [case] was still pending,” said Williams.Atou was initially ordered deported in 2010 due to a conviction for conspiracy to distribute MDMA, a crime he committed in 2006 when he was 23. The immigration case dragged on in part because Iraq does not recognize Atou as a citizen and previously refused to accept forced returns on human rights grounds. The Free Press reported additional details of Atou's case in a May 7 story.At the time of his deportation, a federal court‑appointed adjudicator was considering a request for Atou's release. Court filings in the case included a recent verdict from an Iraqi federal court that Atou was "not considered as an Iraqi national by lineage or law and ... not entitled to acquire the Iraqi nationality.” ICE said in a statement that Atou's ultimate removal was not the result of his speaking out to lawmakers, saying it “was scheduled well in advance of any congressional visit or notification of a visit.”Atou and his brother told the Free Press Atou was born without a birth certificate outside of Iraq as his family fled the Iran‑Iraq war. The family later returned to Iraq before leaving for good when Atou was 7 years old, during the Gulf War, they said.A lack of Iraqi ID and an inability to speak Arabic can put westerners returned to Iraq at risk of detention, kidnapping or torture, an expert and attorneys involved with Atou's case said. U.S. State Department travel guidance warns Americans "do not travel to Iraq for any reason" and "leave now if you are there."ICE previously tried unsuccessfully to remove Atou from the U.S. twice, in July and August of 2025. In both instances, he refused to board flights at DTW, and ICE canceled his removal, the agency confirmed. A letter from ICE shared by Atou with the Free Press blamed the cancellations on Atou's “continued statements and agitation” and “refusal to exit the vehicle."Rep. Stevens described the detainee she and Scholten met with Feb. 17 as a member of the Chaldean community who had been living in Macomb County before he was detained. Scholten said they spoke with the man "extensively" while prison staff was present and that the man said he feared retribution for speaking candidly.“We’re going to be following up to make sure that this gentleman who spoke so freely to us doesn’t experience the retribution he’s afraid of experiencing,” Scholten said after her tour of North Lake.After Atou's deportation, a spokesperson for Scholten declined to answer Free Press questions, citing “casework privacy,” but said, “This issue is extremely important to the congresswoman.”A spokesperson for Stevens, who is running for U.S. Senate, said "Rep. Stevens’ office is here to help and assist with federal casework on behalf of constituents in her district. She and her team are working diligently to stand up for Michiganders against the outrageous abuses of power of the Trump administration." Atou was not living in Stevens' district when he was detained in July 2025.In 2019, a Chaldean man from Hazel Park who lacked ties in Iraq died after he was deported there, became homeless, and struggled to obtain insulin for his diabetes.The death of Jimmy Aldaoud, 41, sparked bipartisan calls to curb the Trump administration’s deportation of Iraqi nationals. Legislation introduced by former Rep. Andy Levin, D‑Bloomfield Township, and Rep. John Moolenaar, R‑Midland, would have halted the deportations of most Iraqi nationals for two years. The bill never made it out of committee and expired.Violet Ikonomova is an investigative reporter with the Detroit Free Press focused on government and police accountability. Contact her at vikonomova@freepress.comThis article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ICE deported Macomb man days after he spoke out to members of Congress