Michigan's Chaldeans helped Trump win in 2016,
will they be his downfall?
Outside each of the nearly identical beige houses, on the mown green lawns are the identical blue Trump-Pence 2020 signs.
This is Michigan’s Commerce Township, as close to the textbook definition of suburban America as you’ll find.
But then there’s Crystal Jabiro’s house. The white banners flanking the front door proudly display her support for Donald Trump’s rival, Joe Biden.
Crystal Jabiro shows her support for Joe Biden in her predominantly pro-Trump suburb of Commerce Township. Courtesy: Crystal Jabiro
Crystal Jabiro shows her support for Joe Biden in her predominantly pro-Trump suburb of Commerce Township. Courtesy: Crystal Jabiro
Crystal sits around the dining room table with two friends, passionately discussing the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign.
It’s a controversial topic for many in their community.
All three are members of Michigan’s sizeable Chaldean population, a group of devout Catholics who originate from Iraq. The community is tight-knit and heavily conservative in their politics.
“Many of our community members are single-issue voters, they look at what the Church preaches and they preach pro-life, and they preach against gay marriage, and that’s understandable as a Catholic church – those are tenets of our church – but I think that a lot of people just don’t take the time to really do their research. Most of them will just vote Republican,” Crystal says.
'Many of our community members are single-issue voters... Most of them will just vote Republican'
Flipping Michigan was crucial to Mr Trump’s win in 2016. Keeping it in 2020 will be a factor to him staying president and that won’t be an easy task given that Mr Trump won by just 11,000 votes. Michigan’s 95,000 Chaldean registered voters are expected to be pivotal.
While the community is traditionally conservative in value and vote, Crystal represents one of a growing number bucking the trend.
In what she describes as a fit of panic, she selected President Trump in 2016 but regretted it. “I just knew right when I put the ballot through the machine that I had made a mistake and I couldn’t go back and change it,” Crystal tells The National.
She says she tried to give President Trump a chance, but was left disappointed with nearly every policy decision he made.
As a mother, she says Mr Trump’s so-called Muslim ban and family separations at the United States’ southern border were especially disappointing.
But then, something happened that hit much closer to home.
An exodus
From 1.5 million Christians before 2003, there are less than 250,000 Christians in Iraq today. In 2014 alone, 700,000 of the roughly million Assyrian and Chaldeans in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains fled their homes as ISIS carved a path through the country. The Christian communities in neighbouring Syria, Jordan and those in Lebanon have also shrunk in recent decades through a mix of emigration and attrition.
Community rocked by mass deportation order
One Sunday in June 2017, as many families were leaving church, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents descended on the community. Hundreds with charges for misdemeanours – anything from petty theft or assault down to public intoxication – or more serious felonies were detained and threatened with deportation.
Many had immigrated to the US with their families as young children and knew no other home.
Warda Slewo was one of those detained. Sitting at their dining room table, his daughter Ashourina, 26, recounts the terrifying days and months that Warda spent in custody.
“We couldn’t even go visit him because he was in Ohio [305km away]. Towards the end, I had to beg him not to sign a voluntary waiver to be deported. That’s not a position any child should have to be in,” she recalls.
Ashourina and her father Warda Slewo play with their 4 month-old German Shepherd puppy, Percy, at their home in Madison Heights. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Ashourina and her father Warda Slewo play with their 4 month-old German Shepherd puppy, Percy, at their home in Madison Heights. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Following the round-up, the Chaldean Community Foundation fought back. It hired big law firms and teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to battle the deportation orders. They argued the Chaldeans and other Christian Iraqis faced persecution and even death if they returned to Iraq.
But for many – including Warda – being released on bail to await a trial didn’t mean the threat of deportation was lifted.
The government appealed against the bail order in 2018 and won, meaning ICE agents could again go and arrest those they detained in 2017.
“Our fear is that he’s going to get detained again. The threat is very real,” says Ashourina. Her father’s immigration case is not scheduled to be heard until 2022.
The community has tried to take the issue to the top.
The Chaldean Community Foundation say they brought the matter to Vice President Mike Pence’s attention during private meetings. In January of this year, at a speech in Warren, Michigan where many Chaldeans live and work, President Trump promised to address the issue of deportations and offered an extension that would allow Chaldeans to stay in the US.
While a bipartisan bill was introduced to Congress that would defer the removal of those detained for two years, Mr Trump has yet to take any action to stop the deportations.
His administration has also been vocal about protecting minorities in the Middle East – particularly the region’s dwindling Christian community.
But the whole experience has scarred Ashourina, who says she is vehemently against the president, a man her father once supported and would have probably backed if he were eligible to vote.
“When people in our community got rounded up, I thought this is it, this is going to be the tipping point that is going to drive people to not vote for Trump,” she says.
While that was the case for people like Crystal and her friends, Ashourina believes they are still the anomaly.
“There are people who are willing to look at what happened to our community and still vote for Trump and they do so very loudly without any type of remorse. To me it’s a betrayal,” she says.
Martin Manna, President of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and Chaldean Community Foundation. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Martin Manna, President of the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and Chaldean Community Foundation. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Martin Manna, who runs both the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce and the Chaldean Community Foundation, says the deportation orders won’t stop many voting according to their religious and fiscally conservative values.
“I think most people have been able to get through the [legal] process, so it’s not as if it was in 2017. We’re in a much better place and I do believe, with Michigan being a swing state, that there will be some action before the election,” says Mr Manna although time is running short.
“I’m still under the mindset that the President will come through on his promise that he’ll issue some kind of deferral.”
For Fadi Yashooa, a recent Chaldean immigrant from Baghdad who’s lived in the Detroit area for three years, the deportations don’t even factor into his support for the president.
“If you do any crime or something like this, I think you shouldn’t stay here in the United States,” he says. The 39-year-old has embraced all things Trump, going so far as to start a Facebook group called Arab Republicans that translates positive news stories and memes about Mr Trump into Arabic.
Fadi Yashooa of Sterling Heights runs a pro-Republican Facebook group in Arabic aimed at Iraqi Christians. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Fadi Yashooa of Sterling Heights runs a pro-Republican Facebook group in Arabic aimed at Iraqi Christians. Sophie Tremblay / The National
Mr Biden’s campaign has acknowledged the importance of the Chaldean vote in Michigan. In September, an official Chaldean advisory council to the campaign was formed and Crystal, who is a member, says they are working to build a platform to address issues of importance to the community – including the deportations.
'My perspective is still pro-life,
but when you’re pro-life you need to be about all the life'
Crystal is speaking out to her more than 3,000 Facebook friends, where her posts usually get dozens of shares and hundreds of comments, to try to convince other Chaldeans that voting for a more liberal party doesn’t mean abandoning conservative values.
“My perspective is still pro-life, but when you’re pro-life you need to be about all the life. You have to be about life after it comes out of the womb. So, if you’re pro-life you have to care about Black lives, you have to care about refugee lives, poor lives, Muslim lives,” she says.
“If we’re going to say we’re pro-life then we better make sure that we care about everybody.”
Her campaigning has caused issues with some of the community. Crystal says she’s received threats. She and her family have been insulted and elder members of the community have warned she will be ostracised from the church and community.
Some of those sending the threats are members of her extended family.
But, she says, she’s also received a flood of private messages from Chaldeans wanting a change in administration. She says they thanked her for offering an alternate viewpoint.
While Crystal says she knows she can’t convince the majority of her community, with Michigan’s razor-thin margins in the polls, she believes that even convincing a few Chaldeans could swing the vote.
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