Judge Will Consider Expanding Stay On Deportation Order Nationally

DETROIT (WWJ) - U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith has scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday morning to consider expanding his recent 14-day stay on deportations of Detroit-area Iraqi immigrants into a nationwide stay.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed a motion Saturday requesting an emergency hearing after discovering that 85 other Iraqis had been arrested in other parts of the country for immediate deportation.

"Like what will happen is the judge will expand the order -- whether or not this judge really has the authority to do that -- I think that's going to be the big issue tomorrow," says WWJ legal analyst Charlie Langton. "Can a judge in Detroit basically prevent the government across the country from deporting these Iraqi Christians back to Iraqi."

The current 14-day stay applies to 114 Iraqi nationals who were arrested in Metro Detroit over the weekend of June 11.