Ex Trump adviser helps Iraqis president wants to deport -- for a price
Source: Politico
Walid Phares has defended the president's travel ban while also working as an expert witness on behalf of people facing deportation as a result of the policy.
By NAHAL TOOSI 08/27/2017 07:11 AM EDT
A former campaign adviser to Donald Trump is offering to testify in court on behalf of Iraqi Christians in the United States who suddenly face deportation under the Republican president — for a hefty fee.
Walid Phares, a Lebanese-American academic, advised Trump on foreign affairs during the 2016 presidential campaign. He also has appeared on the Fox News and Fox Business channels to promote Trump’s national security policies, including the travel bans that would temporarily bar Iraqi Christian refugees, among others, from U.S. soil.
At the same time, Phares charges unusually high fees — up to $15,000 or more, according to lawyers — to testify in immigration proceedings about the dangers facing people deported to Iraq, where Christians and others with U.S. ties are often killed.
Activists who work with Iraqis in the U.S. are questioning Phares’ dual role as an advocate of
Trump’s harsher immigration policies and a defender of those who are being affected. Some critics point out that the main reason Iraqis in America are now subject to deportation is because of the fallout from the Trump travel bans that Phares has supported. “This is a monster that he was part of creating, and now he’s asking people for thousands of dollars to help protect them from it,” said Steve Oshana, executive director of A Demand for Action, a group that helps Christians in the Middle East. “It’s a shame. It’s taking advantage of people when they’re at their most vulnerable.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/27/trump-adviser-iraq-deportations-242040
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