A longtime Michigan resident who had never been to Iraq but was deported there in June died this week after he couldn't get insulin to treat his diabetes, supporters said Thursday.
Jimmy Aldaoud, 41, who was born in Greece and came to the United States as an infant, was deported to Iraq on June 2. He died in Baghdad on Tuesday, Edward Bajoka, an immigration attorney in Michigan and a family friend of Aldaoud's, told NBC News.
"Jimmy died tragically yesterday of a diabetic crisis. His death could have and should have been prevented, as his deportation was essentially a death sentence," Aldaoud's congressman, Rep. Andy Levin, D-Mich., said in a statement Wednesday.
Aldaoud's parents were Iraqi refugees who decades ago fled to Greece, where Aldaoud was born. The family came to the United States about 40 years ago when Aldaoud was 6 months old, Aldaoud said in an undated Facebook video.
