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Chaldean Christian immigrant Jimmy Al-Daoud dies after US deports him to Iraq

A Chaldean Christian immigrant to the US, Jimmy Al-Daoud, who was de­ported to Iraq, has reportedly died because he was unable to obtain insulin to treat his diabetes.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Al-Daoud was de­ported from Michi­gan in June even though he had not lived in Iraq since he was an infant and didn’t speak Arabic. Offi­cials said that when he was less than a year old, his parents fled to Greece, where they applied for refugee status in the US. The status was granted, and Al-Daoud was raised in the United States.

LaKeesha Walrond assumes presidency of New York Theological Seminary

LaKeesha Walrond, 47, became president of New York Theological Seminary on June 3. She is the first woman and first African American to hold the position.

For over a decade, Walrond served as executive pastor of First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, a congregation with more than 10,000 participants.  Earlier in her life, she earned a PhD in special education and literacy and worked for a decade as a teacher and principal in North Carolina. She has an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

New Light Conregation rabbi Jonathan Perlman asks attorney general not to seek death for Pittsburgh mass shooter

Rabbi Jonathan Perlman and his wife, Beth Kissileff, recently penned letters to Attorney General William Barr urging him not to seek the death penalty for Robert Bowers, the alleged gunman who opened fire at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, killing 11 worshipers.

Perlman is rabbi at New Light Congregation, one of three communities that met at the synagogue.