They could have contacted the Chaldean community in the United States to get help.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Iraqi-American smuggling ring in Peru

An estimated two-thirds of Iraq's Christians are Catholics of the Chaldean church and the smaller Assyrian Catholic church.

NPR: Iraqi Catholics Celebrate Easter

In February, gunmen abducted the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho.

CNN: Report details abuse of Christians

Casmoussa is a member of the Chaldean Church, part of a group of independent but related Eastern Catholic Churches that accept the pope as their head.

CNN: Video?shows?8 Chinese held in Iraq

Earlier this year the archbishop of the ancient Chaldean church was abducted in Mosul and murdered.

ECONOMIST: Iraq

The traditional liturgical language of both Assyrian and Chaldean Churches is Syriac - a derivative of Aramaic, the language thought to have been spoken by Jesus and his disciples.

BBC: Guide: Christians in the Middle East

If those arrested were Iraqi Chaldean Christians who frequently try to enter the U.S., claiming they face persecution in Iraq and California is home to a sizable Chaldean community, why make false statements and destroy documentation at all?

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Iraqi-American smuggling ring in Peru

Joseph Chaldean Church in Baghdad, some 200 worshipers stood and sat during parts of the Easter mass led by Father Saad Sirop.

NPR: Iraqi Catholics Celebrate Easter