Two hours and fifty four minutes ago (about 17 hours into the first day of March), AP reporter Matthew Lee filed his monthly story on the Iraqi refugee numbers for February. I was only joking this morning and didn’t really expect to see the same story—with a slight twist—right on cue. The story still bashes the Bush Administration but he reports that the numbers have actually gone up a little, still falling way short of the numbers needed to reach the magic 12, 000 Iraqi refugees by Sept.30, 2008.
WASHINGTON – The number of Iraqi refugees admitted to the United States rose slightly for the second month in a row, although the Bush administration still will struggle to meet its target of 12,000 by the end of September.
_________
The State Department said Saturday that 444 Iraqi refugees entered the country in February. That puts total admissions for the current budget year, which began Oct. 1, at 1,876 and leaves the administration seven months to admit 10,124 to reach its goal.
Get ready for thousands to begin arriving in May because as Matthew never fails to remind us we have a moral obligation to bring them here to put them to work cleaning motels and receiving taxpayer-funded welfare. (No, he doesn’t really say that last part!)
“We think the turning point will come by May,” Foley [State Dept] said, noting that there are thousands of refugee interviews scheduled this month and next.