To Chattanooga and dozens of cities across America…. There are so many articles in so many cities, that we won’t be able to tell you about them all. This is the last month of FY 08 and the State Department is bringing them in by the planeload to attempt to reach their magic refugee goals for the year. So, we will just mention those, like this one, that have some interesting bit of information to share.
As early as October, Chattanooga may be the new home to more than a dozen Iraqi refugees being resettled in the United States.
“We are looking forward to working with them,” said Marina Peshterianu, office coordinator for Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services in Chattanooga.
What attracted my attention here is the mention of Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services. In the first month of writing this blog I wrote a post (Strange Bedfellows) about a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 2003 to stop the FBI, under the Patriot Act, from interviewing Iraqi refugees that this volag had resettled.
The most interesting aspect of the ACLU lawsuit is that it also included the following participants:
In addition to Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, the groups participating in the lawsuit are Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor, which operates a mosque and school in Ann Arbor, Michigan; American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a national civil rights organization based in Washington D.C.; Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, a human services organization based in Dearborn, Michigan that operates a medical clinic as well as a center for refugees and torture victims; Council on American-Islamic Relations, a grassroots membership organization based in Washington D.C.; and The Islamic Center of Portland, Masjed As-Saber, which operates a mosque and school in Portland, Oregon.
Additionally, The Chattanooga Times Free Press story has an error I want to correct. They say:
So far in fiscal year 2008, which ends on Sept. 30, the United States has admitted close to 2,000 Iraqis, giving priority to those affiliated with the U.S. government and religious minorities, the Department of Homeland Security Web site states. Earlier this year, the U.S. government established a goal of resettling 12,000 Iraqi refugees for fiscal year 2008.
It is close to 12,000, not 2000. As of the end of August we brought 10,998 Iraqis to the US this fiscal year. In August alone we brought 2183. The way things are going this month the State Department will reach the 12,000 Iraqi refugee goal. Also, Senators Kennedy and Biden were successful in attaching a bill that would allow another 5000 special visas for Iraqis to a funding measure that President Bush signed into law. I don’t know how many of those special visas have been processed.
365 Iraqis with possible ties to terrorism have been rejected so far. See earlier post here.
We have written 226 posts on Iraqi refugees. See our special category here.