Yes another sad story about Iraqi refugees suffering under the care of resettlement agencies in yet another US city. All of last year, we heard over and over again from groups like Refugees International how we needed to bring Iraqis to the US ASAP. Well they are here and they are very unhappy and what is Refugees International doing about it except lobbying for more Iraqis to come to the US?
This story is from Dallas, Texas. Although Transitionland will surely accuse me of posting another “melodramatic and silly” post as she did when we wrote about Kentucky recently, at least one Iraqi refugee is grateful that someone is collecting their stories in one place.
Damn, damn, damn, how is it that the story is the same in every city? And, I know its not just the Iraqi refugees suffering, it’s just that they are more willing to speak up.
This is a long article, please read it.
One refugee is quoted as saying:
His rent assistance stopped after four months, and to pay the bills he had to do the unthinkable. “I called my family in Iraq to send me money,” he said. And they asked him, “You are in America, and you are asking us for money?”
“They know that America is a dream, but it is a bad dream,” he said.
Another:
“Why do you put me here America so I can’t pay the rent?” he asked. Despair over his living conditions as a refugee landed him in the emergency room. The bill was $952. “Maybe I die here, not from the militia, but from getting sick.”
And a third:
“What’s the solution? What should I do?” she cries. “It’s the biggest mistake I made, to come over here. What is my fate?”
Maybe it’s time for people to write to the recently nominated Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and tell him this is going on around the country. We should be doing more to help Iraqis return to Iraq, help rebuild their country and if that isn’t possible we could do more to help them live among people who share their culture and way of life in the Middle East. What good are we doing plucking them from where they are comfortable and dropping them into poverty in strange (and sometimes dangerous) American cities?
Is this about the well-being of Iraqis or the do-gooders’ wish to feel good about themselves? Has the refugee resettlement industry become so sacrosanct that no one inside it is willing to speak up for reform, short of asking for a financial bailout? Problems are much more complex and widespread than some extra bucks will solve, and the mess needs to be cleaned up!