Gee, I wonder why. Just one more in a long list of stories about the large number of Iraqis being resettled in the US and then not finding employment.
From Prospect Journal:
When these refugees arrive in the country, the U.S. federal government provides them with a monthly stipend of around $800 to help them get situated. However, the payments expire after eight months, which is assumed to be an adequate amount of time to resettle, gain employment, and assimilate into the local community. Not surprisingly, this does not happen in most cases. Instead, refugees become increasingly reliant on non-profit organizations like the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Charities to provide assistance in a number of tasks ranging from the complicated immigration process to filing online job applications in the service sector. [The writer doesn’t know that these two supposed non-profits are actually the government contractors responsible for the resettlement in the first place. They are being paid by the federal government to assist the refugees-–ed]
The quest for employment can be long and defeating. Of the few employers that are hiring in the midst of an economic downturn, few are hiring middle-aged refugees without a native grasp of the English language or experience in the American workforce. Yalda has filed numerous online and in-person job applications, but has yet to receive a follow-up call from a single employer. The refugees that do gain employment usually find work in the low-level service industry, which primarily consists of jobs in the hotel, retail, and manual labor sectors. These industries offer poor wages and poor prospects for job mobility.
What! No meat-packers in El Cajon. By the way, disgruntled Iraqis have gone home to Iraq. It is possible to do. As a matter of fact, I’ve advocated that the US State Department fly them home (or to the Middle East somewhere) if they are unhappy and on welfare here. In fact, it wouldn’t be unprecedented. Remember in 1999 we brought about 15,000 unhappy Kosovars here and shipped about 10,000 back the following year, here.
The price of the return airline ticket would sure be less costly to the taxpayers in the long run.