Category: Iraqi refugees

Advocacy group says U.S. is failing to expedite Iraqi refugees who helped U.S.

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A press release from Human Rights First states:

Only 4,200 Iraqis with U.S. ties have made it to the United States since 2003, though at least 20,000 have applied, and the number of U.S.-affiliated Iraqis may be as high as 146,000, according to a new report issued today by a leading human rights group.

The report, Promises to the Persecuted: The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2008, issued by Human Rights First, examines implementation of this critical legislation.

The point of the legislation was to shorten the processing time for Iraqis who had helped the U.S.  But times remain long.

“Iraqis seeking safety in the United States can wait a year or more for their applications to move through the system,” says Human Rights First’s Ruthie Epstein, who authored the report. “We pin the delays on two problems – inadequate staffing and inefficient security clearance procedures. The result is that thousands of U.S.-affiliated Iraqis are stuck in Iraq and other countries in the region, facing danger and destitution. The absene of direct access to the U.S. refugee program in Syria and Turkey, where the need is significant, exacerbates the problem.”

I posted on Human Rights First in December. At that time a spokesman was criticizing the Iraqi government’s campaign to get refugees to return home, saying the refugees saw it as propaganda.

I’ve long been puzzled by the lack of emphasis until very recently on helping the Iraqi refugees to return.  And I’ve wondered at statements from refugees that they would be killed if they returned, even after sectarian violence in Iraq was greatly reduced. Now I wonder if our correspondent Vav could help me out. Are Iraqis who helped the United States still in special danger? Could they safely return? Seeing how badly off so many Iraqi refugees are in this country, would it make sense to put more emphasis on repatriating even those Iraqis with ties to Americans?

Iraqi Refugee gets beat up in Oakland, CA

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just another urban crime in a city apparently out of control.  Refugees just need to get used to it!   From the Contra Costa Times  (link not cooperating, will post it later):

OAKLAND — He grew up under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and lived through three years of Iraq’s chaotic 21st century war.

But it was not until this month, his sixth in the United States, that Khalid first felt the violent blows of another man’s fists and shoes.

A mob attacked and robbed the Iraqi refugee on his way home from work through East Oakland three weeks ago.

He is o.k. and there is no evidence that he was targeted because he is an immigrant, but the experience is going to change his life.

“I just came to the U.S. I’m discovering why these things happen,” said Khalid, who asked that his full name not be published because he fears retaliation. Transit officials confirmed the details of his case, which has not been solved.

[….] 

I’m trying to find some solutions,” he said. “I’ll get a car, maybe, just to avoid the bus again. No public transportation anymore, especially in Oakland. I’ll change my apartment, no living in Oakland. Or I’ll change my job, no more working in Oakland.”

The other day I mentioned that it isn’t the US State Department that picks “welcoming” cities, it’s the volags (the non-profit federal contractors) themselves.  They rule the roost!    Two months ago we reported that an Iraqi family in Oakland was deathly afraid of venturing into their neighborhood.  This story must confirm to them that their fears were not unfounded.

The city has long been a destination for refugees like Khalid, in part because resettlement organizations have chosen it as a good destination because of the low cost of housing, access to public transit and long history of accommodating new immigrants from across the globe.

But a series of violent episodes that refugees have recently reported to aid groups has caused concern.

The International Rescue Committee representative says they are a “little alarmed.”

Generally speaking, we’re a little alarmed with the number of incidents we’ve heard about recently, mostly on transit systems,” said Don Climent, regional director of the International Rescue Committee.

The aid organization helps incoming refugees adjust to a new life in the Bay Area. Although many of those refugees fled wars and repressive political regimes, the seeming randomness of urban American crime requires a new kind of street sense.

It’s time for the US State Department to take a cue from Khalid, and disallow the IRC from making Oakland a “destination” for refugees.   Besides as we reported in that February post linked above, there are no jobs in Oakland, CALIFORNIA anyway.

Take action and complain* to Obama’s recently designated pick for Asst. Secretary of State in charge of refugees, here, and tell him to stop resettlement in dangerous communities.

*  We had originally intended to do more calls to action when we began RRW, but it kind of went by the wayside mostly because we were lucky to have time to post stories, let alone direct grassroots action.  Will try harder to find opportunities for readers to get involved.

Iraqi refugee: America is a bad dream

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

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!

Iraqi says Rudd government will let them in

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Australian reported yesterday that  Iraqis waiting in Indonesia for United Nations processing are ready to hop a boat to Australia now that the tougher enforcer of immigration, John Howard, is no longer in power.   Rudd denies it.

KEVIN Rudd has brushed off suggestions Iraqis waiting in Indonesia for their refugee claims to be processed plan to head to Australia due to his government’s policies.

The Prime Minister’s comments come as two Indonesian men, aged 32 and 40, faced Perth Magistrates Court charged with people-smuggling offences. They were remanded in custody until May 15.

An Iraqi man, who has been living in Indonesia for nine years and is a confirmed refugee awaiting resettlement by the UNHCR, says he was aboard a boat from Lombok to Australia in 2001 that was intercepted by the Australian navy and turned back to Indonesia. But he has since heard from family in Australia that things have changed under the Rudd Government.

“Kevin Rudd, he change everything about the future,” he told ABC Radio.

“If I go to Australia now, different, different. Maybe accepted. But when John Howard (was the Prime Minister of) … Australia he said come back to Indonesia.”

Read it all.

It’s pretty much a ‘given’ isn’t it, if a country loosens its rules, asylum seekers will take more chances?

One bit in here that interested me is that the Iraqi quoted above says he tried to get into Australia in 2001.  To hear the refugee lobbyists tell it, the Iraqi refugee problem sprang up in 2003 with the US arrival in Iraq.  They NEVER mention how severe the problem was under Saddam Hussein.  And, as I have said on previous occasions I would have more respect for groups like Refugees International if when they blamed the US for the refugee problem,  they would each time acknowledge it existed under Saddam Hussein too.   See this post from almost a year ago on the topic of hiding  previous complaints about Saddam Hussein creating refugees.

Iraqi government is compiling stats on displaced Iraqis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This should be interesting. From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

BAGHDAD — Iraqi Displacement and Migration Minister Abdul-Samad Rahman Sultan says Baghdad is working closely with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to build a reliable database about Iraqi communities abroad, RFE/RL’s Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports.

The work is to prepare for the national census in October.

The data will also include a breakdown of qualifications and educational levels.

Sultan said the goal is to encourage well-educated Iraqis to return home.

Sultan added that reliable statistics about Iraqis living in Europe are particularly lacking.

The longstanding estimate is that 2 million Iraqis have left the country. They are not counting internally displaced people, but that number has been estimated at 2.5 million. I generally hold to the rule that reality is never as bad as estimates and media reports in any area (such as environmental problems), but occasionally wartime figures turn out worse than estimated. If I had to bet, I’d place my money on the not-as-bad scenario. There are always reasons to inflate numbers and few incentives to deflate them. This is not to question, of course, the pathetic circumstances of most of the Iraqi refugees, only the estimate of their numbers.