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TechnoratiUS Admissions of Iraqi Refugees Fall Far Short of Bush Administration Goal
WASHINGTON - US admissions of Iraqi refugees are nose-diving amid bureaucratic in-fighting despite the Bush administration's pledge to boost them to roughly 1,000 per month, according to State Department statistics obtained by the Associated Press.
For the third straight month since the United States said it would improve processing and resettle 12,000 Iraqis by the end of the current budget year on Sept. 30, the number admitted has slid, the figures show.
The steady decline - from 450 in October to 362 in November and 245 in December - means the administration will have to allow in 10,943 Iraqis over the next nine months, or roughly 1,215 per month, to meet the target it has set for itself.
But that goal will be difficult to meet and there are few precedents for such large influxes since hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese refugees resettled here after the Vietnam War ended in 1975.
In the past five years, with few exceptions, notably Somalia and Liberia, the United States has never been able to admit more than 1,000 refugees per month from any country, according to an AP review of statistics from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Iraqi refugees are subject to more security checks than those from almost all other nations, and the most Iraqis ever admitted to the United States in a single month since 2003 was 889 this September.
The administration has come under heavy criticism from advocacy groups and lawmakers for its poor performance on admitting Iraqi refugees who have fled violence since the 2003 US invasion. Many critics say, and Bush aides have acknowledged, that the administration has a moral obligation to Iraqi refugees.
In response, it vowed to fix the problems that include bickering between the State Department, which is in charge of refugee resettlement, and the Homeland Security Department, which must screen would-be Iraqi admittees, and a lack of cooperation from countries, notably Syria, where many of the estimated 2 million Iraqi refugees are seeking shelter.
Two senior officials from the agencies were appointed in September to remedy the bureaucratic slowdowns, but four months later there has yet to be significant improvement, although the number allowed in fiscal 2008 - now 1,057 - is nearing the total for the previous fiscal year of 1,608.
That fiscal 2007 figure was nearly 400 short of a modest annual goal of 2,000, and a big reduction from an initial target of 7,000.
US officials have conceded that the figures remained low but insisted that improvements in processing, along with new cooperation from Syrian authorities, would lead to substantial jumps in the admissions figures from Iraq starting in the spring. And they insisted yesterday that the 12,000 target remained administration policy.
"The goals are still the same," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "We haven't lowered the bar."
Refugee advocates, though, said they are disappointed that the administration's initiatives have yet to produce results, particularly as conditions for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and other neighboring countries worsen.
"This is quite a shocking result," said Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International.
"We keep hearing they are bolstering the program, but the figures keep going down. The next months are going to be make-or-break for the program," he said.
He said that persistent recent declines in admissions might be the result of the US winter holiday season, which may have reduced the number of interviewers dispatched to screen refugees in the region, but Bacon stressed that the process should not be dependent on the vacations of American officials.
"That may reflect some of the slowness, but it doesn't mean the needs are becoming increasingly urgent during our holidays," Bacon said. "We're in a new year and without major holidays for the next few months, they ought to be able to ramp these numbers up. The problem is they keep promising and not delivering."
© 2007 Associated Press
10 Comments so far
Show AllThe answer to the Iraqi refugee problem is to leave Iraq, leave Iraqis alone, let them restore their pre invasion army and police (loyal to state and not bought by the CIA and their militias) think the unthinkable and allow the former remanants of the regime -who kept stability in one of the most complex countries on earth - back.
Those who want the oil, understand neither the language of the culture are doomed to death and failure. The Iraqis will return and rebuild their country as they have for thousands of years.
Pity about Carlile, Halliburton, Kellog Brown and Root etc and Chevron, Shell etc. But hey ho America will find a new oil soaked enemy. Oh and they and the UK should pay billions in reparation to the legitimate goverment of Iraq for their destruction, rape, torture, pillage, theft and for committing Nuremberg's 'supreme international crime', a war of aggression. Roll on Nuremberg 11. Politicians and Generals responsible: 'Bring 'em on.'
j.
Anyone know what AIPAC's position (if it has one) is on Iraqi immigration? I wouldn't be surprised if they oppose it because they don't want a growing Arab-American population to influence American foreign policy.
There was something like 500 Congressmen who voted to authorize force in Iraq. So the solution to the refugee problem seems pretty straight forward to me: Each of those Congressmen needs to personally sponsor approximately 1,000 Iraqi families to resettle in the US. Consider it a test of their sincerety.
It isn't racism. Living near Philly, I see Iranians, Iraqis, Russians, Indians, Pakistanis, Koreans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabs,... every week. (And we have a lot of very different restaurants.) Mexicans and Puerto Ricans every day. We all get along just fine. They aren't any particular political persuasion, just happy to be here. (There is a problem with the children of one ethnic group murdering each other almost one per day.)
Many (maybe the majority) of the engineering and science grad students at Penn, Drexel and Temple are foreign born. These kids aren't neonazis. They are future scientists, engineers and leaders whether they eventually stay here or go home.
There is a little envy or grousing and mockery now and then. "Vijay saved the money from his Chem E job, opened a restaurant and brought his whole family over!" Red forehead dots are "Push starts", and turbans are "Pull starts". Silly stuff like that.
The problem is the Bush administration lies and doublespeak. Even government officials must be confused when the press release says one thing and the political appointees tell them to do the opposite. It costs money to take in refugees, and we are fresh out. The neocon plan is to exploit Iraqi resources, not take care of its people. Kind of the way it treats Americans.
The Iraqis aren't losing anything by not coming to the U.S. Canada is a much better country; not as racist, and they'd get jobs that paid a decent wage there, unlike the U.S. The Swedes, who had nothing to do with the attack on Iraq, took in thousands of Iraqi refugees. The U.S. should reimburse Sweden for doing their job for them.
Why are liberals so naive? Since WW11, the US has mostly let in right wing people willing to kill their fellow citizens in service of US imperialism. Their reward has been to come here, where they promptly join the Republican Party, while Democrats sing kumbiyah and talk about the melting pot.
From the ratline funneling Nazis and Nazi collaborationists after WW11, to the murderous Cuban refugees, to the Vietnamese who collaborated in the Phoenix Program, to the Shah of Iran, to the killers in Chile, Haiti, El Salvador and others who came here when their jobs were done, the US no longer lifts its lamp to the tired and poor hungering to be free, but to those vicious enough to kill and loot the poor of their country of orgin.
That's why it's taking so long to process the Iraqis. They don't want those who have fled the killing, the ethnic cleansing and the repression in Iraq. They're waiting for when the death squads have finished their jobs, then the doors will open for Iraqi "refugees".
Kumbiyah.
damn, if they'd just wait a bit longer the trickle down was aiming right at them
The U.S. has always been a discriminator against honest and moral people and a recruiter of the dishonest. For a review, research their Cuban adjustment law whereby any person from Cuba who sets foot on U.S. soil is granted residency and citizenship. Such recruitment of the criminal element is normal for that evil scum who pride themselves on their evil deeds which they try to cloak to the world as "U.S. interests". What losers!
greenerthanthou is correct. Most of the legal immigrants I have met during the past 40 years articulate supply-side economic theory surprisingly well, considering that many don't speak much English.
GREENERTHANTHOU
absolutely spot on. it's a crying shame that those poor iraqis had to flee to neighbouring countries and are now being forced out of them. where do they go? what happens to them? but despite this upheaval, the iraqis i have met are still very warm and smiling people. i admire their courage in the face of adversity.