The Bush Administration has been under pressure to let more Iraqi refugees move to the United States. In the summer of 2007 the administration was getting ready to admit up to 7,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September. But critics say the number of refugees being allowed to come to the U.S. is still too small.
Should the U.S. admit more refugees from Iraq?
Does the American government have a special moral obligation to assist individuals who helped the United States on the ground in Iraq? How many Iraqis should be admitted?
Of course the U.S. should admit Iraqi refugees -- if they want to live here. I guess any place is better than the killing fields that they're in now. Why should countries like Sweden, who has admitted thousands of Iraqi refugees, have to pay for the sins of America?
One more thing; if the U.S. has a problem with the leader of a country, why do the civilians of the country have to pay with their lives? Saddam has already been put to death. Saddam was the Iraqis' problem, not ours. Saddam destroyed the weapons in 1991, and the little weapons that were left were bombed while Clinton was in office. It's past time to leave Iraq.
No! Look at what's happening in Britain and Australia with S. Asian physicians. We have our hands full just taking care of our own. We should leave the rest of the world in peace. They will thank us, and prosper on their own.
The is responsible for their action and I think they should accept all of the refugees from Iraq. Then blame it on Mr. Bush for going in and committing war crimes and let him have the refugees in his state.
NO! The US does have a moral obligation to assist Iraqi refugees but, that’s not to say we should bring these individuals here to the US. The Iraqi refugees wishing to reside in the US most likely respect our ways and, should continue to create a similar life for themselves and their families in Iraq.
Yes! I don't know why such general xenophobia has recently emerged like a disease among America's politicians. However, I am of the mind that we should let almost anyone into the country who wants to be here. Especially people who's lives we ruined though our military action. What are so many people worried about? That there might be more spicy food or new music on the streets? Or perhaps that the world is larger that Tancredo-land?
Yes, every single Iraqi (or other serving in Iraq) who has risked life and limb to help our soldiers should be welcome and offered haven in the US, with family members who want to come along and could not safely be left behind.
What's the big deal? Just ship them to Mexico and have them cross the border, or better yet Canada has unlimited number of work visas; just get one of those and then thanks to NAFTA the Iraqi can enter the US (TN Visa). Then all he has to do is get some woman pregnant or do a sham marriage...
Immigration laws are a joke and the world knows it.
My CATHOLIC Ex-Iraqi husband's family are scattered all over the world. He has spent his life trying to get his brothers and sisters out of that horrible place. When the US tightened down on Iraqi refugees, he had no choice but to try to help them get to other countries that would take them. He will most likely never get to see any of these last ones again. As for the border comment; he has a cousin who went from Iraq, to Russia, to China, to France, to Bolivia, to Mexico trying to get here to be with her sister in Chicago. She made it about 20 miles across the border when the immigration people picked her up. She could speak no English, only her Chaldean language and Arabic. She did learn enough Spanish from a girl she befriended who was from Bolivia to get across to them who & what she was, but they still kept her locked up in Pearsall for two months before they would let my husband go and get her. I felt so sorry for her. She would not sleep with the lights off, even though she was safe in our house. Some of these people who comment on here need to investigate what really happens and why. Not everyone in Iraq agrees with the politics there, but all of them suffer, and some more than others no matter who is in power.
How many brothers and sister does your Iraqi husband have? And where are they now?
The whole Iraq situation is very sad for Iraqi people and American servicemen alike. You husband's cousin's experience seems very traumatic, and one has to wonder how receptive the Mexican government has been to Iraqi refugees. Certainly, his cousin could have applied for political asylum in France, Bolivia, and Mexico, not to mention Russia and China. All these countries subscribe to the Geneva convention on refugees, and one would think one of these nations would have afforded her a more permanent residence. It would be difficult for her to get asylum in the US, since she did not seem to have applied for that status in any other the 5 nation through which she travelled. I don't think a family member as distant as a cousin in eligible for sponsorship by a US resident.
I think the US record of admitting Iraqis is shameful. Yes, we, perhaps, need to be careful, but if we've trusted people to work for us there, why shouldn't they be trusted to work with us here? The present policies do not make sense.
I also think we should help countries like Jordan and Syria financially to deal with the millions of displaced Iraqis they've generously taken in. When people have nowhere else to go, the least we can do is share our wealth and keep them from becoming the world's next generation of terrorists.
I was listening to your report regarding the U.S. policy to admit Iraqi refugees who have helped us in our efforts to get control of the horrible situation in that country. As an American citizen, who values our own freedoms I feel we have a tremendous moral obligation to help anyone who cooperated with us it is vitally important that we allow these refugees to enter the United States. They took a risk and to leave them behind would be intolerable to me and as far as I am concerned to our government. We cannot afford toleave them behind to be slaughtered by the insurgents.
Of the myriad blunders, errors, acts of arrogance, etc. commited by the US in Iraq for which the people of this country should feel a deep sense of shame, our failure to assist and protect those who've worked with American troops and advisors is the most aggregious. We owe these brave people and their families a safe haven after they've put their talents to work and their lives on the line in our ill-conceived and terribly managed war that has destroyed the fabric of Iraq. My family has applied to sponsor a family from Iraq, but only 70 families have made it to the US. We took care of Vietnames refugees in the tens of thousands following the fall of Saigon; many of these had acted as interpreters, translators, liasons, etc. for our government. It is the same with Iraquis who've answered our call for help, but we do nothing for them. Of course, we do precious little for our veterans, who have also answered the call. This administration, so overt in its Christian belief, shows a callousness that is beyond the pale. Didn't Chris say something to the effect that 'by their acts we shall know them'? What do our acts say about us?
Absolutely not. There is a rational limit to our sacrifice in Iraq -- and there are more pressing problems here at home -- and it would be too easy for fake alligence to gain access to more American largess. There are more deserving charities in the world. We have done enough. Enough already! RH
I believe we must admit more Iraqis; however, one issue that is rarely raised in this discussion is how are we to tackle the challenges of resettlement?
I know that this is an area of concern for those who work with refugees. How can we prepare the communities where Iraqis are to be relocated? How can we ensure Iraqi refugee safety? These issues need to be part of the discussion.
Thank you for considering how the resettlement of Iraqi refugees would be done. I remember when I sponsored my first refugee family from Vietnam many many years ago. They were sometime called horrible names and threatened even when just grocery shopping. Those who are sponsoring Iraqi families can start to prepare their communities, education is the key. UNHCR has materials that teachers can use in the schools to teach student, what is a refugee, why and how do they come to the U.S. things of that nature. Iraqi's who arrive after the first Gulf War and are now firmly resettled may be helpful in explaining to groups about refugee resettlement and the experiences they had. The local media, if willing, can help prepare the way with articles about refugee resettlement and the Iraqi's that will be coming. Some of the refugee resettlement agencies also try to settle newly arriving refugees in areas that already have a population of Iraqi's or at least Arabic or Kurdish speakers. It is not easy but it can be done and Americans are usually accepting of people once they get to know they as individuals not as an "Iraqi" of as a "refugee". We just have to help them get to know them so they can see them as human beings. People are basically people where ever you go. Most just want to be able to work, raise a family and live in peace.
06/21/2007 5:10:33 PM
