President's Corner: Protecting Iraqis - The U.S. Is Off to a Slow Start

For the second month in a row, the U.S. has admitted just one Iraqi refugee into the U.S. for resettlement. This sorry performance comes in the face of a State Department effort to show that it is aggressively protecting Iraqi refugees.
In February, Secretary of State Rice set up a special task force to deal with Iraqi refugees, the fastest growing refugee population in the world today. Undersecretary of State Dobriansky, the head of the task force, said on Feb. 14: “Efforts to assist and protect refugees include resettlement for the most vulnerable. The United States will do its part. We are expanding our capacity to receive referrals from UNHCR and plan to process expeditiously some 7,000 Iraqi refugee referrals in the near term.”

What does expeditious mean? Since February there has been a marked slowdown in the resettlement of Iraqi refugees. The U.S. admitted 11 from Iraq in February, eight in March and one each in April and May. If this is the State Department’s definition of expeditious, Iraqi refugees have little hope of coming to the U.S.

One explanation for the slowdown is that State was waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to draft standards for screening Iraqis. DHS announced its standards last week. This should clear the way for faster resettlement. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has referred about 5,000 Iraqis to the U.S. for processing.

DHS has a responsibility to make sure that our refugee resettlement program does not admit terrorists, war criminals and other threats to U.S. security. But the resettlement program is one of the least likely ways for a terrorist to gain entry into the U.S. To qualify for resettlement, a refugee must generally pass interviews and background checks by the UNHCR, the State Department and DHS. This process seems to have no trouble screening refugees from countries known for supporting or sheltering terrorists. In the current fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, the U.S. has resettled 2,767 refugees from Iran and 219 from Afghanistan, where both the Taliban and Al Qaeda are increasingly active. By contrast we have resettled only 70 from Iraq.

The sad thing is that many Iraqis with legitimate claims for resettlement fled Iraq because their lives were in danger after working for the U.S. Translators and others who have assisted U.S. soldiers, diplomats, contractors and humanitarian agencies are frequently attacked because they are seen as collaborators with an American-led occupation force.

With new DHS standards in place, I hope the stage is set for a rapid increase in resettlements from Iraq. If not, Iraqi refugees will be victims of the current inability of American and Iraqi troops to create secure conditions in Iraq and victims of Washington’s unwillingness to give particularly vulnerable Iraqis refuge in the U.S.

For the latest on the Iraqi refugee crisis click here and here.

And, as always, remember to visit our website for information on the crisis and our ongoing efforts to assist refugees.