Bush admin is discouraging resettlement of Iraqi refugees in the US

[sabra]

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/12/11/iraqi_exodus_could_test_bush_policy/

Iraqi exodus could test Bush policy
Total expected to exceed quota for refugees

WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled their homeland are likely to seek refugee status in the United States, humanitarian groups said, putting intense pressure on the Bush administration to reexamine a policy that authorizes only 500 Iraqis to be resettled here next year.

...

"It is quite possible that we will in time decide that because of vulnerabilities of certain populations that resettlement is the right option," Sauerbrey said. While acknowledging that the administration originally set a quota of no more than 500 Iraqi refugees, she said the president has the legal authority to admit 20,000 additional refugees.

...

Arthur E. "Gene" Dewey, who was President Bush's assistant secretary of state for refugee affairs until last year, said that "for political reasons the administration will discourage" the resettlement of Iraqi refugees in the United States "because of the psychological message it would send, that it is a losing cause."

...

Asked whether the United States has resettled any Iraqi who has applied for admission since the war began, Sauerbrey said, "If there have been any, it has been a handful."

...

An association representing Iraqi Christians, the Michigan-based Chaldean Federation of America, estimates that about 100,000 of the 120,000 Christians who have fled Iraq have relatives in America and want to immigrate here. Amid growing sectarian violence in largely Muslim Iraq, Christians have faced killings, torture, destruction of churches, assassination of priests, and confiscation of property.

[flordehinojos]

1. what is the bush administration afraid of?

1)terrorists coming to the u.s.a in the midst of iraqi refugees?

2) right wing war against non-caucasian immigrants?

3) the boogie man in bush's head?

[Phredicles]

2. An influx of people harboring a (well-justified) grudge against the US?

I don't see any way around our enormous responsibility to these people, though.

[rainbow4321]

3. Chimp's war has created 2.3 million Iraqi refugees

http://electroniciraq.net/news/2686.shtml

The UN estimates that 2.3 million Iraqis have fled violence in their country; 1.8 million have fled to surrounding countries, mainly Jordan and Syria, while some 500,000 have vacated their homes for safer areas within Iraq. An estimated 40,000 people are leaving Iraq every month for Syria alone, while other countries through out the Middle East, including Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran and Turkey are also seeing increased flows. Most Iraqis are determined to be resettled to Europe or North America, and few consider return to Iraq an option. With no legal work options in their current host countries, Iraqis are already exploring the use of false documents to migrate to Western nations.

"Iraqis who are unable to flee the country are now in a queue, waiting their turn to die," is how one Iraqi journalist summarizes conditions in Iraq today. While the US debates whether a civil war is raging in Iraq, thousands of Iraqis face the possibility of death every day all over the country. Refugees International met with dozens of Iraqis who have fled the violence and sought refuge in neighboring countries. All of them, whether Sunni, Shi'a, Christian or Palestinian, had been directly victimized by armed actors. People are targeted because of religious affiliation, economic status, or practicing professions that are viewed as being "anti-Islamic," including those of doctors, teachers, and even hairdressers. All of them fled Iraq because they had genuine and credible fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

Dramatically short of funds and staff in all three countries, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees can't provide adequate protection and assistance to Iraqis. The agency lacks the resources to process refugees' documentation adequately. Without staff to monitor borders, UNHCR depends on national governments for updated information on new arrivals. UNHCR is also unable to provide significant assistance to Iraqis, and receives very little support from other UN agencies that do not seem to acknowledge the extent of the crisis. The fact that Lebanon, Syria and Jordan are not state parties to the 1951 Refugees Convention further reduces UNHCR's ability to protect refugees.