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U.S. may open doors to Iraqi 25,000
refugees
18.4.2007
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April
18, 2007
The United States could take in up to 25,000 Iraqi
refugees this year -- more than three times the
number it previously agreed to admit -- in an effort
to provide some relief to the crisis affecting
several Arab countries, the State Department said
yesterday.
The department also said it plans to allow Iraqis
and Afghans working for the U.S. government in their
respective countries to immigrate to the United
States after only three years of service instead of
the current 15 required by law.
"It's fair to say that, if we get the referrals
[from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees], we
could resettle up to 25,000 Iraqi refugees within
the president's determination this year," said Ellen
Sauerbrey, assistant secretary of state for
population, refugees and migration.
The Bush administration, criticized for resettling
only 466 Iraqis since the war began in 2003, said
last month that it could accept as many as 7,000 of
the more than 2 million Iraqi refugees this year.
The annual worldwide refugee cap set by Congress is
75,000.
In order to prevent any terrorists and other
dangerous Iraqis from coming to the United States,
the Department of Homeland Security is conducting
detailed interviews in several countries in the
region, U.S. officials said.
They declined to discuss specific questions and
techniques being used in the process, but said they
are taking all necessary measures to screen
applicants sufficiently.
Mrs. Sauerbrey spoke to reporters in Geneva, where
she was attending a two-day conference on the Iraqi
refugee crisis. Syria and Jordan, which are most
affected by the problem, appealed to the
participants to help in any way they can. Iraq said
it will spend $25 million to aid refugees in
neighboring countries.
UNHCR estimates there are more than 4 million
displaced Iraqis around the world, including 1.9
million inside Iraq and 2.25 million in neighboring
countries, of which 1.2 million are in Syria,
750,000 in Jordan, 100,000 in Egypt and 200,000 in
the Persian Gulf states. Only those who have left
Iraq are formally considered refugees.
At the same conference, Paula Dobriansky,
undersecretary of state for democracy and global
affairs, announced Washington's plan to make it
easier for Iraqis and Afghans working for the United
States to move to the United States.
Hundreds of local employees, known as Foreign
Service nationals, in Iraq and Afghanistan would be
eligible to apply for immigrant visas, commonly
referred to as green cards. U.S. officials said
those people, many of whom have lost family members,
deserve a reward for their sacrifice. "We want to do
right by people who have served well and honorably
on behalf of their country and the United States,
and we think that's important," State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
He urged Congress to swiftly pass a bill the Bush
administration is about to send to Capitol Hill
concerning special immigrant visa (SIV)
applications.
"The proposed legislation gives the secretary of
state the worldwide authority, under exceptional
circumstances, to lower the number of years a
Foreign Service national must work in order to be
eligible for the existing SIV program from 15 to 3
years," the department said in a separate statement.
Mrs. Dobriansky also endorsed two recently
introduced bills -- one in the Senate and one in the
House -- that "seek to expand the existing law on
SIV to allow as many as 1,500 interpreters under
Departments of Defense and State authority, serving
in Iraq and Afghanistan, access to the SIV program,"
the State Department said.
Mrs. Dobriansky is the chairman of Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice's Interagency Task Force on
Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons,
which was established in February.
washingtontimes com
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