Iraqi Refugees - more to enter US

Holy Gawd! If we aren't getting enough immigrants - illegals, soon to be legals - we'll just start a few wars and then import the refugees. Have we lost our freaking minds? There is only one viable answer - YES! Of course, this case is arguably different in that we put some of these people at further risk. The following is from the Washington Times as gathered from the Associated Press: U.S. opens door wider for Iraqi refugees, May 31, 2007.

The United States will soon begin admitting a bigger trickle of the more than 2 million refugees who have fled Iraq, acknowledging for the first time that Iraq may never be safe for some who have helped the U.S. there. After months of delays, the Bush administration has finalized new guidelines to screen Iraqi refugees, including those seeking asylum because helping Americans has put them at huge risk. More than 2 million people have left Iraq, but Washington has balked at allowing them into the United States for security reasons. Since the war began in 2003, fewer than 800 Iraqi refugees have been admitted into the United States. Now, under enhanced screening measures aimed at weeding out potential terrorists -- announced this week by the Department of Homeland Security -- the administration plans to allow nearly 7,000 Iraqis to resettle in the United States by the end of September. An initial group of 59, including former U.S. government employees and their families, should arrive in the coming weeks, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

A good question for Chertoff is how many feet of the border fence between the US and Mexico have been built? I mean if the concern is "national security." His answer is none, zero, zip, nada. And we expect folks like Chertoff and others to "protect" us and our sovereignty. I'm telling you, it makes a lady want to swear "like a sailor." The only way to keep our sanity is to have more children, home school these children, and muster up the courage to march in the streets against the "amnesty" bill. Can't, you say? No, we're too busy working to pay for all the benefits the refugees and illegals are getting. That Chertoff would even be able to speak the words, "we also must be mindful of the security risks," when our borders are OPEN is remarkable if not duplicitous.

As with incoming refugees from other countries, Iraqis accepted for resettlement in the U.S. will be given assistance from both government and private aid agencies, including language and job training in the communities that will be their new homes, officials said. "America's tradition of welcoming international refugees and responding to humanitarian emergencies is unrivaled," Mr. Chertoff said. "Yet we also must be mindful of the security risks associated with admitting refugees from war-torn countries -- especially countries infiltrated by large numbers of terrorists." Homeland Security officials would not discuss what the enhanced process entails, but several people familiar with the program said it includes additional interviews, biometric screening and cross-checks against employer databases, none of which is necessarily required for non-Iraqi refugees. The 59 Iraqis who will arrive soon are among a group of more than 700 considered to be the most vulnerable and for whom resettlement interviews already have been conducted, the department said. They include "persons whose lives may be in jeopardy because they worked for coalition forces," it said, without giving specific numbers of former U.S. employees. Refugee advocates yesterday praised the announcement but lamented that many desperate Iraqis have been languishing in camps in other Middle Eastern countries. "Obviously, DHS has a responsibility to make sure that everybody who comes into the country is going to be a good citizen ... but they also realize that the country has a responsibility to these Iraqis," said Kenneth Bacon of Refugees International. The Senate and House earlier this month passed legislation allowing a tenfold increase in special immigrant visas for Iraqis and Afghans who worked as translators and interpreters for U.S. forces.

And why is the UN involved in identifying exactly who will be admitted into the United States? Have we really lost our sovereignty entirely? Are we simply chattel for the UN? Are the nations of the UN our new masters? We fought a revolution; we developed a nation. It is so sad to see it being given away to the corruption and decay, the vile breath, of the UN. Not to mention to Mexico.

As of May 18, the United Nations had identified 4,692 Iraqi refugees at camps in Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt for possible resettlement in the United States. Officials said they expect that number to rise to about 7,000 by Sept. 30 and the U.S. hopes to admit as many as possible. "We fully intend and expect to be able to handle 7,000 referrals," deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. "This is very good news that this has now been arranged."

So, how well are things going in Iraq when we have to take in refugees whose lives are now at risk for helping the coalition forces? I'm not naive. I know there are risks to those who collaborate with coalition forces but why import refugees here? And are they any safer here with the influx of Middle Eastern and Indonesian illegals - certainly terrorists among them - coming across our borders with the Mexicans? Were not a family of Coptic Christians found and murdered in New Jersey several years ago? If our government is not serious about stopping the illegal immigration that is diluting our nation's resources, how serious is that government about protecting Iraqis who have worked as interpreters for our forces in Iraq? I know of a man who was captured as a youth in Japan during WWII. He was taken to North Africa for the Africa Campaign. He became fluent in English and as a grown man worked as an interpreter for American forces in Japan. He did not have to leave his native home to be protected from other Japanese. He went on to build a flourishing business in the martial arts and continued as an interpreter.