Friday, December 30, 2011

IRAQ - Helping Iraqis Who Helped U.S.

"Thousands of Iraqis Who Helped Americans in War Caught in Visa Holdup" PBS Newshour 12/29/2011

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): .....helping Iraqis who helped Americans during the war.

In 2008, Congress passed a law allowing up to 5,000 Iraqis who'd worked with Americans to come to the U.S. with their families as refugees each year. But the process of issuing visas has been slow. In no year has the number exceeded 1,500. And, since 2009, it's been falling.

In all, nearly 3,700 Iraqis have been given refugee status under this special program, along with a similar number of family members. Another 62,000 Iraqis have come here under other refugee programs.

We look at the situation now with Eric Schwartz, who, until October, was a top State Department official dealing with the issue. He's now dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. And Trudy Rubin is foreign affairs columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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