Iraqi Refugees Arrive in US for Resettlement
A group of thousands Iraqi refugees have arrived in the United States for resettlement. They are part of a refugee group of 12,000 who are moving to the U.S. by the end of next month. About 2,250 refugees already arrived in the U.S. last month; most of them coming from third countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.
Most refugees will not go to the big cities, such as New York and Chicago. Instead they go to small cities and villages. The reason is that the costs of living are less expensive in those places; a necessity for those who lost everything due to war.
Larry Yungk, a senior resettlement officer in the organization’s Washington office, said most Iraqi refugees don’t want to resettle as far away as the U.S…
Yungk said most of the Iraqi refugees that are sent to the U.S. either have family ties here, have been victims of violence, are in women-headed households in families where the men have been killed or kidnapped, are among those that fear reprisal for assisting U.S. forces, or are afraid to return to Iraq because of religious or political persecution.
Although there is often a lot of good news to report about Iraq these days, this item is clearly not one of them. These refugees prove there are still a lot of problems and that entire lives have truly been destroyed because of the war.
Having said that it is encouraging to see the U.S. living up to its responsibilities by helping these Iraqis. Instead of turning its back on them, the U.S. welcomes them and tries to help them pick up their lives.
