Resettled Iraqi Refugees In The United States

The American war against Iraq has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people. Between 20 March 2003 and 30 September 2017, more than 172,000 Iraqis resettled in the United States. This book explores the experiences of fifteen Iraqis who resettled in the US after 2003. It examines the long war against Iraq that began in 1991 and the decisions some Iraqis made to leave their homes and seek refuge in the United States. The book also delves into the possibilities for belonging and cultural exchange for this cohort of Iraqis and their political engagement with non-profit organizations, advocacy, and activism against the 2017 Travel Ban.

In the literature on forced migration, little is known about the experiences of Iraqi refugees resettled in the United States through the US Refugee Admissions, Reception and Placement Program. As part of its longstanding refugee resettlement policy, the United States has accepted and provided safe haven to thousands of refugees. Focusing primarily on the situation of Iraqis resettled in Arizona since the 1990s, this research uses interview findings and first-hand data to examine various aspects of their post-resettlement experiences through a meta-theoretical approach that includes aspects of humanitarian governance, adaptation, acculturation and integration. Building on this theoretical understanding, this book examines the process from the first moment of resettlement to integration as a multi-layered social reality and reveals the fundamental impact of forced migration on the 'politics of refugee life'. By examining the US resettlement program in relation to the role and functions of resettlement agencies and non-profit organizations in collaboration with the government, this book highlights the fundamental difference between refugee integration and migrant integration, introduces new concepts of integration, discusses the US refugee admissions, reception and placement program and refugee integration in relation to the organization of humanitarian governance globally, and offers recommendations for improving resettlement and integration processes.

Since the Feb. 2006 bombing of the Al-Askari Mosque in Samarathat triggered the displacement of thousands of Iraqis, the U.S. has taken a lead role in resettling the displaced. The admin. has indicated its intent to assist those Iraqis who supported the U.S. in Iraq. In addition, Congress authorized the Depts. of Defense (DoD) and State (State) to jointly establish and operate a program to offer temporary employment to Iraqi special immigrant visa (SIV) holders in the U.S. This report provides information on the: (1) status of resettled Iraqis in the U.S. and the initial challenges they face; (2) benefits afforded Iraqi refugees and SIV holders; and (3) challenges they face obtaining employment with the federal government. Charts and tables.

In the years since the US-led invasion of Iraq, over 4 million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes, in what amounts to one of the largest people movements in modern times, far exceeding the Palestinian outflow after 1948. Despite media reports of an improved security situation in Iraq, the majority of refugees are still not prepared to return. The social, economic, political and security consequences of the Iraq refugee crisis are huge. In this rigorous and timely book, Joseph Sassoon explores the underlying trends of Iraq's refugee flow: which class, ethnic and sectarian groups have gone - and are continuing to go - where and how. Based on extensive original research, he examines the economic impact of this exodus on Iraq itself, and on the host countries of the region: Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. He analyses international policy on the refugee issue, and assesses the options for return and resettlement. The Iraqi Refugees is both the first and the definitive guide to what will come to be seen as one of the most significant issues affecting the entire Middle East.

As "Living in Limbo" attests, thousands of Iraqi refugees - including Iraqi Christians and other religious and sexual minorities, as well as U.S.-affilitated Iraqis - are living in limbo in the Middle East region, struggling to survive outside of Iraq without the right to work, put their children in school, or get heath care. As violence and instability persist in Iraq, resettlement to other countries - including the United States - remains the only effective path for many of these refugees, including those who have faced persecution in Iraq because of their work with the United States. While the United States has stepped up its response to Iraqi displacement over the last few years serious reforms are needed in the U.S. resettlement program to remove unnecessary processing delays which now leave many Iraqi refugees and U.S.-affiliated Iraqis vulnerable and stranded in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.

A searing critique of the “freedom” that America offers to the victims of its imperialist machinations of war and occupation Meaningless Citizenship traces the costs of America’s long-term military involvement around the world by following the forced displacement of Iraqi families, unveiling how Iraqis are doubly displaced: first by the machinery of American imperialism in their native countries and then through a more pernicious war occurring on U.S. soil—the dismantling of the welfare state. Revealing the everyday struggles and barriers that texture the lives of Iraqi families recently resettled to the United States, Sally Wesley Bonet draws from four years of deep involvement in the refugee community of Philadelphia. An education scholar, Bonet’s analysis moves beyond the prevalent tendency to collapse schooling into education. Focusing beyond the public school to other critical institutions, such as public assistance, resettlement programs, and healthcare, she shows how encounters with institutions of the state are an inherently educative process for both refugee youths and adults, teaching about the types of citizenship they are expected to enact and embody while simultaneously shaping them into laboring subjects in service of capitalism. An intimate, in-depth ethnography, Meaningless Citizenship exposes how the veneer of American values—freedom, democracy, human rights—exported to countries like Iraq, disintegrates to uncover what is really beneath: a nation-state that prioritizes the needs of capitalism above the survival and wellbeing of its citizens.

How Iraqi refugees navigate life, belonging, and exclusion in America The US invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused the largest forced migration in the Middle East since 1948, with millions of people fleeing to Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iran, European Union, Australia and the United States. In Iraqi Refugees in the United States, Ken R. Crane explores the uphill climb faced by Iraqi refugees who have sought belonging in a country engaged in an ongoing War on Terror. Drawing on numerous interviews and fieldwork, Crane explores the diverse experiences of a community of Iraqi refugees, showing how they have struggled to negotiate their place in the wake of mass displacement. He highlights the promise of belonging, as well as their many painful encounters with exclusion. Ultimately, Crane provides a window into the complexities of what “becoming American” means for Iraqi refugees, even as they are perceived by other Americans as “security threats.” As debates about immigration and refugee status continue to play out in headlines and the courts, Iraqi Refugees in the United States provides important insight into the global refugee crisis.