U.S. slow to accept Iraqi refugees, but Canada more than doubles its quota

While the U.S. fails to meet resettlement goals set for Iraqi refugees, Canada is doubling its effort. Last month, on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley announced that Canada will more than double its annual quota for Iraqi refugees from 900 to 2,000.

Between the years 2003 and 2006, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that a total of 4,000 Iraqi refugees resettled in Canada. In 2007 Canada resettled 900 Iraqi refugees, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, bringing its total near 5,000. The U.S. falls behind Canada, admitting only 2,961 since the war began, the U. S. State Department reported.

Finley said in a press release that Canadian officials were “responding to the situation in Iraq by increasing the number of refugees … [they] accept.” In short, they’re responding to a crisis.

When people think about the Iraq War, they usually don’t consider the refugees, rather the basic question of continuation or withdrawal and the grim death toll of American soldiers. Since the war began on March 19, 2003 with the much-hyped “Shock and Awe” campaign, 4,000 U.S. troops have lost their lives and more than 30,000 have been seriously injured. Not to mention the uncounted Iraqi casualties.

Over the past five years the war has cost taxpayers more than $500 billion in the approved war budget.

Meanwhile, the international community is facing a displacement disaster. An estimated 4.7 million Iraqi people have lost their homes, and more than 2 million of those have been displaced to neighboring countries, according to the UNHCR.

Continued -The Canadian quota increase is in response to a request from the UNHCR, not a new effort, according to Karen Shadd, spokesperson for the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.

Meanwhile, the U.S. response to the problem is facing little public criticism. Not many are aware that countries in Europe have done more to alleviate the crisis than the very country that instigated the war.

“The problem with U.S. accepting refugees is an issue of homeland security,” said Amir Denha, publisher of the Chaldean times in Detroit. He also pointed out that Sweden and France have taken more refugees than the U.S. or Canada. He believes the refugee problem goes beyond immigration issues, as many of the displaced are living in inhumane conditions with little to no monetary aid and no legal means of employment. “Our community is calling for help from the E.U. (European Union), the U.S., the Red Cross, the UN, … [and] the Iraqi government,” he said.

Historically, the U.S. has opened its borders to refugees, accepting a total of 900,000 Vietnamese refugees since the Vietnam War and 600,000 Russian Jews during the Cold War, according to a report compiled by the Center for American Progress. Although the U.S. boasts high refugee acceptance goals each year (it set a quota of 12,000 Iraqi refugees for 2008), it’s the time-consuming background checks that make these goals almost impossible to meet, according to the State Department.

While Denha believes the U.S. is not taking near enough responsibility for the damage caused in the war, he also thinks there’s a lot the Iraqi government isn’t doing. “Iraq is a rich country,” Denha said. “The government is sitting on money from oil [and] are keeping it from the people. Iraqi people have no security, no militia to fight, no money. No one will answer their call. They have only God.”