Iraqi Refugees, Seeking A Better Life In America, Face Threat Of Homelessness

The ongoing violence in Iraq has forced 4 million people to flee their homes and communities in search of safety elsewhere. About 2 million remain displaced within Iraq, whereas the other 2 million or so have fled to neighboring countries. In countries like Syria and Jordan, these Iraqis, many of whom were professionals back home, now live a life of poverty and fear. They struggle to find jobs to feed their families and can get kicked out at any time.

For years the Bush administration refused to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis caused by the war. After significant political pressure, the administration began to allow a limited number of Iraqis to resettle in the United States. President Obama, who made it a campaign promise to help displaced Iraqis, has acknowledged that the United States has a moral responsibility and security incentive to help people displaced because of a war the United States started.

However, despite the apparent political will in the Obama administration to help those Iraqis still in danger, the United States now faces a massive financial crisis. The economic downtown threatens to derail Obama's efforts to resettle more Iraqis and provide more aid to the countries that harbor most of the refugees. The crisis has also caused a financial nightmare for the Iraqis who have already resettled in the United States. Struggling to compete for a limited number of jobs with laid-off Americans who speak the language and have experience working in this country, these Iraqis face a dire situation. Many Iraqis, who came to America in search of safety and a better life, now live on the brink of homelessness.

Read my LA Weekly story about the Iraqi refugees who have resettled in El Cajon, California. Most are Chaldean Catholics who fled religious persecution in Iraq.

See a slideshow of Iraqi refugees living in Jordan by Jessica Malter with the IRC here. And one with Iraqi refugees in Syria by Erika Solomon here.

Here is a slideshow from El Cajon in Southern California:

• • • • • •

El Cajon, California

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[lightningbolt]

They are not the only ones facing the threat of homelessness. The US government doesn't even care if Americans are homeless.

[BadgerinNJ]

To all Iraqis, I am deeply sorry for what this country did to yours. Sorry for all the innocents killed for no reason. My heart bleeds for you. Just as it does for the Vietnamese.

[Koolmorning]

Christians in Iraq have been decimated along with any other "undesirable" minority.

Who should we thank for this?

[H I McDonough]

Maybe Jerry forgot to give Baboo his mail from the INS?

[TXfemmom]

The Iraqis are facing the fact that the United States isn't a democracy anymore. We have been bankrupted by the cabal at the top and they still continue to lead the government around by the nose.

[phrancine]

Yes the USA is no longer the land of opportunity. What a sad state of affairs. This blight of NO JOBS is a cancer that is eating through our economy from the Urban "Big Cities" to my Rural little farm. Until there are enough jobs to keep the working class... working, I cannot see how this nation can get back on it's feet.

[H I McDonough]

You forget that the GOP's mantra is that anyone can be a millionaire if they just work hard enough.

[Bafun]

OR you can also have an out of wedlock teen pregnancy, preach abstinence and give interviews around. You will be also in a couple of months millionaire if you think about how much you get for an interview when your mother is Sarah Palin.

Is this not hard work?

[PublicusOrator]

Before my sympathies go out to the Iraqis, I'm more concerned about my fellow citizens who have lost or are in danger of losing their homes.

[TheBlackCat]

Sorry your heart is so small you only have room for one group.

[GreatNews27]

We all face homelessness thanks to Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Seriously.

[H I McDonough]

Carter fan?

[brooklyncitizen]

Ditto.

[judiNJ]

This is just such an example of the horrible, horrible mess the Bush administration left in its wake. One of the comments mentioned Katrina, well this is also a Bush Katrina. Destroy the country so people have to flee, then destroy OUR economy so they can't find help after all. Is there nothing that that ill begotten administration of the last 8 years didn't almost destroy?

[Paul]

Wasn't there an episode on "Seinfeld" about this...?

[H I McDonough]

"Baboo, Baboo!!!"

"Your are a very bad man, Jerry!"

[TJCole]

These foreclosures and evictions will be Obama's Hurricane Katrina X's a magnitude of 100...or 1,000..!

He has failed to adopt and realize the principle that...

"The Purpose of Government, is to Serve The People..!"

It's so simple, just follow that, and you can't go wrong...

[H I McDonough]

You have a lot of gall to blame someone who has been in office for 4 months trying to undo 8 years of abuse.

[davidwayneosedach]

Of course they would all settle in southern California.

[JoeBlough]

In America, only those who can afford a better life get a better life.

[larry278]

Whatever, if we don't take the Iraqis who have helped us to the USA when US forces leave, we will have to admit our friends to prevent them from being slaughtered later. That is what he have had to do for our friends in 'Nam.
That will make it difficult to recruit friends if & when we occupy another nation.