TLP in the News: American Bar Association Journal Features TLP's Partnering Law Firms

The latest issue of the American Bar Association Journal has a cover story on Iraqi refugees and their advocates. The excellent article discusses the resettlement process with TLP's partnering law firms, Proskauer Rose, Holland and Knight, and Mayer Brown. Kirk Johnson, TLP's founder, is also interviewed.

Reading the article affirms the terribly long and arduous process for resettlement; a process that is rife with danger. The article mentions numerous pitfalls including being abducted by state security forces while in exile, the prohibitions on employment in Syria, and of course, the murderous crimes of anti-US militias.

Chris Nugent and Eric Blinderman, attorneys working for Iraqis on the list with the firms of Holland and Knight and Proskauer Rose respectively, related the difficulties of representing targeted Iraqis:

Nugent and Blinderman counsel Iraqis by cell and e-mail, sometimes using code in case a militia is monitoring a refugee’s communications. A militia or gang can get the hardware to trace communications for about $50,000.

While militias are often the main reason US-affiliated Iraqis seek resettlement, other obstacles stand between a visa and permanent exile. "Mike," a translator for the US Army who is currently on the list, discussed the negative stigma pinned to those who helped the US:

Mike says his Syrian UNHCR interviewer handed him a folder emblazoned with “Not eligible to resettle” for his paperwork. The interviewer was scornful of Mike’s work with Americans. Other refugees on Johnson’s list have accused UNHCR’s Syrian staffers of mocking Iraqi refugees as “Ameri­ca’s dogs” and, more seriously, of leaking Iraqi refugees’ whereabouts to militias.

For Iraqis who have worked for the US, not only are their lives at stake, but they are treated with contempt by the very people who are their to help them. In this seemingly friend-less situation, the tireless work of the lawyers, pro-staff, law students, case managers, and everyone else who advocates for these refugees, is even more crucial. Rarely have there been so many legal professionals dedicating so many hours to help with a specific humanitarian issue and their efforts are worth celebrating as they get closer to resettling the hundredth person from the list.

Dan Rather to detail struggle of Iraqi Refugees

In a Press release from HDnet(via the Biloxi Sun Herald), who airs the DAN RATHER REPORT,
Rather will detail an interesting angle in the struggle that Iraqi Refugees, specifically those who helped the US government, are having to endure in order to get to the United States:

" This Tuesday's "Dan Rather Reports" tells the story of how hundreds of refugees from Iraq who were forced to pay ransom to kidnappers are stuck in an undetermined vacuum, with faltering hopes of getting out of the Middle East. The very reason for their flight, may now be what is keeping them from gaining refugee status in the United States. Because by paying ransom to kidnappers, the U.S. says, they may also have supported terrorism and fueled the insurgency."

The report will appear on July 1st and will subsequently be displayed to watch online @
http://www.hd.net/danrather.html

News: Senior US Diplomat Meets with Syria Regarding Iraqi Refugees

According to the International Herald Tribune, the State Department's senior coordinator for Iraqi refugees, James Foley, met with Syria's foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, to discuss the Iraqi refugee situation in Syria. Such high level diplomatic contacts are a positive sign since contacts between the US and Syria are rare given their mutual animosities and criticisms. For example, consider the following quote by TLP's founder, Kirk Johnson from an interview with MSNBC:

...we’re letting Damascus dictate our abilities. The refugee process got frozen for seven months in Syria because Department of Homeland Security agents couldn’t get stamps in their passports.

Despite past hurdles, it is clear that Syria and the US need to coordinate their efforts since both have an incentive: Syria needs to lessen the burden upon its society due to its huge refugee population and for the US, pressure is building to resettle more Iraqis.

James Foley is part of the State Department and reports to Condoleezza Rice, who ostensibly reports to President Bush about the refugee crisis. However, certain refugee advocates on Capitol Hill, such as senators Ted Kennedy, Joseph Biden, Chuck Hagel, and Gordon Smith; believe this position within the State bureaucracy is not forceful enough. Last Friday, on World Refugee Day, these senators introduced a bill to establish a White House level position for the coordination of Iraqi refugee policies. The bill seeks to bring the issue onto a higher priority level than it already is now by creating this special position.

Survived Iraqi in Roanoke

An Iraqi trying to save an American soldier is not something we usually see on American TV. However, on the World’s Refugee Day, a local Roanoke TV station broadcasted a report about an Iraqi refugee family that just came to the United States. Hayder Kharallah, an Iraqi interpreter who worked with American troops in Iraq, is one of the Iraqi political refugees who made it safe to the U.S. with his wife Deena and his son Ali.

Hayder’s leg was amputated below the knee after the convoy of U.S. soldiers he was interpreting for, took enemy fire-from three different directions. He was shot while he was trying to save a military Sergeant and a friend whom he was playing a video game with hours before they were attacked.

For more about Hayder and his survival story, click here.

TLP in the News: Council on Foreign Relations and Commentary Magazine

Recently, the Council on Foreign Relations, a political think-tank, interviewed The List Project's Founder, Kirk Johnson. Click here to hear the podcast of the interview. In the interview, Johnson mentions the ever growing names on his list and relates how calls for help spike when an Iraqi working for the US is killed as torture to obtain the names of other Iraqi allies is frequently induced by the militants.

Furthermore, Max Boot had this to say in Commentary Magazine's blog:

Helping Iraqis who have helped us should not be a partisan issue. Senator Ted Kennedy, an opponent of the war, has sponsored legislation to increase the number of visas available and to expedite their processing in Baghdad. That’s a good start, but the prime imperative now is for President Bush to get off its keister and do more to help our allies. The administration’s foot-dragging in this regard is as inexplicable as it as counter-productive. We need some high level intervention to break through the bureaucratic logjam. If this requires personal attention from the commander-in-chief, so be it. We owe the Iraqis nothing less.

Boot's observation of the non-partisan nature of this issue is completely correct. He notes that Kennedy is against the Iraq War and the co-sponsors of that legislation that he so forcefully promoted and got enacted, speaks volumes about the true nature of the issue. Republican senators Susan Collins, Chuck Hagel, Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, George Voinovich, and hawkish independent Joe Lieberman all co-sponsored the Kennedy legislation. Indeed, resettling Iraqi allies is not in the narrow domain of any ideology or political party but transcends them thereby finding advocates from all avenues of our multifacted society.

Welcoming Iraqi Refugees in the City of Brotherly Love

Yesterday (June 21st) I was invited to speak at the first-of-its-kind conference in the City of Brotherly Love. The Philadelphia-held conference was an open-borders event between the newly arrived Iraqi refugees to the Philadelphia area and their new American friends and neighbors.

The conference coincided with the June 20th World Refugee Day and was held by one of Philadelphia’s oldest non-profit organization, the Nationalities Service Center. Since it was founded in 1921, NSC made great achievements in terms of helping refugees from all over the world. It provides legal, social and educational services to immigrants, refugees, limited and/or non-English speakers.

The conference which was called “Welcoming Iraqi Families, Celebrating Iraqi Culture” was a step a great step NSC chose to take in order to build bridges between the American and Iraqi cultures. People from the two countries interacted and shared stories about their homelands. One of the Iraqi refugees, an artist, donated two paintings representing images from his home country, attracting a great admiration by the American Philadelphians who rarely get a chance to see Iraqi art. Others expressed their feelings about finding a new and safe home, and how they lived in their homeland before, during and after the war.

Most, if not all, of the Iraqis who attended the event were professionals who once had decent jobs in Iraq. They were university professors, doctors, artists, computer engineers, interpreters, and teachers. They shared their stories in a very emotional way, talking about how they were threatened and how they lost friends, family members, and relatives because of their connection either with the United States or basically their professions.

I had the opportunity to speak about my experience as former Washington Post correspondent who worked in an extremely dangerous environment and how I survived death three times while working in war-torn Baghdad. The event also included speakers from the American Friends Service Committee, a non-profit that carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. Raed Jarrar, AFSC’s Iraq Consultant, provided the audience with comprehensive details about the roots of violence in Iraq and why the world witnessed its highest refugee crisis since 1948. Also, AFSC’s Peter Lems talked about activities and solidarity for the new Philadelphians.

During the lunch break, the attendees had the chance to attend a photo gallery. The photos presented were of Iraqis in different periods, starting from the few weeks that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and were taken by Linda Panetta, a brilliant professional war and crises photographer, who had been to Iraq several times and who has just come back from the Gaza Strip where she documented the humanitarian crisis the Gazans are going through in photos. The photos included mostly women and children, especially those affected directly by the war, those who were seen wounded in hospitals and those who lived miserably as squatters in former government buildings due to the soaring unemployment rate in Iraq.

While speaking with Linda, I was asked to help some of the organizers to help translate something to the Iraqi children who were all gathering around a long rectangular table, holding colorful crayons and painting things they love. I helped the organizers tell the children to draw what they know of Iraq and how they see it in their dreams. The drawings that were finally posted on wooden stands were chilling. They were of children playing, others dancing, and most of them included the well-painted Iraqi flag. A five-year-old girl told me that she was drawing herself, “a beautiful, young girl playing in Iraq.” Her words chilled my entire spine. I thought if she had any idea where she was and if she would ever be able to see Iraq again.

It was an amazing feeling to see how Iraqis and Americans were welcoming each other and how bridges became very close and shorter than one would imagine. When William Penn named Philadelphia with its name in 1682, he knew that this city would become a melting point for many different cultures. Choosing a Greek name like ‘Philadelphia’ (meaning ‘the one who loves his brother’) was a perfect fit. Indeed, Philly is the City of Brotherly Love.

TLP's Birthday on World Refugee Day

Today, on World Refugee Day, The List Project officially turns one year old.

Much has transpired in the world of Iraqi refugees this past year including setbacks such as forced deportations in Britain and Sweden, visa restrictions in Jordan and Syria, and the frustratingly slow pace of resettlement in the US. In countries that have been generous in accepting Iraqi refugees, entrance restrictions have been tightened.

Furthermore, news stories have detailed the exploitation of Iraqis in Syria as young girls are forced into prostitution. Barred from obtaining employment, Iraqis in Syria and Jordan spend their savings on the cost of living and have no option but to work secretly and in the underground economy.

We have also heard of the glacial pace of US admittances and the bureaucratic nature of the resettlement process fraught with multiple interviews, long waiting periods, and lack of resources. The fortunate ones who are resettled in the US often find menial jobs at restaurants and hotels meager in compensation as the lure of returning to Iraq for a bigger pay-check, at the risk of death, remains.

However, notable advancements, too, have been made that inspire hope. The Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act was enacted into law by the US government and has increased special visas for Iraqis directly working with the military forces to 5,000 a year for five years. The act has also established the much needed in-country processing procedure so Iraqis need not become exiles in Syria or Jordan or elsewhere just to apply for resettlement in the US. So far, The List Project has resettled over 90 Iraqis in the US but the list keeps growing and currently contains about 1,000 names.

More needs to be done and the most immediate, beneficial, and obvious solution for the Iraqi allies problem is a humanitarian airlift. Denmark has airlifted its Iraqi allies and Britain proposed to do the same. At the end of the Vietnam War, the US resettled over 100,000 Vietnamese refugees; and the 1990s saw the airlift of thousands of Kurdish allies and Kosovar refugees. Despite talk about increased rates per month of Iraqi resettlement, the US can airlift its allies in immediate danger at very little cost compared with the entire Iraqi venture in total. If only there was motivation from the administration to do so.

TLP in the news: Washington Post Article on Congressional Testimony

Walter Pincus featured TLP in a Washington Post article on Monday. Pincus discussed the struggles of streamlining the bureaucratic process to bring over Iraqi refugees despite maximum effort that is being expended. Congressional testimony from Wednesday's hearing in which TLP's Kirk Johnson and Iraqi refugees detailed frustrations of the process was highlighted:

Ibrahim [an Iraqi refugee who testified] said a new program, passed this year by Congress, opened up processing in Baghdad instead of requiring people to get to Syria or Jordan to be interviewed.

But, he added, the State Department coordinators in Baghdad are understaffed, don't have enough resources to process applications and require applicants to come inside the Green Zone -- though there are not enough staff members to escort them through checkpoints.

"This has led to a Catch-22. A mechanism for people to escape Iraq has been created, but only those with sufficient connections to enter the Green Zone can take advantage of it," he said.

TLP commends the Washington Post for bringing attention to the issue and would like to recognize the efforts of the small State department team working to process Iraqis through the Baghdad Embassy. As Johnson emphasized in his congressional testimony on Wednesday:

We have had very welcome and positive interaction...with the recently arrived refugee coordinator at the Baghdad embassy, who has been tasked with implementing the Kennedy legislation instruction to begin in-country processing for U.S. affiliated Iraqis.

Her efforts, and those of the very small team working with her, are without question commendable. We must not forget the harrowing circumstances in which they labor. Their laudable work on the ground, however, has not been accorded the resources necessary to successfully implement this legislation.

Furthermore, TLP has learned that the embassy's refugee coordinator and her the team has recently taken concrete steps to overcome some of the logistical pitfalls faced by Iraqis seeking interviews.

In his testimony, Johnson went on to clarify where the responsibility lies for effectively streamlining a successful processing effort:

[T]he State Department needs access, logistics and support to help the Iraqis that are in-country....Congress has expressed its intent. You guys have been trying to address this issue, but I think the responsibility relies with the president...I can't come to any other conclusion that this is a low priority or a non-priority from the White House. It's been a priority for Congress, but in the absence of any word from the president on this, I think that the bureaucracies don't have the force and the will from the president to act.

Visit the White House website and ask why nothing has been done or even said on an issue that affects our national security, moral standing, and leadership role in the world.

Towards Successful Jobs

They worked hard and sacrificed a lot. They spent days, months and years working to help the American mission succeed in Iraq. They were intimidated, but were very persistent to continue their struggle against humanity enemies. But life is too short to lose. Eventually, they had to leave. Their friends were killed, burned, and tortured and their heads were supposed to be next. Their crime, insurgents believe, was helping the “evil” Americans.

These are the Iraqi employees who worked as translators, interpreters, project managers and cultural advisors to serve the U.S. government and its contractors in Iraq.

For some time, these Iraqis believed they were trapped and abandoned and their fate would be like that of their slaughtered friends and colleagues. But when The List Project reached out to them, these locked doors were opened and their lives were finally spared when they made it safe to America, after a long bureaucratic process.

Each one of these Iraqis had a story, if not several ones. Each witnessed what no human being on earth could ever imagine. I was there. I was in their shoes and know how it feels to work day and night in the midst of that horror.

Now, they are in America starting a new life. Their first step is finding a job. And here the hands were extended to them.

Last weekend, The List Project, Upwardly Global and Manpower Inc. collaborated to offer a Career Summit, the first-of-its-kind career orientation workshop for 50 Iraqi refugees at Holland & Knight and Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

Once resettled, the Iraqi refugees face many challenges. One of the most difficult one is often finding themselves unemployed and in need of assistance. In the Career Summit, Upwardly Global helped the highly-skilled Iraqis, refugees and asylees advising them of how to reclaim their careers in the United States. The two-day workshop they held included sessions on résumé writing, interviewing techniques and developing networking skills. Manpower Inc. invited employers in the Washington, D.C. area to learn about the wealth of experience and skills these Iraqi professionals bring to the greater D.C.-area labor market. Employers and other invited guests had the opportunity to meet Iraqi job seekers, and discuss their unique expertise and career interests.

The summit was more than a success. Participants expressed their hope and were very happy to see such an effort being made for them to be able to live and work in their new home.

TLP on the Hill

On Wednesday, June 11, the congressional committee, the US Helsinki Commission chaired by Congressman Alcee Hastings and Senator Benjamin Cardin, hosted a hearing with The List Project. The testimony is available here and below are select quotations.

In reference to the personnel at the new in-country processing facility, enacted by the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, founder of The List Project, Kirk Johnson, had this to say:

Their laudable work on the ground, however, has not been accorded the resources necessary to successfully implement this legislation. Iraqis are granted interviews but accessing those interviews is a Herculean challenge. Our lawyers have had to tap informal networks of colleagues working as contractors and federal employees in the Green Zone who do not work at the State Department but assist the process by escorting Iraqis through checkpoints and into the Palace. It is safe to say that without these connections that we retain due to our own service in Iraq, the Iraqis on the List would be unable to reach their interviews.

"Ibrahim," an Iraqi working for USAID who Kirk Johnson helped relocate to the US, had this to say:

USAID had Foreign Service National Committee that represented the Iraqi staff. I was a member of that committee. When the first Iraqis were killed because they worked for the United States, the FSN Committee asked the US to stop exposing us to needless dangers. For example, our identity was never protected. our photos and names were available on USAID websites, which anyone could access. Soon our photos, names and addresses were more public to Iraqis than the US effort to reconstruct Iraq.

Refugee Stories

From The Ground Truth in Iraq blog:

In my personal experience, difficulties started from entering Jordan until one arrives to the decision of going back and facing death instead of staying and struggling without even knowing the reason why? At some point, the harsh conditions force you to self-pose a series of questions: why do Iraqis get this kind of treatment? Do they deserve it? Why? For Jordanians, Iraqis are traitors who deal with the Americans and they are followers of Iran. Still, why?

One can only see all those accusations popping up in the head of any Jordanian once they recognize the Iraqi accent. It made me feel guilty, it made me want to defend myself and forget all about me being the real victim of all that happened. During my stay in Jordan, I met a lot of Iraqis, acquaintances, friends in addition to lots of relatives. We all shared the feeling of isolation, abandonment and of hopelessness. Doors are never open to us.

Read more first hand accounts at The Ground Truth in Iraq blog.

News: An Increase in Iraqi Resettlement in the US

The figures for Iraqis resettled in the US for the month of May indicate that numbers are on the rise. According to the Associated Press, James Foley, who is the State Department's director for Iraqi refugees, claims that the US resettled 1,114 in May and also claims that approximately another 8,000 are in the late stages of the process thereby signaling that the US may fulfill its promise to resettle 12,000 refugees by the end of September 2008.

While this is good news, the rate of acceptance has to further increase to meet the 12,000 goal. Furthermore, the 12,000 goal pales in comparison with the thousands who are at risk due to their work for the US and the millions of others who barely eek out an existence in neighboring countries or who are internally displaced.

Furthermore, The Washington Post reports on the initial progress of the new processing center in Baghdad. Until recently, Iraqis seeking to relocate to the US had to live in exile in Syria, Jordan, or Egypt to be processed by the US:

The office, which began interviewing applicants May 10, has already finished processing 80 embassy employees for departure, and the first two arrived in the United States this week, according to Ambassador James B. Foley

At the same time as these positive developments come to light, the US is also encouraging refugees to return to Iraq. According to Reuters, Foley lauded the Iraqi Prime Minister's plan of spending $195 million for refugee return but claimed it was not enough. Here is what Iraqi Christians resettled in Sweden think of repatriation:

News: An Increase in In-Country Processing

For most Iraqis who seek resettlement in the US, the immigration process is riddled with inane bureaucratic rules. One of those rules required Iraqis to be processed in one of Iraq's neighboring countries rather than Iraq itself; a dangerous and inefficient venture for Iraqis whose lives are in danger.

George Packer reports that this US policy has now changed. Thanks to a bill sponsored by Ted Kennedy, the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act that passed in December 2007, resettlement cases for Iraqi allies are being held in the Green Zone. Packer relates:

I pushed for in-country processing when I was in Baghdad in early 2007 reporting for my article “Betrayed”; I was told by embassy officials that it wasn’t possible, without ever getting a persuasive explanation. It could have started a year ago, or two years ago. But I want to give credit where it’s due: if, in the coming year, a few thousand Iraqis who work with Americans won’t have to join their colleagues in the misery of exile before having a chance of being resettled here, then something good will have happened in this shameful story.