Not one. the last time I talked to Mr. Johnson. had been able to make it to the United States. The sad fact is that we are falling miserably in terms of responding to the refugee requirements. Since I became involved last fall. the United States has admitted the grand total of 133 Iraqi refugees. a shocking number when we consider that over 2 million Iraqis have fled the country and another 2 million within Iraq have been displaced from their homes. Its not that we cant figure out how to do it if we care. if we establish a priority. if we work on it. In that same period of time that we could only admit 133 Iraqis. we have allowed 3.500 refugees from Iran. a country with whom we have rocky relations. to say the least. where we have deep concerns about terrorism. It makes a mockery of our commitment to accept 7.000 during this fiscal year which ends September 30. There must be a sense of urgency and a profound sense of obligation. In order to make even that modest goal of 7.000. we are going to have to admit more Iraqi refugees every working day than we have for the entire last 9 months. It is not just the right thing to do for these poor souls and their families. There is a harsh geopolitical reality. With 4 million Iraqis displaced. more than half fleeing the country. theres 1.2 million in Syria. and the accounts of what these people are forced to do to keep body and soul together are truly disturbing. Or threequarters of a million Iraqi refugees across the border in Jordan. threatening to overwhelm that small country. adding another element of instability to this already unsettled part of the world. I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to look at a letter that we are circulating to them today that includes this article from the Post. I urge them to cosponsor our bipartisan legislation.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees