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Dems: Admit Iraqi Refugees
House Dems back bill easing resettlement
By M. Morris
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Posted May 10, 07 1:00 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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With Iraq war refugees numbering in the millions and as many as 70,000 joining their ranks each month, House Democrats will introduce a bill boosting the number of displaced Iraqis eligible for resettlement in the U.S. A total of 18 Iraqi refugees entered the U.S. in February and March, the Washington Post reports, while Sweden admitted 8,000.
The legislation includes a "special immigrant status" category for translators and other Iraqis who have aided the U.S., the United Nations, contractors and American NGOs; one of the bill's sponsors cited the country's responsibility to "tens of thousands of Iraqis at risk because they helped us." The president of Refugees International called the absence of bipartisan sponsorship "a shame."