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Dems: Admit Iraqi Refugees

House Dems back bill easing resettlement

By M. Morris,  Newser Staff

Posted May 10, 2007 1:00 PM CDT

(Newser) – 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."

Iraqi refug
Iraqi refug   (Getty Images)
Iraqi children  play with a tire in a refugee camp near Najaf, Iraq, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Some 600 people from Baghdad and surroundings have taken  refuge here fleeing sectarian violence. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
Iraqi children play with a tire in a refugee camp near Najaf, Iraq, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Some 600 people from Baghdad and surroundings have taken refuge...   (Associated Press)
Iraqi refugees gather in front of the offices of the United Nations High Committee for Refugees to register their names in Damascus, Syria, in this Feb. 11, 2007 file photo. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday, April 17, 2007, urged Iraq's neighbors to keep their doors open to tens...
Iraqi refugees gather in front of the offices of the United Nations High Committee for Refugees to register their names in Damascus, Syria, in this Feb. 11, 2007 file photo. U.N. Secretary-General Ban...   (Associated Press)
Iraqi displaced children play outside a
Iraqi displaced children play outside a   (Getty Images)
An Iraqi displaced boy gestures at a camp for displaced people...
An Iraqi displaced boy gestures at a camp for displaced people...   (Getty Images)
TO GO WITH STORY IRAK-GUERRE-ANNIVERSAIRE-REFUGIES (FILES...
TO GO WITH STORY "IRAK-GUERRE-ANNIVERSAIRE-REFUGIES" (FILES...   (Getty Images)
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