Thousands of Iraqis who helped US troops in Iraq are being denied entry into the country by Donald Trump.
The Trump administration is refusing to take in thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives helping American forces during the Iraq war, cutting the number of high-priority refugees allowed into the United States this year and drastically slowing background checks they must undergo.
Only 153 Iraqi refugees whose applications were given high priority were admitted in the fiscal year that ended in September — down from a high of 9,829 in the 2014 fiscal year, according to government data obtained by The New York Times.
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An estimated 110,000 Iraqis are waiting to be approved as refugees based on their wartime assistance. But on Friday, the Trump administration capped the number eligible this year at 4,000.
These are Iraqis who helped to keep US forces safe and oust Saddam Hussein from power. The Iraqis worked as contractors, translators, cultural advisers, and in other support capacities for US troops, and in return for their cooperation, they are told by Donald Trump that they are the wrong color or religion so they can’t enter the United States as refugees.
Just like the military veterans who have been deported by Trump, service to the United States of America means nothing to a president who has spent his entire time in office selling out the nation.
The Iraqis deserve to be here. They will probably provide more benefit to the United States than many of Trump’s build the wall chanting supporters have. In a presidency that has been an un-American insult to the nation’s values, denying the Iraqis entry is a new low and one that will make it harder for US troops to get local cooperation in the future.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
