Congressional Subcommittee Criticizes Administration's Iraq Refugee Policy

March 27. 07

AP) -- The Bush administration defended itself yesterday against congressional charges that it is not doing enough for thousands of Iraqi refugees, including many who are at great risk because of their service to the American-led coalition in Iraq.

Ellen Sauerbrey, who heads the State Department's refugee affairs bureau, said security requirements imposed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks have slowed the process considerably.

"Security clearances take an extreme amount of time," said Sauerbrey, testifying before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East.

Subcommittee chairman Gary Ackerman, a New York Democrat, said the number of Iraqi refugees admitted to the United States is "paltry," particularly compared with the 180,000 Vietnamese refugees who were granted admission during the first eight months after the fall of the Saigon government in 1975.

Sauerbrey said 692 Iraqis have resettled in the United States since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

"We have left thousands of Iraqis, high and dry, desperate and deserted," Ackerman said. "These people are now in flight because of our own failure."

He said he is planning to introduce legislation to provide safe resettlement in the United States for Iraqis who face persecution or who had put their trust in the U.S.