Now, it is too dangerous for him there due to the work he did for the American military. Even now he sees little progress.īoth Rashed and al-Shafeay still want to come to the U.S. During the program’s suspension, he wrote an op-ed calling on the Biden administration to unfreeze it.
Al Mshakheel himself has four siblings and a father whom he has been trying to help emigrate. He said he hears almost daily from Iraqis in America trying to assist family or friends still in Iraq. He says there is no point in studying because his parents cannot afford the university fees in Jordan.Īli Al Mshakheel is a former Iraqi journalist now living in Maine. His oldest child is a high school senior but barely leaves his room. The family relies on handouts from aid groups.Īl-Shafeay said the family is scared to ever go back to Iraq because a former in-law, who is now a member of an Iranian-backed militia, has repeatedly threatened them. Al-Shafeay questions what future his family has there. Jordan has played host to tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees over the years, but those refugees face challenges getting authorization to work, especially in major professions, and are essentially barred from becoming citizens. He and his wife are worried about their children. He said he has been told the holdup is confirming his employment, but it is challenging so many years later and from afar. contractor to work as a bodyguard for the Iraqi Justice Ministry from 2003 to 2006, when he left Iraq. said it was “committed to ensuring those who sacrificed their own safety for our collective interests have an opportunity to seek refuge in the United States.”įor the Iraqis still waiting, it can be confusing.Īl-Shafeay said he was hired by a U.S. The program was not restarted until March of last year. refugee database to fraudulently help Iraqis trying to emigrate. suspended the direct access program after three people were charged with stealing information from a U.S. refugee program, which endured historic cuts under Trump, only in recent months has started to show signs of recovery. The government also noted the toll that the pandemic took on its visa processing around the world and the shifting of federal resources to the crisis in Ukraine. The embassy in Iraq’s capital just reopened limited consular services last fall after closing for three years following a 2019 attack. officials noted steps such as added staff to speed up visa processing. The State Department declined requests for an interview for this story. Multiple administrations have considered making the programs more efficient without compromising security. Rashed applied under yet another route, which allows for 50 visas a year for interpreters who have a recommendation from a general.Īlmost since the beginning there have been complaints the process to come to America takes too long. That program stopped accepting applications in 2014, but applications already in the pipeline are still being processed.
There are also about 100 Iraqis who applied for a more narrow special immigrant visa program for Iraqis who worked directly for or on behalf of the U.S. such as those who worked for an American nongovernmental organization. security contractor at the Iraqi Justice Ministry.Īccording to the State Department, 106,000 have applied for a program, known as direct access program, intended for people affiliated with the U.S. Mohammed Subhi Hashim al-Shafeay, his wife and four children have been in limbo for a dozen years while he tries to document his work for a U.S. Sometimes the process is slowed as applicants struggle to prove their ties to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a hack of a refugee database, the COVID-19 pandemic and cuts to the refugee program under then-President Donald Trump. officials cite multiple reasons for the delays, including an attack on the U.S. An estimated 164,000 Iraqis already have found homes in America. Rashed is among thousands of Iraqis, many of whom risked their lives by working closely with Americans during the war and its aftermath, trying to enter the U.S. “You don’t have to keep me and my family suffering for, for years waiting,” said Rashed during a Skype interview from Jordan, where he lives. But six years after he applied to immigrate to the United States under a program for interpreters who helped America, he is still waiting. troops attesting to his work during some of the most dangerous days of the Iraq War.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ammar Rashed has a stack of letters from U.S.
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