Chicago’s Iraqi community absent in resettlement of Iraqi refugees
Chicago is home to the second largest Iraqi population in the United States (the first is in Dearborn, Michigan). But the absence of the Iraqi community is being felt by Chicago resettlement agencies, like the Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Services. With the resettlement of Iraqis increasing almost 15 fold, representatives of these agencies say this void was not something they expected.
Click to listen.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Highlights:
- “They really haven’t been that welcoming. Especially when we started resettling this population we were surprised that we didn’t get as much community support as we had anticipated.”
- “There is not a culture of forming organizations, there is no background in this. So it is a rather American construct that we are trying to merge with this Iraqi community and I think that is going to be a challenge.”
- “You have to choose, either to have a good safe haven in the US working hard to survive or go to Iraq and have the risk there but maybe a better standard of living.”
I am not surprised. The majority of Iraqis in Chicago are Assyrians. Assyrians are a Christian minority that began leaving Iraq since the early 20th. century. The current generation of young Assyrians feel no bond or affinity with Iraq or Iraqis. Sad, but true.
Thanks for your comment! It is true that a large portion of the Iraqi population in Chicago is Assyrian, but the problem appears to span religious and ethnic lines.
You can help improve the Mid-East Meets Midwest blog by taking this short survey:
http://www.surveymethods.com/EndUser.aspx?F7D3BFA3F2B4A7A4