Guamanian politician Judi Guthertz released a statement on Monday showing support for the temporary relocation of U.S. affiliated refugees to the small pacific Island, which is an American territory housing Naval and Air Force bases. Once there, these Iraqis could escape the danger of living in Iraq while their visa applications are processed. Once processed, the Iraqis could then be resettled in the continental U.S.
Guthertz pressed Guam’s Governor, Eddie Calvo to raise the issue with President Obama. She added that “Guam is ready to help.” In the past, that is just what it has done. In 1975, over 100,000 Vietnamese refugees were brought to the island after the end of the war in Vietnam, and in 1996, Operation Pacific Haven brought over 4,000 endangered ethnic Iraqi Kurds to the island to be processed. Almost all those brought to the Island were eventually resettled in the U.S.
The so called “Guam option,” which has been advocated for by the List Project in the past, was again postured by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Trudy Rubin in an article on Sunday. As of yet, the administration has had no plan for coming to the aid of the thousands of Iraqis who have worked for the U.S. other than the current refugee admissions programs, which have virtually come to a halt at a time when U.S. affiliated Iraqis need them the most. If they are left behind in Iraq they will be singled out as collaborators and their lives will no doubt be targeted.
Guthertz suggests Guam as a staging point for Iraqis seeking refuge as U.S. pulls out – Guam News
Yes, this is what I am talking about!!!
I was an interpreter with the US Army
and you all don’t want to be living my life right now
expecting death any moment, unable to have a normal life anymore in Iraq
also this risks that we are facing every day cuz we supported USA in Iraq as an active element of the missions team that we were part of.
thank you for supporting our case
Interpreter worked with the U.S. military for more than two years and I am very proud and I have absolute loyalty to the United States
I would be more proud when he became a soldier in U.S. military
I have a wife and two children, and we are in grave danger we move from one place to another and now we live in one room
I’m waiting for the visa since 9 months
Please Help us in any way
God bless America and u all
Thank you
Hi Sir,
Could you please send your case information to refugees@thelistproject.org? We can look at it to see if there is anything that we can do to help. Right now visa processing is taking between 8-10 months because of new security procedures.
We thank all of the talk about the translators and their lives endangered
We are translators who shared life with American soldiers
We have absolute loyalty to the United States of America
Look at us, we really need your help
Please deliver our voice to President Obama
[…] is an option that has been exercised multiple times in the past and for which there is political support inside of […]