iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Six Democratic senators wrote a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, urging the State Department to increase protection for persecuted religious minorities within Iraq, including giving them special status to seek refugee assistance within Iraq.
“First, we request that you invoke your authority under the Refugee Crisis Act of 2007 to designate religious minorities, including Yazidis and Christians, as persecuted groups by establishing a Priority 2 category which makes each group eligible to seek refugee assistance within Iraq,” the senators wrote. “Although religious minorities reside within Iraq, they are in need of refugee assistance because many of them are located within territory occupied by ISIL, making it very difficult to escape to safety.”
They also said they want the State Department to do more to help Iraqi service members seeking refugee assistance within Iraq.
“The estimated processing time for Iraqis who served alongside U.S. military personnel during the war is at the unacceptably high rate of five to eight years. We must ensure timely access to refugee assistance for both Iraqis affiliated with the U.S. government, as well as Iraqis within persecuted religious minorities,” they wrote.
The six senators — Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-M.D.) — recommended four actions to speed up processing times. They include doubling the number of personnel from 10 to 20 who help Iraqis with refugee requests, and establishing a refugee facility in the Kurdish capital of Irbil where the State Department can conduct refugee processing.
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