The 100 prospective refugees are the first of a group of about 5,000 according to Foreign Affairs. Except for the 100, all the rest are waiting in Iran. According to this article the 100 are being delayed by Homeland Security, which has not disclosed why. All the discussion regarding Trump and immigration is fluff -- the reporters don't know why these folks have been delayed.
We simply don't know what is going on here and whether there are legitimate security concerns. I have no idea whether it is relevant but:
"In the Netherlands, thousands of Iranian Muslim migrants and refugees had converted to Christianity and when BBC Persian's correspondent visited a small congregation, some Iranians indicated that they had only converted to increase their chances of being granted asylum."
As I say, I have no idea if the BBC report is relevant. But the reporters of this article have no idea either.
It is an election year people. All of have a Representative running for re-election or candidates for an open seat and most of US have a Senator on the ballot. Use Twitter, Facebook, email and your phone to contact these people asking for your vote. Be polite, but make it count.
I am an agnostic, but was raised in the Christian faith. The Christian communities in this part of the world are some of the oldest in the world and have suffered greatly in recent times. It is not right to treat these refugees this way.
3
My family is there! I was born in the United States and my husband came the same way as these refugees 8 years ago. Now we have been waiting for his 3 sisters and his mom who he has not seen in over 8 years. One is a nun with a bachelors in psychology, another a young student, the other sister a missionary, and his mother worked in a Catholic church. They are not economic immigrants looking for handouts and leaving Iran by choice. They have stable and hard working family in the USA and Canada. My husband came the same way and he doesn't ask, need, or want handouts! He works 6 days a week 12 hour days and would gladly work more. He has never looked back or been to Iran since and he finally became a US citizen just a few months ago. So for all of you who think these are false Christians, think again and remember lives are at stake. Yes, we have tried Canada and even paid $20,000 to Canada to get a chance to be considered. Also for your information HIAS and going to Austria was not cheap. It is not a free service! We paid over $10,000 for our family just to go there. That doesn't include lodging, food, flights, or anything, but getting HIAS to deliver your paperwork! You have to remember my family was told they cleared and moved to Austria. We filed appeals over a year ago and even contacted our local congress to help. No one will give us answers. I would just like our family to be reunited. THANK YOU to the supporters! (Sorry for the few words this forum is limited)
6
So much for the 'christian' right wing Republicans being open-hearted and supportive to those of even their own faith let alone those of other faiths found by the roadway to Damascus.
This Trump administration and the prosperity christians supporting it are evil greedy hypocrites who rail against abusive regulations and then use those same regulation to accomplish their racist goals of keeping non=whites out of the country.
Disgusting.
Kick the Republican bums out of government in 2018.
8
Let's not forget, the US has been funding and supporting known jihadis and hard core religious nutcases, affiliated with al-Qaeda, in its bid to oust Assad in Syria. Yet no one says a word. The Trump administration has also adopted Bibi's anti-Iranian screed, lock, stock and barrel and has sided with the Wahabis of Saudi Arabia, who by the way, carried out 9-11. Again, no one says a word. If you think there's no connection, think again. It is shameful on every level that the US would do any of this, or that it would turn away those who want to come here, but, sadly, it's not the first time.
4
Where are all the phony "Christian" supporters of Trump? Their co-religionists are in great jeopardy and what are the hucksters like Falwell and Graham et al doing to help them? Oh I forgot these folks aren't from Norway.
4
Why is this a surprise? America's watered-down-with-bigotry Judeo-Christian ethos has seldom made room for Christian minorities from Islamic or African nations.
3
Elderly and disabled are waiting to come to the USA. Yes, that is right. We need more people looking for the free handouts funded by American taxpayers.
Enough with economic refugees.
2
Because the Trump Administration does not really care about Christians unless they are white and from Europe. They are not Christians; they do not follow the teachings of Christ. They just want to deceive the uneducated, lie, and pretend. Sad.
1
Trump has been quite blunt about the immigration issue...he wants more Christians to immigrate to this country..but only white Christians.
2
Come to Canada, where we’ll welcome you with open arms!
3
As far as I know (and I know) Christians and Jews are practicing their religion freely in Iran. This article is all hyped up. Not saying Iranian government is not prosecuting people, they are, but they're prosecuting EVERYBODY. They prosecute Muslims more than anybody else. I'm not afraid to say that these guys are economic migrants with an excuse. But it's true that if you apply for refugee to another country, then you can't come back. They're now stuck between two hells.
1
CANADA. It is such a huge country with only 26 million people. PM of Canada, please help.
1
My ancestors were Assyrian Christians from Iran. They made it to this country after the 1915-1918 genocide that saw the slaughter of two million Armenians, 750,00 Assyrians, and 500,000 Pontic Greeks. Even though they were from the Middle East and an ethnic minority, my family was welcomed by Americans at that time, and aided greatly by the churches.
Fast forward one hundred years. Once again, Christian minorities are facing ethnic cleansing throughout the Middle East - not only in Iran, but also Iraq and Syria. Before Bush II invaded Iraq, there were some two million Assyrians there. Now there are fewer than 200,000. ISIS has essentially completed the genocide of Iraqi Assyrians.
Which brings me to have to state the obvious. With accounts such as these, we hear absolutely nothing from the "Evangelical" community in this country about the plight of Middle Eastern Christians -- you know, the same people who put the most unfit man imaginable in the White House?
By ignoring tens of thousands of Middle Eastern Christians who are literally facing life and death, the "religious right" is now showing its hypocrisy. The only Christians they care about are white. This isn't about "religious freedom" -- it's about color. And the "religious right" must be held to account for the disastrous results of their racism -- the complete decimation of Middle Eastern Christians on their watch.
12
It is insane to deny Christians, those who have the same beliefs as the majority of Americans, those who won’t blew themselves up and take 100s of innocent lives with them in the process, those who will assimilate in the community, and instead take those who will do the exact opposite!!
One day, someone will have to answer God for such cruelty.
3
These Christians can be dangerous folks...so glad that our so-called president is able to keep them out!
Frankly, they might be better off not coming to America at all. If they can find a home where they are in Austria, or elsewhere in Western Europe, they might have better lives than coming here.
1
Maybe Canada will offer to take them? They have just agreed to take almost 2000 of the African Migrants of the 30,000 scheduled to be deported from Israel. The other 28,000 are left to their fate, which is not fair. Someone make this issue known to the powers that be in Canada, come one, come all to Canada.
1
Well they do not meet the new whiteness standard. Racism elected this President more than Russians, more than any other single thing.
1
In the meantime, whilst non-Muslim iranian refugees do their best to escape Iran, I am certain that the folks at DHS, usually good Mormons all, have never even HEARD of some of these very early “Xtian” sects, like the Mandeans, so put them in the too hard basket. And though Armenians in Iran avoided the genocide aimed at them during WWI, Armenians have never been comfortable in Iran, as they (legally of course) keep pigs and eat pork and make (and illegally sell) alcohol.
These people are only considered “terrorists” by the current Iranian clerical oligarchy so if Trumpworld wants to annoy Iran, without setting off either regime change or another failure of an American invasion in Iran’s neighborhood, then they should be welcomed, quick smart, into the US.
1
America's new "Trumped" immigration policy. He decides and all else be damned: fairness, integrity, precedent, lives at risk. I know many Iranians who've come to America and made tremendous contributions to the county. I hold my head in shame.
2
Mr. President, I beg you to stop embarrassing me for being a citizen of what I once thought was a great country.
15
What an irony, the U.S. being a country of immigrants, now 'chose' to close it's doors to persecuted Iranians, justice denied, compassion nowhere to be found. Sure trust that Austria will benefit from new blood and ideas, once these victims are invited to stay and contribute to their society....while the USA continues to shoot it's own foot.
7
Every day the news is full of more accounts of cases that illustrate the Trump Administration's approach to immigration. https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/02/27/immigration-visa-quagmire-forces-...
They do not oppose immigration per se, only non-white immigration. Every program that allows immigration whether it is the H1-B high skilled worker visa or those that allow foreign entrepreneurs to move here if they start US businesses to employ Americans is being skewed to allow only immigration from white European countries and deny non-whites admission. That type of blatant racism is unconstitutional and sickeningly immoral. Of course, our descent into xenophobia makes us even more hated abroad, by even our friends. And that makes Trump's Russian controller, Vladimir Putin, very happy indeed.
6
This is all very complicated and emotional.
But I would hold off on casting it as a "white" vs "brown".
Most of these Iranians if not all - would easily pass as "whites."
I think the problem is that our government has determined that many of these refugee provisions have been abused. And it's time to put a brake on it.
It's a shame some of these folks have been caught up in this - but what can you do when you are seeking an admittance based on refugee status??
I actually think how do our government workers do this job if screening these folks? I would not be able to sleep knowing I may have made an innocent mistake either in denying or approving??
Add to the anxieties are ever present threat of lawsuits.
3
Every evangelical Christian who voted for Trump should read this article. That includes Franklin Graham, who continues to describe our president as a "defender of the faith."
10
Shameful beyond belief, but not unexpected, unfortunately. If these Christians were blond and blue-eyed they would be received with open arms. But of course, if Muslims were blond and blue-eyed, they would be viewed as heroes of The Book, and American homes would compete on opening their doors to them. Would these refugees consider dying their hair blond and wearing blue contact lenses? It wouldn't work, I am afraid, the roundish shape of the faces and the darker hue of their skin would give them away. Save for the lutefisk, there is nothing like being a Norwegian.
4
I guess Christians from the Middle East, especially Iran, aren't the right type of Christians. It's similar to the way everyone can make it in America but it helps to be a White Anglo Saxon Protestant male.
53
It reminds me of the Jewish immigrants from Europe that we rejected prior to World War II. More dirty laundry from America, guiding light of the free world.
58
Many Iranians don't even know that Iran created what is probably the world's first monotheistic religion (Zoroastrianism)--the one that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all rooted in...
The fact that they persecute their own using an invader's religion is shameful.
26
I thought Trump claimed a desire to protect Xtians? Oh...right, they aint white Xtians....they are of a land he has zero knowledge and/or understanding...only hate.
19
Finding it hard to understand why Iranians who are as Caucasian as any other ethnic group from Southwest Asia is treated as "dark skinned." As if that mattered. But the fact is Iranians/Persians speak an Indo European Language, come from one of most ancient and venerable civilizations in the Western World--albeit East of Constantinople. Come on people, get educated. Ignorance even among tolerant people is still ignorance. The average Sicilian is probably as swarthy as the average Persian. Race is a fictional construct and this idiocy demonstrates just that.
9
Trump wants to Make America White Again. Those dark-skinned Christians evidently don't count.
68
Admit Ukrainian Christians and deny Iranian Christians? The only way that makes sense is if its based on skin color, not religious persecution.
69
I don't think potential refugees should get preference because of their belief in what millions consider little more than superstition, myths and fairy tales.
6
It's a matter of a minority being persecuted by a majority. And no, Bruce, we're not going to leave it up to you to decide which minorities are legitimate.
4
Iranian atheists have no legal protection whatsoever Giving up their beliefs would make their situation truly dire.
1
How about getting preference since their lives are at stake BECAUSE of their beliefs.
1
If we didn't have so many illegal immigrants, and our southern border was under control, Americans would be more accommodating of refugees, especially if they are not Muslims.
12
Rockhead,
How is the number of jaywalkers, second-storey men, or violators of passport control relevant to the country's treatment of refugees?
2
People from southern are the original people this side of Atlantic. They have been coming and going north and south more than thousand years. Definitely before Amerigo Vespuchi landed on the eastern shore.
3
Meanwhile, evangelicals and conservative Catholics here in the US complain bitterly that they're being persecuted by having to suffer the existence of married gays, by having to fill prescriptions for contraceptives, by having to decorate wedding cakes for gay couples, and by extending health insurance to cover contraceptives.
So where is the outrage from evangelicals and the Catholic right? Or do they say that as long as Iran doesn't allow gay marriage, etc., all is fine? Or are they merely shameless hypocrites?
57
The reason Iran is in the shape it is because of the US and British trying to take over the country for its oil wake up people.
11
The distinction between political refugees and economic refugees is not that clear cut. If you live in a theocracy that controls business, education, healthcare, etc., and you are a member of minority that is excluded from success, forced to hide or disown your identity, facing the prospect of persecution, etc., are you a political or an economic refugee? Sure, once they are out, they often either want (a) to be with family, or (b) live where the economic benefits are highest.
The U.S. is making a big mistake. Those fleeing Iran - Muslim or not - value education and they are strivers, and they don't by definition agree with what is going on there.
16
And yet Melania's parents................................
66
A policy that is cruel, selfish and stupid. Utterly typical of this administration.
28
I hope the hundreds of thousands of Armenian-Americans who donated to Trump and voted for him are paying attention! Make sure this news report gets more traction all over the country -- especially in California, please!
6
Oh, and all those wonderful Evangelical Russians and Ukrainians pose no civil risk to the US, at all!!! Nope, no sleeper agents among them! I’m sure Paul Manafort and Roger Stone will vouch for them.
The old name for Iran is Arya, it’s people called Aryans. The old Nazi Party of the 1920s-30s, accepted and celebrated the Aryans, going so far as to honor, and even court, old king, Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Allies insisted on his abdication at the start of of their WWII occupation of Iran, an occupation that delivered goods and materiel to the USSR overland through Iran. If Iranians were Aryan enough for Ribbentrop, they should be good enough for Kelly, et al.
14
Armenian Americans have proved to be one of the most successful immigrant groups that have entered this country. What is wrong with our government?
24
"What is wrong with our government?"
You're kidding, right?
2
These are true refugees, they are a persecuted/intimidated minority in a hostile country. They are the type of people that were in mind when the refugee and asylum policies were developed. If western countries had been smart, they would only have admitted persecuted minorities as asylum seekers, or the rare political prisoner, and not the masses that came, most of whom were Muslims from Muslim majority countries, who were not persecuted.
I hope that they are granted settlement. If the west were smart, they would admit these people in exchange for failed asylum seekers, of which there is an over-abundance, and constantly rising.
Admitting these people makes 100x more sense than admitting people from underrepresented countries via the lame-brained visa lottery program
34
Where are Trump's fundamentalist supporters now that someone needs them?
23
They have no idea this is happening. It's not being covered by Fox News.
1
There may be a hundred things wrong with the Iranian government, but it has no history of religious persecution. Religious minorities are probably safer in Iran than anywhere else in the middle east.
10
Rahul,
That's just blatantly false. Today, Iranian controlled militias in Iraq and Syria are actively carrying out ethnic cleansing. In fact, the constitution of Iran declares Shia Islam as the state religion, and prohibits all other religions except Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and one other I don't have off the top of my head. However, the reality is that the Ba'hai and Sunni muslims in particular are repressed as heretics, conversion from Islam to another religion is a capital crime, and that all non-approved religions are penalized for preaching in Farsi.
20
Your assertion is completely false. The Islamic Republic might say they respect the rights of religious minorities on paper, but, in reality, the Islamic authorities repress the free expression of minority faiths. Christians converts in Iran can be charged with apostasy which has a death sentence and are forced to congregate covertly on Sundays. Jews in Iran are subject to the rabid anti-Zionism of the government which does not allow them to outwardly support or do business with Israel.
21
Raul is right. The Iranian government might be vicious, but they are vicious with everybody, except religious minorities claim it's because they're minorities. What do thousands of Muslim Iranians who are being prosecuted can say? Can they claim to be discriminated against while being prosecuted too? No.
Anyone can learn a religion just like a language or a pledge. If we want to protect America, we need to several limit all immigrants or we will continue to trend toward a society that resembles India or China.
5
Anyone can learn to die at the hands of religious fanatics. It's so easy.
Of course, we don't want to trend towards a society like the Third Reich. So let's limit immigrants from Aryan nations.
3
And what if you are a non-believer, but born into a certain minority group that is persecuted? Hatred and discrimination are not rational acts.
What is more American than the right of freedom of religion? Yet here we see that even Christians fleeing religious persecution can be barred entry based on country of origin. This is a moral crisis for America. But for Christians fleeing the Middle East, they will find it easier to go to Canada or some other nation. Try entering the U.S. after we have an electoral change. Hopefully that shift will begin later this year.
14
Now that the xenophobic and/or racist strand of this society has sufficient
power to do its thing and implement its vision of keeping the country
as white and european as possible, such stories make the rest of the society
ashamed of what is being done in our name. If we could, we would
apologize en masse for the pain inflicted upon innocents in our name.
But it would also be far more effective to vote this fall and bend the curve
of righteousness in the opposite direction so that this periodic
outbreak of nativist, morally blind fury is extinguished as quickly
as possible.
31
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE: encourage everyone you know to vote in this fall's election and in each and every election that follows. If the correct folks are elected, then "...this too shall pass."
1
A christian Iranian woman works in my laboratory. Her husband and two teenage sons are also Iranian refugees. She says if she were to return to Iran she would run a very high likelihood of being jailed or killed. The number one priority for these refugees is that they not be sent back to Iran. Number two priority is admit them into the USA. The Iranian family associated with my lab have two sons doing well in high school, a husband working at a trade, and the wife working towards a graduate degree. These are the people we want to have in our country.
105
hd, nearly all the Christians living in Iran are Armenian. Iran has good relations with Armenia and the two countries border each other. That being the case, it would be easy for the Armenians to simply migrate to Armenia. There is likely some discrimination against Armenians in Iran, though like Jews and Zoroastrians, they have the vote and seats in the Iranian parliament. But I find it highly unlikely that a Christian would be killed in Iran for being Christian. I have known Armenians in the past who have immigrated to the U.S. and it was mostly for economic reasons. And they spoke harshly about Turks (for historical reasons), not Iranians.
11
The third priority is to bring in their spouse, children father mother aunts uncles nieces nephews and anyone else living in their villages.
Keep 'em ALL out!
We should have a moratorium on all immigration whenever the population of the United States exceeds 300 million.
4
The attitude of Seattle pioneer is exactly what is wrong with this country and much of the world right now. We are sorely lacking in compassion and empathy.
I hope you or your family never have to flee your homeland for economic reasons or religious persecution or famine.
Most of us don’t appreciate the incredible good fortune of just being born in a developed country.
2
They look like economic migrants to me. They want access to the American economy.
It is amazing how few of these refugees actually expatriate themselves from their old persecuting country. They flee but keep their second passport.
11
Michale,
based on Iranian law, you cannot shed your Iranian citizenship.
So these people will always stay Iranians no matter what.
And yes, they are most likely not refugees but economic migrants.
But that has been the majority of those that are coming to Europe or the US as refugees.
It is simply wrong to call them refugees but the media insists.
13
What Iran claims is irrelevant to the immigrants. They want out, and will likely seek US citizenship.
3
Whether Iran allows its citizens to renounce their Iranian citizenship is irrelevant. Dual citizenship is common. Many Jewish Americans also hold Israeli citizenship. Witness Stanley Fischer, former Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal. He holds dual US and Israeli citizenship. Many Irish Americans hold dual citizenship with Ireland.
There is nothing illegal about that. See Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253 (1967).
Further, our oath of citizenship requires renouncing foreign citizenship. It does not require the consent of any other nation.
It is simply wrong to use concerns of economic immigration to disguise overt racism, but some insist.
5
Take it easy, the Austrian will take care of them.
After all, they have taken in hundreds of thousands of refugees and there is a huge community of Iranians in Vienna while any social security system is way better than in the US.
Makes you wonder, why they wanted to go to the US in the first place when Europe is so much better for them?
10
It is clear from the article that all of these individuals only want to be reunited in the US with family - the whole reason they are in this process. Do not assume either that the Austrians are able or willing to take care of them.
17
TigerMan, having grown up in Austria, I know this place a lot better than you ever will.
The Austrians have taken in more refugees, real refuges as well as migrants for economic reasons, than most other countries in Europe per capita.
The last migration wave starting in 2015 has brought some 180,000 people into this country of roughly 8 mio. and they are all being taken care of by the local social services and local people, fed and sheltered by local taxes and fully integrated into the social services paid for by local workers and companies.
Austria has taken in by far more people per capita than the US ever has or will.
And no one has asked Austria if they ever wanted to take these people in, the Austrian simply did - unlike the US.
They know how to take care of these people and they will.
And they do not vet these migrants, unlike the US
And yes, these refugees wanted to be reunited with their families in the US.
And yes, it looks as if the US government has broken it's word.
So the broken promises of the US will - again - have to be covered by the Europeans.
That is not new and it has happened before, e.g. when thousands of Russian Jews were stranded in Europe because the US changed its rules after they saw how many people would come.
It is a fact that the US has a long history of broken promises, agreements and contracts.
And it is also a fact that Austria, like most EU countries, have taken over and cared for those that have been stranded there because of US politics.
56
Times have changed, Thomas. Britain no longer accepts refugees or migrants from Calais; they are turned back whether at sea, or land transport through tunnels. Britain has a large, disgruntled Muslim population in the North. Borders are being manned throughout Europe; Turkey has been offered money to either turn back, or to house refugees from the ME. Germany now has a vocal contingent against admitting any more refugees or migrants. Greece is rescuing people fleeing their countries of origin; however, it does not have enough space or money to support them. Spain does not have the money to support masses of refugees. The mass migrations from the ME are overwhelming the EU countries, and are now facing resistance at the borders.
It seems that the government ought to supply an explanation, not an evasion, for denial, if, in fact, the government has not been. Next rises the question, if the government has not been supplying thorough explanations, has not been offering evasions instead, to whom are the decision-makers accountable? It seems that the applicants are very vulnerable to indiscretion of decision-makers buried in bureaucracy.
8