It
is an honor for the Iraqi Christians Advocacy and Empowerment Institute (ICAE)
and for the Chaldean American Community leaders (photo) to jointly meet U.S.
Senator Portman and his staff on the Capitol Hill and in his home State Ohio to
advocate on behalf of the Displaced and persecuted Christians of Iraq.
Just
last Thursday ICAE was again at Senator Portman's office on the Capitol Hill to
Reiterate its calling for the support of the Displaced and persecuted
Christians of Iraq.
Thank
you Senator Portman, we are grateful.
ishtartv.com-
dailycaller.com
Sen. Rob Portman
U.S. Senator
(R-OH)
06/01/2015
Persecution
of Christians and other religious minorities around the world today is a tragic
reality. I have consistently spoken out on it and called on our government to
do more to address it. I want to share a story of how persecution of Christians
by radical Islamic extremists was recently brought home to me in a new and
profound way.
On a
recent trip to Israel, as I have done in the past, I visited the holy sites
and, as best I could, retraced some of the steps that Jesus took. Along with my
wife, Jane, we started with a journey to Bethlehem. A Palestinian Christian
guide took us through the Church of the Nativity where we were able to kneel in
the Grotto of the Nativity, and pray in the place where Jesus was born. We were
touched and inspired.
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We
then went to Jerusalem, where we toured parts of all four quarters of the Old
City – Christian, Jewish, Armenian, and Muslim. While there, we visited the
location of the Upper Room, which some believe was the location of the Last
Supper. We also walked the Stations of the Cross, stopping at various stations
to recall the stories in the New Testament. That walk ultimately leads to the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where we joined worshipers who came to see the
place where many believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead.
Once again, it was a deeply spiritual experience.
But
we were also surprised and deeply moved by something else we saw. Before
entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, near the Coptic Patriarchal Church
and the Ethiopian Chapel, there was something new since my last visit to the
church a few years ago. It was a large banner that hung just outside the
entrance that displayed a photograph of Coptic Christians on their knees on a
beach as they were about to be beheaded by ISIS terrorists. Innocents all in a
row, about to die for the simple reason that they were Christians. Seeing that
banner of persecution towards Christians and murder at that moment, as we had
just been pondering the suffering of Jesus two millennia ago, made me redouble
my commitment to call the world’s attention to stopping this horrific practice
today.
This
is a perilous time to be a Christian all over the Middle East.
One
of those Christians is Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen who is
suffering in an Iranian prison. His crime? His Christian faith. Unfortunately
he is just one of the many Christian voices that Islamic extremists want to
silence. Pastor Abedini is sitting in a prison while American diplomats
negotiate sanctions relief for a regime that is the world’s number one state
sponsor of terrorism. His release and the release of other American prisoners
should be part of any agreement with Iran. I was pleased the Senate approved a
resolution, which I cosponsored, that states that it is the official policy of
the United States to secure the release of Pastor Saeed and other Americans
illegally detained in Iran.
Thousands
of Christians are also suffering in Iraq. For the past year, ISIS has waged a
brutal campaign of terror throughout the country. Their quest to establish the
world’s only caliphate has demonstrated to the international community that
they will kill anyone who doesn’t conform to their radical interpretation of
Islam. As a result, many Iraqis have fled their homes in fear of ISIS, hoping
to escape their reign of terror, causing a mass migration that only continues
to worsen one of the world’s most dire humanitarian crises.
The
United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees estimates that there are 2 million
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Iraq and over 300,000 refugees have fled
violence in Syria. Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous province in northern Iraq, has
inherited 1.4 million of these refugees including tens of thousands of
Christians and other religious minorities. We remember the massacre of Yazidis
last year and the tens of thousands of Yazidis who were forced to take refuge
in the Sinjar Mountains. I have heard in meetings with Iraqi Christians now
living in Ohio that ISIS persecution is one of the reasons the Iraqi Christian
population has gone from 1.4 million just a decade ago to fewer than 400,000
today.
*The
following is a letter that Senator Rob Portman has drafted to circulate to
other U.S. Senators for their signatures.
The letter is addressed to Secretary
of State John Kerry.
The Honorable John F. Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear
Secretary Kerry, We write to you with increasing concern over the plight of
Iraqi Christians displaced by the violence in the country, the majority of whom
have sought refuge in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. Many of these
people have sought asylum in the United States, but because the U.S. Consulate
in Erbil does not process immigration visas they must embark on a
life-threatening and virtually impossible journey through ISIS-controlled
territory to reach the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Even if they manage to reach
the Embassy, the Consular Section has temporarily suspended services provided
by the immigration visa units. This situation makes it virtually impossible for
Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities seeking to flee violence in
Iraq to come to the United States. We respectfully request your assistance in
resolving this matter. According to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, there
are approximately 2 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Iraq and
over 300,000 refugees fleeing the violence in Syria. Of these, about 1.4
million people are estimated to have sought refuge in Kurdistan, including tens
of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities. While the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) has been responsive and generous in supporting the
refugee population, the rapid growth of IDPs and refugees is causing severe
strains on the Kurdish economy, which threatens to make living conditions even
worse as the Kurds’ ability to care for IDPs and refugees decreases.
Unfortunately the U.S. Consulate in Erbil does not process immigrant visa
applications, which is yet another roadblock for Iraqi Christians attempting to
emigrate to other countries, including the United States. We understand the
U.S. policy regarding a unified Iraq. However, allowing for the processing of
immigrant visas in the place where the majority of the people seeking them live
strikes us as a common-sense response to an urgent humanitarian crisis, not an
effort to undermine U.S. support for a unified Iraqi state. Visa processing
times are already notoriously slow, and allowing immigrant visas to be
processed in Erbil could help alleviate this problem. It would also demonstrate
to the U.S. Senate, the refugee population, and the world that the United
States government is committed to helping the thousands Christians, Yazidis,
and other religious minorities who have suffered enormously because of their
faith.
We respectfully urge the State Department to allow the U.S. Consulate in Erbil
to process immigrant visas. If no change in policy is planned, please justify
the current policy and explain how it is adequate in addressing the needs of
the growing refugee population in Kurdistan. Finally, please provide an update
on the visa processing situation at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and an estimate
on when the Consular Section will resume providing full immigrant visa
services.
