U.S. Admissions Down for the Holidays

Yesterday's State Department daily press briefing ended with a quick note on Iraqi refugee admissions - just 245 Iraqis were resettled in the U.S. in the month of December. That brings us to a total of 1,057 for FY 2008. The U.S. has set a goal of 12,000 Iraqi refugee admissions for the fiscal year. Yet the holidays - when many Americans are able to gather with loved ones and celebrate their own blessings - saw the lowest admissions for Iraqi refugees since last July. State says that their goal remains 12,000 for the year. That will clearly demand dramatic increase in the rate of processing and resettlement by State and DHS in the next few months. You can check out State Department Spokesman's Sean McCormack's discussion yesterday here. And look at the statistics yourself on the website of the Refugee Processing Center (part of the Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration).

The Associated Press has done a good analysis of the numbers - Matthew Lee's article hit many press outlets yesterday. Read it here.