Interview With Robin Young, National Public Radio (WBUR, Boston)

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: Well, let me clarify that when the president does his annual determination of the numbers of refugees that can be resettled in the United States, that process started really many, many months ago, before there was any significant outflow of refugees from Iraq. The total number in the Presidential determination worldwide was 70,000. A number was established for the Middle East in general, but that number still allowed for an additional 20,000 in a sort of an unallocated group.

Question: Well let me just look at our thinking against the reports that we've been given. You're saying the number 70,000. Just clarify for us, because we're reading that the cap on Iraqi refugees coming to the US was at 500 although he could legally raise that number to 20,000.

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: The determination that goes to Congress puts an estimate based on the situation at a given time, on how many refugees will come from various parts of the world. It's not a quota, it's not a cap, it can be changed. Those numbers can be moved around from one area of the world to another. That number that you're talking about is just really a planning figure. So that as we put together our program, we have some idea, but as events in the world change, then numbers can be moved from one area of the world to another.

Question: Do you have concerns, as other do, and we've got some people lined up who will join us in a second, do you have concerns that whatever the number is, it's not high enough for the numbers that are going to want to come to the US?

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: Absolutely. The number of people that have left Iraq at this point that are in neighboring countries we, under any circumstances, no matter what the number is, we would only be able to resettle a small portion. That's why so much of our effort is being placed on trying to provide assistance to those who are in the surrounding countries, and at the same time to be trying to identify the most vulnerable of those that have fled that might be unable to return to Iraq and therefore will need to be, at some point, resettled in other countries.

Question: Do you have concerns as Arthur Dewey did? He was the President's Assistant Secretary for Refugees Affairs until last year. He is quoted in the Boston Globe, well, you know that, he's quoted in the Boston Globe as saying that he thought that the Administration would discourage Iraqis from coming to the US because it would send the message that this was a losing cause. Do you agree?

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: No, I don't agree. …Our program is a humanitarian one, and it will be, the decisions that are made in terms of resettling refugees, as it is in any part of the world, will be based on need, and (for) those that are found to be extremely vulnerable, those that are found not to have an opportunity to return home, and let me just say, that most of the Iraqis want to go home. They're not looking for third country resettlement. They're hoping that there will be stability, which is what we're spending a lot of political capital on, to help bring about the conditions in Iraq that would stem the outflows and allow for people to go home.

Question: Of course the concern is that maybe some of them can't go home. We understand a large number of applicants now are Christian Iraqis. And first of all, what problem does that present to the US? Because we are reading that there's a question in Washington as to whether to let more Christian Iraqis in because that might add to the perception that this is a Christian versus a Muslim war.

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: The issue needs to be who are the most vulnerable. And there are certainly very vulnerable Christians. There are also very vulnerable Palestinians, for example. So as we do begin doing more widespread resettlement, it will be based not on religion, but who are the most vulnerable, and certainly among those, Christians will be, I'm sure, a large part of the resettlement because of all groups, they probably have the least chance of going home. Y I want to bring in now Joseph Kassab. He's executive director of the Chaldean Christian Federation of America. This is a humanitarian organization made up of Catholics. Joseph, are you there?

Joseph Kassab Yes, I'm here.

Question: We understand that you have concerns about the Christian Iraqis, many of whom have family in the U.S. Why? Give us a little bit of history of Christian Iraqis coming to the US in the past.

Joseph Kassah: Well, as you know, the Christians of Iraq are the indigenous people of Iraq. Their history goes back to four thousand years ago, and they became Christians in the early years of Christianity. And then most of them did very well in Iraq until recently where the Saddam regime and of course after the liberation of Iraq they were kind of persecuted, they were receiving a lot of violence and therefore they had to leave Iraq. And there was a migration to the States in the very early 1900's of Iraqi Christians to this country and they settled in the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Chicago and California.

Question: And now, Joseph, how many are you hearing from, what kind of numbers, if you can give us a ballpark number of Christian Iraqis who want to come to the US now?

Joseph Kassah: Well, the numbers that we have so far per our survey, and per our contacts with these people on the ground, I would say there is something between 120,000 to 130,000. And the number is on the increase, it used to be by the month, then by the day, and now is by the hour.

Question: And Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey, that's a big number. Are you concerned about that?

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: Well, it is a big number and we will be, as we are putting our program together, we will be looking for opportunities for family reunification, which we think is very important. But as I indicated before, our program is going to have to be based on vulnerability, so we will be trying to identify through our work with UNHCR, which is beginning a general registration, to help us to identify those who are most vulnerable.

Question: And we understand, we have about a minute before the break, Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey, if you could just briefly tell us, that there is some finger pointing going on as to whose job it is to identify refugees, the U.S. or the UN. What is the problem there?

Assistant Secretary Sauerbrey: I wouldn't want to characterize it as finger pointing. UNHCR is the international organization through which the U.S. works to identify those refugees, those individuals, who will be resettled in the United States. We have been asking UNHCR for probably the last three years to do more registration. However, we also recognize that this is very labor intensive, it's a dangerous area, a security risk, and we will have to do a better job of providing the resources if UNHCR is going to be able to do the resettlement referrals.

Question: All right. Ellen Sauerbrey, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. Thanks so much for speaking to us and we're going to continue this conversation after the break. About the Iraqi refugee crisis.