Army captain reaches out to refugees from Iraq

Army captain reaches out to refugees from Iraq
By Saundra Amrhein, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Sunday, July 12, 2009
While the U.S. resettlement program remains one of the safest alternatives for thousands of Iraqi refugees fleeing sectarian violence, it is underfunded and relies on refugee self-sufficiency "in a reactive manner that lacks strategy, flexibility and compassion," concluded the International Rescue Committee in a June report titled "Iraqi Refugees in the United States: In Dire Straits.

Without jobs, the refugees, who are eager to work, quickly exhaust the resources available from refugee agencies that contract with the U.S. government. Private donations the program depends on have plummeted. Unable to pay the rent, Iraqis face homelessness. Some who worked as interpreters with U.S. troops have gone back, exposing themselves again to death threats by militias.

Into this mix stepped people like U.S. Army Capt. Jason Faler.
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