Published on Apr 29, 2015

Jill Koyama, Assistant Professor, Educational Policy Studies & Practice, University of Arizona

Thousands of Iraqis helped the US during the decade-long war. They include military interpreters, media translators and guides, journalists, and human rights activists. Thousands of them are still in the pipeline for special visas to immigrate to the United States. More than six years ago Congress passed the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act to protect the US-affiliated Iraqis and provide them safe passage to the United States. Between October 1, 2006 and November 30, 2012, only 11,000 special immigrant visas (SIVs) were issued to Iraqis who worked for the U.S. government in Iraq, out of a possible 25,000. Drawing on data I collected between 2011 and 2013 in an anthropological study of 27 Iraqi refugees resettled with SIVs and 24 returned American veterans of the Iraq War living in New York, I reveal the bureaucracy associated with obtaining an SIV. I situate the narratives of the refugees and the veterans within contemporary discourses centering on the actions of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants to problematize and interrogate the positioning of Middle Eastern refugees as “risks” to the US economy and security.

Published on Oct 4, 2015

Millions of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya are being forced to leave their countries to save their lives. The most recent mass migration has been through Greece, Austria and Hungary. This on the spot report looks at this crisis and hears from trade unionists, worker activists and Greek members of Parliament. Interviews were done in late August early September 2015 in Athens and Vienna.

Published on Mar 19, 2013

Abby Martin Breaks the Set on the 10th Anniversary of the Iraq War.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN: On this episode of Breaking the Set, Abby Martin takes a short look back at the events leading up the US led invasion of Iraq, calling out the lies told by the government and the corporate media's complicity in perpetuating these falsehoods. Abby then talks to BTS producer, Ameera David, about the plight of Iraqi refugees seeking asylum in the US; Iraqis who helped American forces throughout the war as linguists and translators. BTS wraps up the show with an interview with blogger and political analyst, Raed Jarrar, about the fallout of the invasion of Iraq 10 years later, and discuss the discrepancies surrounding the true civilian death toll of the war.

Published on Feb 9, 2016

On The Stream: A rising number of Iraqi refugees are giving up on Europe and returning home.

Published on Apr 10, 2013

Over the past decade, tens of thousands of Iraqis have fled their country to resettle in Sweden. Iraqi-born Swedes are today one of the largest ethnic minority groups living in Sweden. In 2007, Swedish immigration authorities ruled there was no longer an armed conflict in Iraq and that it was therefore acceptable to send Iraqi citizens back to their country. A number of Iraqi refugees were deported amid protests, criticism from human rights groups and concern expressed by the United Nations. This film tells the story of Iraqi immigrants in Sweden, highlighting issues of integration, multiculturalism as well as an emerging right-wing backlash against immigration.