Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
So-called “rowdiness” ended a meeting in the Detroit area between Iraqi Chaldean refugees and State Department officials and their refugee resettlement agency partners (here).
TROY: Rowdiness scuttles Iraqi refugee meeting
Police broke up a meeting of 650 Iraqi refugees at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday that got rowdy when speakers from the U.S. State Department began answering questions, Troy Police Lt. Michael Lyczkowski said.
“About six to 18 people were causing trouble, but there were no physical assaults” at the American Polish Cultural Center, Lyczkowski said Tuesday. The people shouted and approached the stage, so officers “escorted the speakers and audience from the building and parking lot,” he said.
The program was hosted by Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, Catholic Services of Macomb and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said Margaret Wojcieshowski, the center’s general manager.
Usually the State Department refugee officials only have these meetings when refugees have claimed significant neglect and abuse at the hands of their refugee resettlement agencies.
So the question is, what have Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, Catholic Services of Macomb, and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (Arab Community Center for Economics and Social Services, a.k.a., ACCESS) been doing, or more likely not doing, for their refugee clients?
Why were the Iraqi refugees so frustrated that things got out of hand at the meeting?
***UPDATE June 4, 2010
State Department officials who fled the meeting included — Michael Corbin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Special Coordinator for Iraq’s Minority Communities, and Mr. Lawrence Bartlett, Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee Admissions, Bureau of Population, Refugee, and Migration, U.S. Department of State (here).
…Michael Corbin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Special Coordinator for Iraq’s Minority Communities…
Corbin will be in Troy to address the Iraqi American community on U.S. policy toward Iraq, the concerns of Iraqi minority communities, and matters related to refugee resettlement. Mr. Corbin recently returned from Iraq where he met with leaders and members of Iraq’s minority communities. He will provide a comprehensive briefing on that trip, as well as current efforts to address their needs.
Serving under Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Corbin was appointed by President Barack Obama to the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of near Eastern Affairs where he has served since July 2009 and focuses on issues concerning the Ethnic and Religious Minority Communities in Iraq.
Corbin will also be accompanied by Mr. Lawrence Bartlett, Deputy Director of the Office of Refugee Admissions, Bureau of Population, Refugee, and Migration, U.S. Department of State. Mr. Bartlett recently returned from a trip to Iraq, Jordan and Syria and will speak about the Iraqi refugee resettlement program to the United States. Representatives of Detroit area refugee resettlement agencies will also be available to respond to resettlement-related questions.
**UPDATE July 3, 2010
letter to Hillary Clinton from Iraqi American Endowment Center
