Iraqi displacement

>> War forced an estimated 4.5 million Iraqis out of their homes, and 2 million of them fled into other countries, the largest population shift in the Mideast since Palestinians were displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

>> Of the Iraqi refugees, a half million need permanent resettlement, the United Nations says, while emphasizing it still has more cases to examine. The U.S. has accepted about 35,000.

>> Before the war, the Iraqi-born U.S. population numbered about 100,000. The three states with the most: Michigan, California, Illinois. The three top cities: Detroit, Chicago, San Diego.

How Resettlement works

>> The U.N. refugee agency examines families that have fled, weighing their chances of a safe return, their current living conditions and the willingness of countries to permanently resettle them.

>> The U.S. government, working with the U.N., decides to accept and resettle refugees based on whether they have a “well-founded fear of persecution” if returned home.

>> The federal government contracts with 10 resettlement agencies. Nine are private nonprofit groups. The other is the State of Iowa, whose unique status dates to a commitment then-Gov. Robert Ray made in the mid-1970s, as the last throes of the Vietnam War were producing a tide of refugees.

>> Resettlement agencies, consulting with their state- and local-level officials, set annual targets of the refugees they could place, paying particular attention to job prospects — a potential problem in a recession. Refugees must seek permanent-resident status after one year and may seek citizenship after five years.

>> In a separate program, the federal government resettles Iraqis deemed at high risk because of their work for U.S. troops or diplomats. So far, about 4,000 people have come to America via this route, although the advocacy group Human Rights First says 20,000 have applied.

SOURCES: U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, U.S. Census Bureau, State Department, resettlement agencies

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