Iraqis trickle in among county refugee arrivals

[COLOR=var(--primaryTextColor)]A van parked outside the International Rescue Committee in San Diego.(Kate Morrissey/San Diego Union-Tribune)What was once the largest group of San Diego newcomers each month all but stopped coming under additional screening requirements of the Trump administration

[COLOR=var(--primaryTextColor)]By KATE MORRISSEY[/COLOR][COLOR=var(--secondaryTextColor)]MAY 13, 20192:23 PM[/COLOR][COLOR=var(--primaryTextColor)]More refugees from Iraq have come to San Diego County this fiscal year than last year, according to data from the U.S. State Department.After receiving about a dozen Iraqi refugees in fiscal 2018, the county has resettled more than double that — 28 so far in fiscal 2019. Iraqis used to make up the largest group of refugees that the county resettled each month, but after the Trump administration implemented increased screenings for people from a list of countries that included Iraq, resettlement nearly stopped.In fiscal 2016, before the Trump administration, the county resettled 944 Iraqi refugees. In fiscal 2017, which was partially affected by the new Trump administration rules, 688 refugees from Iraq came to the San Diego area, a 27 percent decrease.The biggest drop came in fiscal 2018, when the county resettled 12 Iraqi refugees, a 98 percent decline.Donna Duvin of the International Rescue Committee, one of the county’s four refugee resettlement agencies, said she’s seen a slight shift recently in the demographics of arrivals as Iraqis whose processing came to a halt under the new rules from the Trump administration have slowly made their way through the system.Iraqis are now a minority among San Diego’s newcomers and have been for more than a year. The largest group of new arrivals was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a trend that grew out of the Trump administration’s changes.Of the 34 refugees resettled in the county in April, 8 were originally from Iraq. Another 17 were from the Democratic Republic of Congo.The county also received refugees from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Pakistan last month.Nationally, 66 Iraqis resettled in the United States last month, the 7th largest group in the country. The largest, at 1,135, came from the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by Myanmar, Ukraine and Eritrea.More than halfway through the fiscal year, the United States is still short of the 50 percent mark for the number of refugees that President Donald Trump said the country could take in this year. Just over 14,800 have resettled out of the total possible 30,000.Though the cap was higher last fiscal year, San Diego County so far has received more refugees this fiscal year than at the same point last fiscal year. The county has taken in a total of 194 refugees, a 33 percent increase over the 146 who resettled in the area through April of last year. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com...fugee-arrivals [/COLOR][/COLOR]