Not long after the Iraq war began in 2003, Uday Hattem al-Ghanimi was accosted by several men outside the American military base where he managed a convenience store. They accused him of abetting the Americans, and one fired a pistol at his head.
Nour al-Khal has been working as a translator in New York after initially working as a receptionist when she first arrived in 2007.
Now, after 24 operations, Mr. Ghanimi has a reconstructed face as well as political asylum in the United States. On July 4, his wife and three youngest children joined him in New York after a three-year separation.
But the euphoria of their reunion quickly dissipated as the family began to reckon with the colder realities of their new life. Mr. Ghanimi, 50, who has not been able to work because of lingering pain, is supporting his family on a monthly disability check of $761, food stamps and handouts from friends. They are crammed into one room they rent in a two-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in a city whose small Iraqi population is scattered. And Mr. Ghanimi’s wife and children do not speak English, deepening their sense of isolation.
“They say, ‘Let’s go back,’ ” Mr. Ghanimi said glumly. “It’s not what they were thinking. I told them, ‘Just be patient.’ ”
For years after the American invasion of Iraq, thousands of Iraqis clamored for admission to the United States and found the door all but closed — until the government reacted to widespread criticism in 2007 by making it easier for more to enter with special visas or as refugees.
But now that Iraqis are arriving in larger numbers, many are discovering that life in the United States is much harder than they expected.
A report released in June by the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement organization in New York, said that many Iraqi immigrants have been unable to find jobs, are exhausting government and other benefits and are spiraling toward poverty and homelessness.
Advocates for immigrants in New York and elsewhere say that Iraqis have had more difficulty getting settled than most migrant populations. Many are well educated and arrive with unrealistically high expectations of the life that awaits them. Though most have received assistance from government or private agencies, large numbers have immigrated in the depths of the recession.
Many also need help dealing with the physical and emotional wounds of war.
“I’ve never seen a population where the trauma is so universal,” said Robert Carey, vice president for resettlement and migration policy at the International Rescue Committee.
More than 30,000 Iraqis have been resettled in the United States since the 2003 invasion as refugees, or with special visas for those who worked closely with the American government. At least 1,500 more have been granted asylum, federal officials say.
A vast majority have arrived in the past two years, settling thinly across the country, with larger concentrations in San Diego, Phoenix, Houston and Dearborn, Mich. More than 1,100 have been resettled in the New York region, with at least 100 in New York City.
In Iraq, many worked as doctors, teachers, scientists and interpreters — often for Americans, giving some the hope that they would be rewarded with a comfortable life here. But like accomplished immigrants from other countries, most have found that overseas credentials do not always apply in the American market, compelling them to compete for lower-skill jobs.
Nour al-Khal, 35, who arrived in New York as a refugee in 2007, has been mentoring several Iraqi families. Among the hardest adjustments, she said, is accepting the likelihood that they will not make a lateral professional move.
“We fight over that,” said Ms. Khal, who was shot in Basra, Iraq, in 2005 while working as an interpreter for Steven Vincent, an American journalist who was killed in the attack. Ms. Khal was a senior manager for an American development contractor; in New York, the best job she could initially find was as a receptionist at a real estate firm.
“I just accepted it,” said Ms. Khal, who now works as a translator. “It was so hard.”
The New York region offers notable opportunities for newcomers. Public transportation is good, and social service agencies have a wealth of experience with recent immigrants. But living costs are high, and the Iraqi population — unlike other immigrant groups that have colonized neighborhoods and formed associations — is atomized, fostering an alienation that is aggravated by the city’s relentless pace.
A.
B. and wife S. and volunteer driver Michael Mohan, and son of A. who is 12 and very helpful. Their daughter
D. who is 19, would like to study to be a teacher of ARabic
after she learns English. They also have a 6 yr old son
A.that will start school soon. A.has a US
Commercial Pilot and Engineer license, has studied in Brittain,
Yugoslavia and taught English. We have contacted UVU for
him to hopefully teach in their Aviation School. Amir and
his family had "a great career as a pilot, two homes and
wonderful friends, but the Insurgents backed by Iran had
assassinated his friends who were also pilots and fought against
Iran, and his family was in danger, so they left everything
behind and fled for Jordan while awaiting 3 yrs until they ran
out of money to come to the US for refuge." They "have
nothing but are so grateful for the help an LDS Bishop named
Stan who brought them a TV, Microwave, and more and gave them an
Book of Mormon in Arabic they enjoy studying and brought them to
church with him and has offered to help them in their
apartment." Amir is thrilled to find any job to pay the bills
for his family because he states that "the IRC agency that
promised him a match grant program when he arrived a week ago,
has now changed their mind and putting them in another program
he and his wife will be forced to do 60 hrs a week of volunteer
work and no time to find work, or raise the kids." If he
gets a job as a flight instructor with all his training he has,
he will be able to find an apartment of his choosing, and his
kids will be able to study, and his wife be there for the
children. S. is also able to speak English, very
resourceful and will have a lot to contribute. This family wants
to help other families in this situation once they get on their
feet. INterviews with 3 of t hese families coming on video soon. 
I.and his wife Z. and their 5 children 9, 5, 4, 3, and
20 mos. have been very dissappointed in their 6mos experience in
SLC, having to sign a 1 yr lease at a very dangerous apt complex
named T., with predominantly Hispanic families and
shootings, Drug busts, and where they dont feel their children
are safe, and Isaam having health difficulties and not allowing
him to do the "forced 40 hrs a week of volunteer work in order
to receive their cash assistance of $600 that barely pays the
rent on the 3 B apt. and forcing his wife to do 40 hrs a week on
top of the 20 hrs a week Isaam has to do. No agency has
found him any jobs to interview for since he speaks no English,
and the money runs out this month for their assistance. We found
him a full time position at UVU as a custodian today and hope
that he will go for the interview in am with our Translator
H.that we found a full time position he interviewed for at U
of U HOspital last Friday who can drive him and H. for the
two positions at UVU today. I. has been a TV reporter
for a TV station in IRaq for years and would love to work in
that field again. With his journalist experience in the middle
East, Arabic language, if he can learn English At UVU then he
can hopefully eventually work in his field of expertise. 
L.daughter of
.I. and Z., As.son of Ha.and A.,
H. son of H. and S. play foozball with A. son
of A. and S. 
WE
had wonderful KAbobs, salad, rice, chicken with almonds and
raisins, Iraqi Bread and desserts made by the families that hope
to open an Iraqi Restaurant in SLC eventually. Any
backers? 
T. H.
O.and H. 
