Affirming the Nature and Importance of the Support of the United States for the Religious and Ethnic Minority Survivors of Genocide in Iraq

Floor Speech

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Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 554, a bill affirming the importance of U.S. support for religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq.

Michigan has been home for more than a century to a vibrant Iraqi community, the largest outside the Middle East. Many are Chaldeans, Iraqi Christians who have faced incredible persecution and challenges in recent Iraqi history.

I am very proud to have done this bill with Congressman Moolenaar, Congressman James, and other bipartisan support from the Michigan delegation.

When I traveled to the Middle East as part of a congressional delegation in 2022, I met with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad and Erbil to discuss the challenges of Iraq's Chaldeans and what the U.S. can do to help.

This is on the heels of me being a CIA officer, a Pentagon official, and having done three tours in Iraq alongside the military and seeing these issues up close and personal for myself in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

I took what I heard from that most recent trip back to Washington to work on this resolution, which would put this House on record as supporting the human rights and dignity of religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq.

Over the decades, Chaldeans and other religious groups, such as Yezidis, have suffered greatly from the brutality of vicious and violent groups such as ISIS.

ISIS subjugated and carried out countless atrocities against many of these communities, including murder, systematic rape, and kidnapping. As Iraq continues to rebuild after years of conflict and efforts to defeat ISIS, it is critical that U.S. support the security, stability, integration, and political representation of these minorities in their homeland.

This resolution expresses support not just for Iraqi Christians, but for all Iraqi minorities' fundamental rights, security and economic opportunity, community infrastructure, and representation in government.

Mr. Speaker, this is not just an issue of importance to the Chaldeans and other religious minorities living in Iraq, but also to hundreds of thousands of American citizens. Roughly half a million Chaldeans live in the United States, including more than 160,000 in southeast Michigan.

These families are a vibrant, active thread in the fabric of our community. Roughly 60 percent of Michigan's Chaldeans own a business and a sizable fraction own two or more businesses. They support our economy. They are active in our communities. They support churches and schools and foundations, and they are active participants in every aspect of civic life.

These Americans who feel a deep connection to and concern for their ancient homeland are looking to us to speak up for thousands of Iraqis threatened by continued persecution and discrimination. As Americans, they are looking to us to stand up for American values.

Mr. Speaker, I thank again the bipartisan group of Michiganders and other Members who supported this bill and, in particular, Congressmen Moolenaar and James.

This legislation was passed out of the Foreign Affairs Committee by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, and I urge my colleagues today to support the same here on the floor.

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