Iraqi American
Encyclopedia
Iraqi Americans are Americans of Iraqi
descent, including those who are expatriates in exile or permanent immigrants. The number of Iraqi Americans is around 140,000 according to the Arab American Institute
.
According to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, 49,006 Iraqi foreign born immigrated to the United States between 1989 and 2001 and 25,710 Iraqi-born immigrants naturalized between 1991 and 2001. However, the 2000 United States Census reported that there were approximately 90,000 immigrants born in Iraq
residing in the United States.
, the 13 year US-led embargo
, and the 8 year US-led occupation resulted in many more Iraqis seeking refuge in the US.
However, according to the 2000 Census, in which it states that just under 90,000 people born in Iraq are resident in the United States. It has also covered information on the residents ancestry or ethnic origin, which show 33,000 people claiming only "Iraqi" ancestry, nearly 38,000 if those who wrote in another reply as well as "Iraqi" are included. A further 82,000 people were reported as "Assyrians
/Chaldean/Syriac," indigenous descendants of Iraq; who are Christians. Nearly 206,000 others gave their ancestry as "Arabic" without specifying a country of origin, and many of them are likely to be from Iraq. Of those reporting Iraqi ancestry, 29 percent live in Michigan; 22% live in Texas and 20% in Illinois. Of those reporting Assyrian ancestry, 42 percent live in Michigan. California has nearly 20 percent of the Iraqi American population.
The United States had set a target to receive 500 Iraqis annually who have worked for the US Government through a special visa program. To add to this issue, Congress recently introduced a new law to receive 5,000 Iraqis each year in the United States for having worked for the US Government or in the name of the United States and are facing dangerous threats in Iraq.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US has promised to increase the number of Iraqi refugees who will be allowed to settle in the United States from 500 to 7,000.
, California
and Illinois
. The cities with the largest Iraqi immigrant populations are Detroit, Chicago
, San Diego and Phoenix
. More than one third of Iraqis now living in the United States entered as refugees or were granted refugee status after entering. Iraqi immigrants approximately represent 14 per cent of all immigrants from Western Asia, but compromise less than one per cent of the total foreign-born population in the United States.
, home to the largest Assyrian/Chaldean population in the United States, numbering in the tens of thousands. Chicago's first Assyrians, primarily Christian, arrived around the turn of the twentieth century and settled along the northern lakefront, establishing a community church in Lincoln Park. While a majority of the early Assyrians came from Iran, beginning in the 1960s a growing number of Iraqi Assyrians began to migrate to Chicago. In the mid-1970s, nearly 1,000 Iraqi-born Assyrians were resettled in Chicago as refugees from the Lebanese Civil War, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s larger groups of refugees came to escape the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War of 1991. The new arrivals have sought residence along the lakefront in Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, and nearby neighborhoods, while a growing number have moved to northern suburbs. Some community leaders have estimated up to 100,000 Assyrians in Illinois as of 2010.
Arabs constitute the second largest group of Iraqi migrants to Chicago. Most of Chicago's estimated 6,500 Iraqi Arabs came to the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s in search of economic opportunities. Highly educated Muslims, these Arab migrants have entered a range of professional occupations and settled largely in Northbrook and nearby suburbs. After the Persian Gulf War, a new wave of Arabs migrated to Chicago from southern Iraq to escape political persecution. Many of these new arrivals were prisoners of war who were flown to the United States from Saudi Arabia, and a large portion were Muslim Shi‘a who had staged a failed uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and feared reprisal. Arabs were leaders in establishing the Iraqi-American Association, which has a membership of 3,000 predominantly Arab Iraqis and offers assistance to community members.
Kurds and Turkomans constitute small communities in Chicago, both groups are Muslim, but owing to their small size, less than 300 Kurds and 50 Turkomans attend the mosques of other communities. Each group maintains a distinct cultural identity and close ties with brethren outside of Chicago.
, Philadelphia, Boston
, Phoenix
and Washington DC areas. Atlanta has developed a large Iraqi community; so has the state of Texas
, primarily in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth
areas. Over 20,000 Iraqi Americans reside in California
(many tens of thousands live in San Diego and Los Angeles
areas) but with the most concentrated in the communities of Modesto
, Ceres
and Turlock
in Stanislaus County
in Central Valley, mainly are descendants of agricultural laborers invited to work in the US in the 1920s.
An estimated 35,000 Chaldean Christians
and other Iraqis live in El Cajon
and other areas of San Diego County, California
. A quarter of Iraqi refugees to the U.S. settle in San Diego County.
(the majority in Detroit and Dearborn
). Most of the Iraqi Muslims migrated in the 1991 Sha'ban Revolution during Saddam Hussein
s period. Iraqi Muslims are very active today in Dearborn, MI. There are many mosques including Karbalaa Islamic Education Center
, Imam Ali Center, Al-Rasool Community Center, Aljomhoor Alhusainy, and many more Islamic Mosques, Organizations, and Institutes.
currently live in the United States.
. Jewish residents from Iraq began to emigrate to the American Continent at the turn of the twentieth century. The first known Iraqi Jewish immigrants to the United States arrived between the years 1900 - 1905. About twenty families immigrated from Baghdad
to New York
. World War I (1914–1918), brought more Jewish immigrants from Iraq, in addition to the already existent Iraqi Jewish communities in the United States. Among them were at least sixty young individuals seeking education as well as business people looking for new and better opportunities. The eruption of World War II in 1939, resulted in more than seventy Babylonian Jewish families immigrating to the United States from Iraq. Other Jewish immigrants of Baghdadian ancestry arrived to Southern California
from the Far East in the early 1920s. It is estimated that the total Iraqi Jewish population in the US exceeds 15,000 people, with large concentrations in California, New York, Connecticut
, Florida
, Massachusetts
and New Jersey
. Smaller known groups of Iraqi Jews, can also be found in Arizona
, Colorado
, Illinois
, Indiana
, Maryland
, Nevada
, North Carolina
, Ohio
, Pennsylvania
and Texas
, as well as other States.
The members of the community are driven by ambition to succeed in businesses and as professionals, and this urge has been taking precedence over most other aims in life apart from family cohesion and religious observance during the High Holidays. High education is greatly valued, and almost every school graduate enters College after high school where he or she tends to specialize in a profession.
In the early 1990s, a magazine called "The Periodical Publication of Congregation Bene Naharayim" was published in New York and it reaffirmed the pride of the Iraqi Jews in their ancient heritage, by linking it directly to the glorious traditions of the Babylonian Jewry.
Another newsletter for the local Babylonian Jewish community in Los Angeles called "Yosef Haim" began to be published in 1996. It basically reports on what is taking place in the local Iraqi Jewish community.
Iraqi people
The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq, known since antiquity as Mesopotamia , with a large diaspora throughout the Arab World, Europe, the Americas, and...
descent, including those who are expatriates in exile or permanent immigrants. The number of Iraqi Americans is around 140,000 according to the Arab American Institute
Arab American Institute
Founded in 1985, the Arab American Institute is a non-profit membership organization based in Washington D.C. that focuses on the issues and interests of Arab-Americans nationwide. James Zogby, brother of pollster John Zogby, is founder and president of the AAI....
.
According to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, 49,006 Iraqi foreign born immigrated to the United States between 1989 and 2001 and 25,710 Iraqi-born immigrants naturalized between 1991 and 2001. However, the 2000 United States Census reported that there were approximately 90,000 immigrants born in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
residing in the United States.
History
The Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf WarGulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the 13 year US-led embargo
Iraq sanctions
The Iraq sanctions were a near-total financial and trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council on the nation of Iraq. They began August 6, 1990, four days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, stayed largely in force until May 2003 , and certain portions including reparations to Kuwait...
, and the 8 year US-led occupation resulted in many more Iraqis seeking refuge in the US.
However, according to the 2000 Census, in which it states that just under 90,000 people born in Iraq are resident in the United States. It has also covered information on the residents ancestry or ethnic origin, which show 33,000 people claiming only "Iraqi" ancestry, nearly 38,000 if those who wrote in another reply as well as "Iraqi" are included. A further 82,000 people were reported as "Assyrians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
/Chaldean/Syriac," indigenous descendants of Iraq; who are Christians. Nearly 206,000 others gave their ancestry as "Arabic" without specifying a country of origin, and many of them are likely to be from Iraq. Of those reporting Iraqi ancestry, 29 percent live in Michigan; 22% live in Texas and 20% in Illinois. Of those reporting Assyrian ancestry, 42 percent live in Michigan. California has nearly 20 percent of the Iraqi American population.
Recent migration
The United States is speeding up the process in accepting Iraqi refugees since October, but has not yet achieved its target of 12,000 for fiscal year 2008. According to the State Department’s special coordinator for refugees from Iraq, 375 Iraqis arrived to the United States in January 2008 with refugee status, increasing the total of refugees absorbed since October to 1,432 at the beginning of the fiscal year. Whereas in the fiscal year of 2007, only a total of 3,040 refugees were received. Congress and other non-governmental organizations have criticized the US Administration for dealing with the pending issue of Iraqi refugees in such a slow manner, particularly those whose life is threatened for cooperating with US Forces. They also criticized the issue of the restricted number of Iraqi refugees allowed into the United States.The United States had set a target to receive 500 Iraqis annually who have worked for the US Government through a special visa program. To add to this issue, Congress recently introduced a new law to receive 5,000 Iraqis each year in the United States for having worked for the US Government or in the name of the United States and are facing dangerous threats in Iraq.
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US has promised to increase the number of Iraqi refugees who will be allowed to settle in the United States from 500 to 7,000.
Demographics
The states with the largest Iraqi foreign born populations are MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The cities with the largest Iraqi immigrant populations are Detroit, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, San Diego and Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. More than one third of Iraqis now living in the United States entered as refugees or were granted refugee status after entering. Iraqi immigrants approximately represent 14 per cent of all immigrants from Western Asia, but compromise less than one per cent of the total foreign-born population in the United States.
Chicago
The largest and oldest Iraqi community in America is ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, home to the largest Assyrian/Chaldean population in the United States, numbering in the tens of thousands. Chicago's first Assyrians, primarily Christian, arrived around the turn of the twentieth century and settled along the northern lakefront, establishing a community church in Lincoln Park. While a majority of the early Assyrians came from Iran, beginning in the 1960s a growing number of Iraqi Assyrians began to migrate to Chicago. In the mid-1970s, nearly 1,000 Iraqi-born Assyrians were resettled in Chicago as refugees from the Lebanese Civil War, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s larger groups of refugees came to escape the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War of 1991. The new arrivals have sought residence along the lakefront in Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, and nearby neighborhoods, while a growing number have moved to northern suburbs. Some community leaders have estimated up to 100,000 Assyrians in Illinois as of 2010.
Arabs constitute the second largest group of Iraqi migrants to Chicago. Most of Chicago's estimated 6,500 Iraqi Arabs came to the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s in search of economic opportunities. Highly educated Muslims, these Arab migrants have entered a range of professional occupations and settled largely in Northbrook and nearby suburbs. After the Persian Gulf War, a new wave of Arabs migrated to Chicago from southern Iraq to escape political persecution. Many of these new arrivals were prisoners of war who were flown to the United States from Saudi Arabia, and a large portion were Muslim Shi‘a who had staged a failed uprising against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and feared reprisal. Arabs were leaders in establishing the Iraqi-American Association, which has a membership of 3,000 predominantly Arab Iraqis and offers assistance to community members.
Kurds and Turkomans constitute small communities in Chicago, both groups are Muslim, but owing to their small size, less than 300 Kurds and 50 Turkomans attend the mosques of other communities. Each group maintains a distinct cultural identity and close ties with brethren outside of Chicago.
Outside Chicago
Iraqi Americans live across the U.S. with other hubs of Iraqis living in the Detroit, New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Philadelphia, Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
and Washington DC areas. Atlanta has developed a large Iraqi community; so has the state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, primarily in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
areas. Over 20,000 Iraqi Americans reside in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(many tens of thousands live in San Diego and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
areas) but with the most concentrated in the communities of Modesto
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
, Ceres
Ceres, California
Ceres is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 45,417 at the 2010 census, up from 34,609 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area.-General:...
and Turlock
Turlock, California
Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, Turlock had a population of 80,549, up from 55,810 at the 2000 census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County.-Geography:Turlock lies in the...
in Stanislaus County
Stanislaus County, California
Stanislaus County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. As the price of housing has increased in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people who work in the southern reaches of the Bay Area have opted for the longer commute and moved to Stanislaus County for the...
in Central Valley, mainly are descendants of agricultural laborers invited to work in the US in the 1920s.
An estimated 35,000 Chaldean Christians
Chaldean Christians
Chaldean Christians are ethnic Assyrian adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, most of whom entered communion with the Catholic Church from the Church of the East, which was already Catholic, but most wanted to stray away from the Catholic Church, causing the split in the 17th and 18th...
and other Iraqis live in El Cajon
El Cajon, California
-History:El Cajon is located on the Rancho El Cajon Mexican land grant made in 1845 to María Antonia Estudillo, wife of Miguel Pedrorena. In 1876 Amaziah Lord Knox , a New Englander who had recently moved to California, established a hotel there to serve the growing number of people traveling...
and other areas of San Diego County, California
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
. A quarter of Iraqi refugees to the U.S. settle in San Diego County.
Iraqi Muslims
The Iraqi Muslims who migrated from Iraq are mostly Shia. They have large populations in MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
(the majority in Detroit and Dearborn
Dearborn, Michigan
-Economy:Ford Motor Company has its world headquarters in Dearborn. In addition its Dearborn campus contains many research, testing, finance and some production facilities. Ford Land controls the numerous properties owned by Ford including sales and leasing to unrelated businesses such as the...
). Most of the Iraqi Muslims migrated in the 1991 Sha'ban Revolution during Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
s period. Iraqi Muslims are very active today in Dearborn, MI. There are many mosques including Karbalaa Islamic Education Center
Karbalaa Islamic Education Center
The Karbalaa Education Center is located along a busy commercial strip in the heart of a thriving Middle Eastern community in Dearborn, a middle-class suburb of Detroit. The strip is lined with numerous Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries, clothing stores, and markets selling Halal meat...
, Imam Ali Center, Al-Rasool Community Center, Aljomhoor Alhusainy, and many more Islamic Mosques, Organizations, and Institutes.
Iraqi Christians
The Iraqi Christians who migrated from Iraq are mainly Assyrians/Chaldeans. They have large populations in Michigan (the majority in Detroit), Illinois, New York, New Jersey and California. There are also some Iraqi Armenian Christians in the US.Iraqi Mandaeans
Several thousand Mandaean IraqisMandaeism
Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a Gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist...
currently live in the United States.
Iraqi Jews
One of the oldest Iraqi communities in the United States follow JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. Jewish residents from Iraq began to emigrate to the American Continent at the turn of the twentieth century. The first known Iraqi Jewish immigrants to the United States arrived between the years 1900 - 1905. About twenty families immigrated from Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. World War I (1914–1918), brought more Jewish immigrants from Iraq, in addition to the already existent Iraqi Jewish communities in the United States. Among them were at least sixty young individuals seeking education as well as business people looking for new and better opportunities. The eruption of World War II in 1939, resulted in more than seventy Babylonian Jewish families immigrating to the United States from Iraq. Other Jewish immigrants of Baghdadian ancestry arrived to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
from the Far East in the early 1920s. It is estimated that the total Iraqi Jewish population in the US exceeds 15,000 people, with large concentrations in California, New York, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Smaller known groups of Iraqi Jews, can also be found in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, as well as other States.
The members of the community are driven by ambition to succeed in businesses and as professionals, and this urge has been taking precedence over most other aims in life apart from family cohesion and religious observance during the High Holidays. High education is greatly valued, and almost every school graduate enters College after high school where he or she tends to specialize in a profession.
In the early 1990s, a magazine called "The Periodical Publication of Congregation Bene Naharayim" was published in New York and it reaffirmed the pride of the Iraqi Jews in their ancient heritage, by linking it directly to the glorious traditions of the Babylonian Jewry.
Another newsletter for the local Babylonian Jewish community in Los Angeles called "Yosef Haim" began to be published in 1996. It basically reports on what is taking place in the local Iraqi Jewish community.
See also
- List of Iraqi Americans
- Arab Americans
- White Americans
- Assyrian American