Rep. Miller Calls on Administration to Help Christian ISIS Victims in Iraq

Statement

Today, U.S. Representative Candice Miller (MI-10), Vice Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, issued the following statement on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) violence against Christians in Iraq:

"For nearly two millennia, Christians have been living and worshiping across Iraq, but these ancient communities are now suffering a near genocide at the hands of the Islamic extremist group ISIS. Christians in Mosul, Iraq were threatened by ISIS and offered three options: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax, or die by the sword. As a result, most have been forced to flee with all of their possessions stolen by the terrorists. Many have been forced to convert against their will, and others have been outright slaughtered by these barbarians. Such actions cannot be allowed to stand, and it is long past time for the world community and the Obama Administration to provide the promised help to the Iraqi Christian community.

"The Kurds in Northern Iraq are to be commended for stepping up and providing some measure of support and security for fleeing Iraqi Christians, but they need assistance. The Administration needs to step up and help the Kurds and leaders of the Iraqi Christian community. The Administration must also forcefully advocate for the creation of a new province in the Iraqi Nineveh Plane which can serve as a safe haven for Iraqi Christians working hand-in-hand with the Kurds.

"The Iraqi Christians have not taken up arms against any group and have only hoped to live in peace in a region where they have been for nearly two thousand years. Promise after promise has been made to provide them security, and each time those promises have not been kept. It is time to keep those promises."

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