Current American policy and practice bars the use of videoconferencing to conduct initial interviews with Iraqis seeking admission to the United States as refugees. This practice has stalled the processing of at least 10,000 applications from Iraqi refugees who are now consequently trapped inside Syria,1 an increasingly tense and dangerous place. Given these dire circumstances, refugees in urgent need of resettlement from Syria should be allowed to interview via videoconference until the situation stabilizes.
Read more to learn about why policy considerations support videoconferencing and legal arguments against it are unfounded: Memo on the Use of Videoconferencing to Deal with Refugee Applicant Delays in Syria, drafted by IRAP at USC.