TROY and DEARBORN — U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of near Eastern Affairs Michael Corbin and the Deputy Assistant for Refugee Issues Larry Bartlett visited southeast Michigan this week with a focus on gathering information from the local Iraqi American community. Their visit included a Town Hall meeting with Chaldean community in at the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy on Tuesday June 1 and a meeting with the Arab American community organized by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) at the Arab American National Museum on Wednesday, June 2.According to U.S. Press Officer of Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs John Fleming, their trip’s purpose was to brief key groups on U.S. policy in Iraq and the progress the State Department is making in the areas of minority assistance as well as refugee and resettlement progress and visa and immigration assistance in both Michigan and Iraq.Corbin, who has said he is dedicated to fostering a broad partnership between the United States and Iraq, made a similar visit to California in February where he spoke with key groups of the Arab and Chaldean American communities in the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and El Cajon. Chaldean concerns raised in Troy meetingFor many Christians in Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion, life has been a constant struggle to escape religious persecution and violence.With that in mind, Iraqi Americans gathered at The Polish Cultural Center in Troy for a panel discussion on Tuesday, June 1 that focused on Christian persecution in Iraq and the growing concern over the deportation of Iraqi Americans. Many of the Iraqi Americans fear that they will be killed for their religious beliefs if forced to go back to their home country.One Iraqi Christian cried out loud, “What home? They want us to go home? We don’t have one, they destroyed the whole country.”According to speaker Hameed Altai, a few extremists, not all, are killing Christians because they want their religion to be the only one practiced in Iraq. “Christians (are being forced) to change their religion or they will face persecution unless they flee,” Altai said.Altai believes Christians have to be appointed to serve as public officials when a future Iraqi government is established in order for their voices to be heard and their interests protected.The crowd listened intently to the first part of the discussion but grew angry after State Department officials didn’t address what they deemed to be the key issues of deportation and the lack of safety among Chaldeans. One of the most important issues that Iraqi Chaldean community hope to discuss with the U.S. officials was the pending deportation of several Chaldeans that have violated their visa stays in the U.S.According to Sam Hermiz, a Chaldean who participated in the meeting, the chaos began as one woman stood up and asked why the issue was not on the agenda and not being discussed; soon after others began criticizing. The panel discussion quickly turned into a passionate indoor protest. One Chaldean father who lost his son to violence in Iraq had to be restrained and removed from the hall.The event was organized by Corbin in an effort to report the concerns of Iraqi Americans to federal officials in Washington, D.C.Instead of discussing the slowly diminishing Christian presence of Iraq, Corbin and Bartlett focused mainly on refugees living in the U.S.Corbin also said U.S. troops will withdraw from Iraq by the end of 2011, and that the U.S government plans to make security in that nation a top priority. Corbin believes America will work closely with Iraq to ensure a government where all religious and ethnic groups are fairly represented. But according to Ramzi Noman, a Chaldean American in the audience, Iraq was much more secure and peaceful under Saddam Hussein’s regime. Noman claims that he was never a Hussein supporter, but he said that Iraqi Christians were better off under his regime.“Saddam did not raid and closed our businesses, kill our children, parents, priests, rape our women, or bomb our churches. He protected and loved Iraq’s Christians. We lived in peace under Saddam’s regime,” Noman said.