San Diego’s Chaldeans Celebrate Easter But Worry About ISIS
San Diego’s large Chaldean community is celebrating Easter amid concern for their fellow Christians in Iraq and Syria who are persecuted by ISIS terrorists. An estimated 50,000 Chaldeans fleeing turmoil in the Mideast have found new homes in the El Cajon area, where the inland San Diego County climate is reminiscent of their homeland.
Read More →Kerry Declares "Genocide" By ISIS Against Religious Minorities
Since 2014, local Iraqi Chaldean leaders have been speaking out and urging the U.S. to take action to halt what they termed “genocide” committed by ISIS against religious minorities including Christians, Yezidis, and others. On Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry made a formal declaration that ISIS (also known as ISIL or Daesh) has committed genocide against religious minorities in the Middle East
Read More →Iraqi Christian Leader Mark Arabo Praises US For Condemning ISIS Atrocities as 'Genocide': 'It's Proof God Answers Prayers'
In a move many Christian groups are calling a "victory," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday declared that the Islamic State terrorist group is committing genocide against Christians and other ancient minority groups in the Middle East. "My purpose in appearing before you today is to assert that in my judgement, Daesh [Arabic acronym for IS] is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims," Kerry said during a press conference.
Read More →The Local Side of the Refugee Crisis
I vividly remember the cold. The weather would drop dramatically without notice. I was constantly shivering, lifting my shoulders towards my ears and looking down at my knees, trying to block the wind from my face. The refugees would kindly smile and offer me some tea. With steam rising from the cup, they looked at me intrigued. In broken English, they often asked: Why are you here? I just smiled back. I couldn’t begin to respond, especially when I didn’t really know the answer myself. It was December 2015. I would have a month to figure it out.
Read More →Iraq's Christians frustrated by US debate over 'genocide'
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday said members of the Islamic State militant group have committed genocide against Christians and other ancient minority groups in the Middle East, though the classification is unlikely to change U.S. policy. Christians; Yezidis, a Kurdish-speaking people who live largely in northern Iraq; and Shia Muslims have fallen victim to ISIS or “Daesh” persecution since militants began seizing control of Syria and Iraq in 2014, Kerry declared.
Read More →Iraq's Christians frustrated by US debate over 'genocide'
Iraq’s beleaguered Christian community is frustrated and confused by the seemingly semantic debate taking place in Washington, where the Obama administration is trying to determine if their plight adds up to genocide. The U.S. is believed to be close to a decision on whether the atrocities ISIS has committed against Christians and other religious minorities amount to the legally loaded term.
Read More →San Diego Resident Running 'Underground Railroad' to Help Iraqi Refugees Fleeing ISIS
A San Diego-area nonprofit running an "underground railroad" is trying to save "as many people as possible" from turmoil in Iraq by finding them refuge in Southern California, and it has tens of thousands of Christian Iraqis on its waiting list. Mark Arabo, a first generation Iraqi-American born and raised east of San Diego, founded the Minority Humanitarian Foundation (MHF) in 2014 after he grew tired of waiting for a response from Washington officials to the crisis created by Islamic State militants, he told NBC7 in San Diego.
Read More →ISIS Creating Christian Genocide
Joining Ernie to talk about how ISIS is creating Christian Genocide is Mark Arabo President of minority humanitarian foundation.
Read More →Iraqi, Syrian Christians may be deemed genocide victims
Advocates with San Diego’s Minority Humanitarian Foundation are calling on White House officials to officially label Christians in the Middle East as victims of genocide. Mark Arabo, president and founder of the organization, and spokesman Lundon Attisha met in San Diego this week with David Saperstein, the Department of State’s ambassador- at-large for international religious freedom.
Read More →Chelsea is still making the world a better place
When their 17-year-old daughter, Chelsea, was murdered six years ago, Brent and Kelly King never dreamed they’d be saying they have 53 kids in college. But that’s how they think of the 53 students awarded scholarships by Chelsea’s Light Foundation.
Read More →A behind-the-scenes look from the making of Clarion's upcoming film Faithkeepers.
Naoum is a young second or third generation Iraqi Christian who was born and raised in Michigan and now practices law in Chicago. He is a staunch activist for his people back in Iraq.
Read More →Passages: Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, 94, Remembered by California Leaders
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan, one of the most influential presidential wives in modern times, passed away today at age 94 of congestive heart failure. The actress who often said her life “didn’t begin until I met Ronnie” served as mentor and advisor, taking an active role in the White House when her husband, Ronald Reagan, was president. She also served as First Lady of California when Ronald Reagan was Governor.
Read More →Credit card fees are speech ...at least until an appeals court says otherwise
It’s late 2014. A young man takes his girlfriend to a Mission Valley yogurt shop. After he decks out a medium cup of vanilla tart with all manner of toppings and his girl opts for a little crumbled graham cracker on her mango sorbet, the couple gets whacked at the counter by a buck-fifty surcharge because they paid with a credit card. That’s in addition to the $7 for froyo.
Read More →Lawsuit: MTS Officers Violently Arrest MTS Contract Employee for Trespassing
A few days after starting his new job at San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) headquarters, a man was arrested for trespassing in a violent encounter with MTS security officers, even after his supervisor confirmed he had a right to be there, according to a lawsuit.
Read More →Local Chaldean leader produces list of 70K people wanting to be rescued
Mark Arabo has been meeting with members of Congress and the administration since ISIS began capturing and killing people in march of last year. But on his latest trip to Washington, just last week, he brought something with him he hopes will be a game-changer.
Read More →Orphanage for Syrian refugees to be built in San Diego
Leaders with the Minority Humanitarian Foundation are working to protect religious minorities in the Middle East from ISIS. The Minority Humanitarian Foundation wants to provide a safe haven for Syrian families, especially the hundreds of children who have already fled their home country.
Read More →Mark Arabo shares his experience from violence of Jerusalem
Read More →Christians flee ISIS through 'underground railroad'
Desperate Iraqi Christians attempting to flee ISIS are now making their way to California. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
Read More →Update on efforts to help Chaldeans in Iraq
The White House said the United States will donate an additional $419 million in humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees. The money will help pay for emergency health car, safe drinking water, food and shelter.
Read More →San Diegans plan to open orphanage for Syrian refugees
“We promised the families and the children, that they have family in America and we will bring them over here, give them a home, given them food, take them to school and adopt them,” said Mark Arabo, president of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation.
Read More →Orphanage for Syrian Refugees to be Built in San Diego
As the United States prepares to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next year, there's a new effort to help bring some of them to San Diego. Leaders with the Minority Humanitarian Foundation are working to protect religious minorities in the Middle East from ISIS.
Read More →Middle Eastern Christians look to bring Syrian refugees to San Diego
Mark Arabo, a spokesman for the region’s Iraqi Christian Community and president of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation, and Sammer Zakhour, a San Diego attorney with roots in Syria, said they are hoping to provide safe haven to “a few hundred” Syrian families — and to children in particular — who have fled their home country.
Read More →San Diego Resident Running 'Underground Railroad' to Help Iraqi Refugees Fleeing ISIS
A San Diego-area nonprofit running an "underground railroad" is trying to save "as many people as possible" from turmoil in Iraq by finding them refuge in Southern California, and it has tens of thousands of Christian Iraqis on its waiting list.
Read More →San Diego nonprofit runs 'underground railroad' for Iraqi refugees
We have a lot of work to do. I would like thank all of our supporters. But I would like to respond to those that may oppose our stance on how to save Christianity: who are we to tell a child they must be a martyr? Who are we decide the fate of a mother left to rot in a refugee camp. We must save them, and we must save Christianity. Join Minority Humanitarian Foundation to follow our journey, and create change for the better in middle east and in our own homes.
Read More →Fleeing ISIS, Chaldeans travel 'underground railroad' to El Cajon
This was the front page article of the The San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday Paper. For Christians in Iraq and Syria, the only way to freedom is the path less traveled. We are advocating for a legislative solution to fix the current problem we face, but in the absence of said legislation, we will do what must be done.
Read More →Fleeing ISIS, Chaldeans travel 'underground railroad' to El Cajon
This was the front page article of the The San Diego Union-Tribune Sunday Paper. For Christians in Iraq and Syria, the only way to freedom is the path less traveled. We are advocating for a legislative solution to fix the current problem we face, but in the absence of said legislation, we will do what must be done.
Read More →‘Underground railroad’ helping Iraqi refugees in California
A Southern California nonprofit is running an “underground railroad” to assist Chaldean Catholics fleeing the turmoil in Iraq, its founder says. Mark Arabo, a first-generation Iraqi-American, founded the Minority Humanitarian Foundation out of impatience with Washington’s inability to deal with the crisis created by Islamic State militants, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Saturday.
Read More →Iraqi Christians held for months by ICE after crossing Mexican border in asylum bid
Just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, the descendants of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world wait to be delivered from purgatory -- and live in fear of being returned to hell.Just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexican border, the descendants of one of the oldest Christian communities in the world wait to be delivered from purgatory -- and live in fear of being returned to hell.
Read More →'These Christians Escaped the Wrath of ISIS, Only to Be Imprisoned By' the US Gov't, Activist Defending Chaldean Refugees Says
A Middle Eastern Christian community has demanded that immigration officials release 20 Iraqi Christian refugees being held at a detention center in California.
Read More →Iraqi Christians flee ISIS persecution only to find themselves behind bars in US
Fleeing persecution from Islamic State militants in Iraq, a group of Iraqi Christians managed to find their way to the United States thinking they would be allowed to stay as religious refugees and at last find safety and freedom.
Read More →Group calls for release of Chaldean refugees
Clutching rosaries, posters reading “Don’t jail Christians,” and religious images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, members of San Diego’s Chaldean community Thursday sought to call attention to the plight of 27 Iraqi Christians being held at the Otay Detention Center.
Read More →Local Iraqi Chaldean Christians Demand the Release of Detainees
Members of San Diego's Iraqi Chaldean Christian community are demanding the release of 27 Iraqi Christian refugees being held in the Otay Detention Center. The 27 men, women and children fled Iraq earlier this year after ISIS took over the territory where they used to live.
Read More →Protests over detention of Iraqi Christian refugees in San Diego
Members of the Chaldean Catholic community in San Diego have been protesting the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's detention of 27 Iraqi Christians at a privately-run detention facility since February. The refugees, who have fled from the Islamic State, have been detained as the US government processes their asylum requests. All of the refugees have family members in San Diego, according to the protestors' spokesman, Mark Arabo.
Read More →Mark Arabo called modern-day Oskas Schindler
The plight of Christians in Iraq continues to deteriorate on a daily basis. Not only are those Christians being driven out of Iraq, but they are being killed simply because of their faith.
Read More →Mark Arabo Welcomes Carlos
Mark Arabo visits KUSI to Welcome Carlos back to San Diego, bring in some very special treats. While here he sits down to talk more about the meeting he had with Obama on Christian Minorities in Iraq.
Read More →Chaldean Christians who fled Iraq still at Otay Detention Facility
San Diego County activists are protesting a decision by U.S. immigration officials to hold in an Otay Mesa detention facility 20 Chaldeans who fled persecution in Iraq.
Read More →Chaldean Christians who fled Iraq still at Otay Detention Facility
A group of 20 Chaldean Christians who are seeking political asylum in the U.S. after fleeing Iraq under the threat of persecution have been held at the Otay Detention Facility for at least four months and should be released to their families while their cases proceed, activists say.
Read More →Fact Check: Where San Diego’s Poorest Live
El Cajon has long been home to many of San Diego County’s poorer residents, but the city is now in the middle of a heated conversation about its future. Former state lawmaker Wadie Deddeh supports local government reforms being pushed by Neighborhood Market Association head Mark Arabo, including term limits...
Read More →Illegal food carts threatening business, health
The owners of several local San Diego markets claim more illegal food vendors are popping up, and their target customers are school kids.
Read More →Don’t Criticize Arabo, Get Behind Him
As the first Chaldean Christian to hold public office in the United States, I can say that the current crises we face in both El Cajon and throughout the Middle East are not new challenges to our people. For generations we have been plagued by persecution, by non-inclusiveness and by an identity crisis that resonates today.
Read More →Local Iraqi-American Christians hopeful White House will save Christians being persecuted by ISIS
Thousands of displaced Iraqis, many of them Christians, are running from ISIS as the Islamic extremist terror group eyes Baghdad. Here in San Diego growing frustration for the many Iraqi-Americans with family there, praying the White House will take action before ISIS wipes them out.
Read More →Local Iraqi-American Christians hopeful White House will save Christians being persecuted by ISIS
Thousands of displaced Iraqis, many of them Christians, are running from ISIS as the Islamic extremist terror group eyes Baghdad. Here in San Diego growing frustration for the many Iraqi-Americans with family there, praying the White House will take action before ISIS wipes them out.
Read More →Worldwide Persecution of Christians at an 'Unprecedented' High, With 11 Believers Killed for Their Faith Every Hour
Bishop John McAreavey, the Chair of the Council for Justice and Peace of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, has revealed that Christian persecution is at an unprecedented high, with at least 11 believers killed hourly because of their faith.
Read More →Many candidates want Emerald seat
Councilwoman Marti Emerald’s surprise decision last month not to seek re-election has prompted a flurry of candidates to either enter the race or announce they’ll consider running for the safely Democratic seat.
Read More →Here Are 3 Ways Activists Are Still Fighting To Save Iraq's Religious Minorities
The number of Iraqis seeking asylum or refugee status in other countries is increasingly rapidly. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 400,000 Iraqis have fled as refugees to other countries or territories.
Read More →Faith turns Christians into terrorist targets
The number of Christians in Iraq has plummeted -- from 1.5 million some 20 years ago to some 300,000 today, according to estimates from CAPNI, the largest Christian relief organization in northern Iraq. ISIS isn't the only reason for this drop, but it certainly is a big one. The militant group has been brazen in its onslaught in Iraq as well as Syria, with Christians among its targets.
Read More →Local Chaldean Leader Produces List of 70000 People Wanting to be Rescued
Mark Arabo has been meeting with members of Congress and the administration since ISIS began capturing and killing people in march of last year. But on his latest trip to Washington, just last week, he brought something with him he hopes will be a game-changer. "It has been my best tool I could have in Washington," Arabo said. He was referring to a large binder, a binder full of names.
Read More →Members of San Diego Jewish community gather for Holocaust Commemoration
As they paid their respects to the 6 million Jews who were killed, they included the plight of Christians being massacred, slaughtered and terrorized by groups like ISIS in the Middle East and other parts of the world who want religious freedom. Local Iraqi Christian Leader Mark Arabo has made numerous trips to the White to help get persecuted Christians out of Iraq before they are murdered.
Read More →Effort underway to protect religious minorities in Iraq, Syria
José Díaz-Balart talks with human rights activist Mark Arabo about the new effort underway in Washington protect religious minority communities in Iraqi and Syria who’ve been targeted by ISIS terrorists.
Read More →Remembering today's Holocaust
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day chosen to memorialize the innocent millions slaughtered by the Nazis in the dark days of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Millions were shot, starved and gassed while the world stood by and didn’t respond until it was too late.
Read More →Resurrecting Christianity in the Middle East
Easter for Christians throughout the world is a time to celebrate the salvation of Jesus and those who follow in his teachings. Oftentimes though, in celebration of triumph, we forget those unable to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christians of the Middle East continue to be plagued by the threat of their own extermination by ISIS. The genocide of religious minorities within Iraq and Syria persists with widespread killings, beheadings, mass abductions, targeted displacements and a vile attempt to wipe out the history of an ancient people.
Read More →San Diego Chaldean Leader Pushes For Iraq, Syria Refugee Bill
Two San Diego County congressmen introduced a bill in Congress this week to make it easier for religious minorities in Iraq and Syria to apply for U.S. refugee status. The bipartisan bill, Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act, would allow those whose lives are threatened by the self-proclaimed Islamic State terror group to apply directly to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with a stamp of priority. It was introduced by Reps. Duncan Hunter and Juan Vargas.
Read More →San Diego Chaldean Leader Pushes For Iraq, Syria Refugee Bill
Two San Diego County congressmen introduced a bill in Congress this week to make it easier for religious minorities in Iraq and Syria to apply for U.S. refugee status. The bipartisan bill, Protecting Religious Minorities Persecuted by ISIS Act, would allow those whose lives are threatened by the self-proclaimed Islamic State terror group to apply directly to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program with a stamp of priority. It was introduced by Reps. Duncan Hunter and Juan Vargas.
Read More →NMA bans Sale of powdered alcohol
The federal government recently approved the sale of powdered alcohol, known by its trade name Palcohol, and Wednesday the Neighborhood Market Association, (NMA) which represents more than 800 stores in San Diego County said the substance will not be allowed to be sold in any of its stores.
Read More →Retailers group bans powdered alcohol
The Neighborhood Market Association based in San Diego has banned its 2,600 members from selling a newly approved powdered alcohol in their stores.
Read More →The Real War on Christianity Iraq Syria Islamic State
Last August, President Barack Obama signed off on legislation creating a special envoy charged with aiding the ancient Christian communities and other beleaguered religious minorities being targeted by the Islamic State. The bill was a modest one — the new position was given a budget of just $1 million — and the White House quietly announced the signing in a late-afternoon press release that lumped it in with an array of other low-profile legislation. Neither Obama nor any prominent lawmakers made any explicit public reference to the bill.
Read More →Protests Held Opposing Target Express in South Park
A protest takes aim at a proposed Target store in South Park. On Sunday, a rally took place against a 19,000 square foot Target Express store on the corner of Grape and Fern Streets.
Read More →South Park Residents Rally Against the Building of a Target Express
The hip and classy community of South Park is ground zero for a battle often played out across America: Corporate retain giants trying to set up shop in small neighborhoods.
Read More →ISIS Abduction
Mark Arabo, President/CEO, Neighborhood Market Association visits KUSI to talk about the ISIS Abduction. Listen in to hear what he knows from the people Syria.
Read More →Local Leader Weighs in on Latest ISIS Video
Egypt struck ISIS targets in Libya just hours after the release of another video from the militant group, which showed the beheading of 21 Christians from Egypt. Now, a local leader in the Chaldean community is weighing in on the beheadings.
Read More →Militants Claim Beheading of 21 Coptic Christians
A video purporting to show the mass beheading of Coptic Christian hostages was released Sunday by militants in Libya affiliated with the Islamic State. The killings raise the possibility that the Islamic militant group — which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate — has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles from the southern tip of Italy. One of the militants in the video makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to “conquer Rome.”
Read More →San Diego-area Chaldean priest ordered back to Iraq: 'He'll be killed'
Speaking in Aramaic, Father Noel Gorgis is preaching to parishioners of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church at a Saturday night Mass.
Read More →Pope rules Chaldean Catholic priest can stay in San Diego
The future of three local Chaldean priests and seven others in the western United States is once again in limbo. Last October, the priests were ordered by the Chaldean patriarch of Iraq to return to Iraq. Then last week Pope Francis stepped in and suspended that order. But this weekend, a shocking new order from the Chaldean patriarch. "At first we thought it was a joke," said local Chaldean leader Mark Arabo. But it was no joke. In an interview with a Rome-based Catholic news agency, Patriarch Raphael Luis Sako said the survival of the church in Iraq is at stake because of the threat from ISIS. Sako said that if a future exists for the Chaldean church, priests must return to serve the people.
Read More →Dispute between El Cajon priest and Chaldean leader in Iraq continues
Even Pope Francis cannot solve a brewing dispute between a prominent Chaldean priest in eastern San Diego County and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, it was reported Monday.
Read More →Dispute between El Cajon priest and Chaldean leader in Iraq continues
Intervention by Pope Francis has apparently not solved the schism between a prominent Chaldean priest in eastern San Diego County and the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq.
Read More →Planned Target a hard lesson for South Park
SAN DIEGO - In a landmark decision, Pope Francis has ruled that a priest who is part of the San Diego Iraqi Christian community will not have to return to Iraq. The Pope this week overturned a decree that would have sent Father Noel Gorgis of the St. Peters Chaldean Church in El Cajon back to Iraq.
Read More →Planned Target a hard lesson for South Park
For San Diego’s South Park community, 2014 has been the best of times and the worst of times. After decades of hard work by small local businesses, the once-shabby historic village is now on the indie map, hailed recently by Westways magazine as “a hip, urban neighborhood” whose eclectic shops and markets make it “a shopping destination.”
Read More →What to Watch for in 2015
Plenty of year-end stories recap the past. We’ve looked at the most explosive opinions voiced on VOSD this year, the biggest stories we published and followed, the whopper claims and the most RT-able tweets. But now that the calendar’s flipped over to 2015, we want to look ahead at what’s to come.
Read More →Voice of the Year: The Near-Misses
Finalizing our Voice of the Year list, a tradition we started just last year, isn’t something we take lightly. Voice of the Year Any time you set out to curate a list of a select group of people, you inevitably have to make some hard choices. There were plenty of contenders we considered who ultimately didn’t make the cut.
Read More →Help for Religious Minorities in Iraq Remains Urgent
The horrific persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq continues. Tens of thousands have been forced from their homes by the merciless Islamic State in northern Iraq. Untold numbers of Christian and Yazidi women have been enslaved or raped, men simply killed. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a Christmas Eve message urging Christians to stay, but there are few places in Iraq where they are safe. On Christmas, the churches of Baghdad were said to be largely empty.
Read More →El Cajon Considering Body Cameras for Police Officers
El Cajon is considering equipping its officers with body cameras following a nationwide trend among police agencies that’s gathered steam in recent weeks after the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York. On Tuesday night, the city council voted to allow staff to research what it would take to obtain and implement the new equipment.
Read More →SD Leaders Want Body Cameras for All Police
As demonstrations raged across the nation over a New York grand jury’s decision not to indict a white New York police officer over a chokehold maneuver that killed a black man during an arrest, San Diego leaders are looking to propose new legislation in Washington, D.C. that would require all officers to wear body cameras.
Read More →Community Leaders Propose Police Body Cameras
San Diego businessman and community leader, Mark Arabo, and several black religious leaders are working together to make sure that every police officer in America has a body camera.
Read More →Local Leaders Headed to Washington DC to Demand Congress Mandate Body Cameras for All Police Nationwide
Protests were staged around the country Thursday evening after the grand jury's decision not to charge a New York police officer who used a choke hold on a man, a move that killed the man. Here in San Diego, local leaders are coming together to demand one big change they said will build trust between police and minority communities - that police wear body cameras. Thursday's biggest protests were in New York City, where thousands streamed onto the Brooklyn Bridge, shutting down traffic in one direction for a time. And details from Officer Daniel Panteleo's testimony before the grand jury are now coming to light. Panteleo admitted he heard Eric Garner saying he couldn't breathe.
Read More →San Diego Leaders Contribute to Small Business Saturday
Two of San Diego's top city leaders did some shopping on Saturday to emphasize the importance of small businesses in the community. Read More →Voices in the Immigration Debate
Not all of the people affected by President Barack Obama’s executive order are from countries south of the border. For 12 years, Nesreen Daud, 45, an immigrant from Iraq, has found herself in the kind of frightening situation that people who are immigrating either know too well or constantly fear: a paperwork discrepancy dashed her hopes of legal residency. The mistake, a wording error by an attorney, happened when she and her family entered the United States. As a result, she and her husband were denied green cards, switching them from the side of the millions of lawful residents to the side of the millions living here illegally, she said. Read More →
Evangelical Groups Praise Obama's 'Compassionate' Immigration Move
Although many Republicans have blasted President Barack Obama for taking executive action on immigration reform, his efforts have been applauded by multiple Evangelical groups.... Read More →
Local Chaldean Family Says They are Relieved at President Obama's Action on Immigration
One local Chaldean family is breathing a giant sigh of relief after hearing President Obama's speech Thursday. San Diego 6 introduced you to Nesreen Daud and her family last week. Nesreen was facing deportation to Iraq ... until now. Daud and her family walked into the office of local Chaldean leader Mark Arabo last week pleading for help. Daud had received a final judgement from a federal judge ordering her to be deported three days before Christmas. On Thursday night, the family gathered in Arabo's office to watch Obama's speech.
Read More →Obama to announce immigration plans Thursday
WASHINGTON - Republicans have said it's a move that will poison his relations with the new Congress -- but President Barack Obama is going to go ahead Thursday and announce the steps he will take to protect millions of immigrants who are illegally in the country from deportation.
Read More →Ankawa.com met Mark Arabo with lengthy talk about the displacement of Christian people
Winter knocks on the doors and the Christian people of our nation mostly smiling for this uninvited heavy guest. But, which door will be knocking this winter? It will be for those who live in the open sky….. They are the honor displaced people of Iraq...
Read More →Free discussion on Midway on Iraq, ISIS fight
The Iraq War and its continuing repercussions will be the focus of a public event Wednesday aboard the USS Midway Museum in downtown San Diego. “Iraq: Revisited” will feature a panel discussion with experts ranging from combat veterans, to a national leader of the Iraqi Chaldean community, to a scholar specializing in terrorism and the Middle East.
Read More →Iraqi Christians' Dilemma: Stay or Go?
The head of Iraq’s Catholic church has suspended nine American priests for leaving their posts in Iraq and is demanding they return to the battle-torn country, according to officials with the San Diego diocese that employs the priests. The order to return from Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako last month comes as the Iraqi Catholic community, known as Chaldeans, faces an existential crisis in Iraq.
Read More →Priests Who Fled Iraq Suspended; San Diegans Appeal to Vatican
Just 14 priests serve the tens of thousands of Chaldean Catholics who have emigrated from Iraq to the western United States. A church leader in Iraq has suspended seven of those priests, including the Rev. Noel Gorgis in El Cajon. Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, the head of the church, wants the Iraqi-American priests who fled violence in Iraq to return home or leave the church. San Diego County Chaldeans oppose that and say they will appeal to the Vatican to stop it.
Read More →Iraqi-American Christian Leader Says U.S. Gov't Should Open Doors to Displaced Iraqis
A Christian leader in the Iraqi community in eastern San Diego County is petitioning the government to enact a law granting displaced Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities facing horrific persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists a chance for new life in the United States.
Read More →Iraqi Christians' Dilemma: Stay or Go?
Fadwa Rabban stayed in Baghdad after the 2003 U.S. invasion, and after her husband died in 2005. She stayed after a nearby blast blew out the windows of her home, and after friends and relatives left as Christians like herself increasingly became the target of Islamic militants. One Sunday in 2010, she went to church for a morning service...
Read More →Chaldean Group Urges US to Resettle 70,000 Refugees
NEW YORK – A US-based group of the Chaldean Christians has called on the United States to open its doors to members of the religious minority who fled from the advancing Islamic State (IS) army in Iraq. The Minority Humanitarian Foundation, a US-based charity, has contact...
Read More →Fighting for victims, from SD to Iraq
Mark Arabo, 31, is one of the most active and outspoken advocates for Chaldeans, a persecuted religious minority in Iraq that has suffered at the hands of the terrorist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Read More →Interrupting genocide, step by step
They went to Washington with high hopes: Persuade lawmakers to help save the persecuted minorities who have been turned out of their homes or suffered far worse fates at the hands of ISIS insurgents. Now an interfaith delegation, led by San Diego’s Chaldean bishop Sarhad Jammo, Chaldean refugee advocate Mark Arabo, and a New York rabbi, is regrouping after the House failed to pass legislation this session to provide assistance.
Read More →Obama actions against ISIS largely supported
President Barack Obama’s announcement that the United States would begin bombing Islamic militant strongholds in Syria and send an additional 475 troops to Iraq to help defeat the insurgent group won widespread praise from members of Congress and others.
Read More →Local Iraqi Christian leader heading to Washington to take on humanitarian crisis
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - As the Islamic terrorist threat represented by ISIS continues to brutalize and displace Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities, one local leader is heading to the nation's capitol to take on this global humanitarian crisis.
Read More →Congressmen pressing for ISIS plan, refugee aid
Trying to save persecuted Iraqis, one name at a time
The difference between a tragedy and a statistic? “Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by ISIS” is a statistic. The story behind the statistic is one lives lost, people pushed out of their homes.
Over the past three weeks, Mark Arabo, an advocate for Iraqi Christians, has sought and assembled names and desperate pleas for help from an estimated 10,000 Iraqi families who have been displaced by ISIS militants. Counting children, Arabo roughly estimated he has about 60,000 names or individual claims of displacement and persecution.
Read More →North Park assaults prompt more street lights
NORTH PARK — A string of attacks on women in the North Park area has prompted city officials to add more street lighting in the area.
City Council President Todd Gloria showed off two new lights installed at the corners of a community tennis court at Lincoln Avenue and Idaho Street Friday, and said 23 non-working lights were being fixed. “We are doing absolutely everything we can to catch the suspect and ensure public safety,” Gloria told reporters while standing near the tennis courts.
Read More →Bounty offered on North Park assailant
SAN DIEGO (KUSI) - Community leader Mark Arabo, appearing on Good Morning San Diego Tuesday, talked about his decision to partner with the San Diego Crimestoppers to offer a bounty on the assailant who has attacked women on numerous occasions throughout North Park. This last weekend, yet...
Read More →$10K Bounty to Send Message North Park Attacks 'Won't be Tolerated:' Leader
A San Diego business leader said Tuesday he is offering up a $10,000 bounty for the arrest of a suspect in a string of North Park attacks to “set a tone to anyone who wants to vandalize or terrorize our neighborhood that it won’t be tolerated.”
Read More →Christian Iraqi Leader Mark Arabo Hopes America Saves Persecuted Refugees From ISIS
The day the statue of Saddam Hussein was torn down in Baghdad’s Firdos Square in April 2003 — a day that was the basis for some of the most iconic and debated images of the war in Iraq — Sam, an Iraqi Christian who had a job at a barber shop just down the street from all of the action, skipped work.
“I saw everything with my eyes. I was there,” he said. Like many Iraqis, he saw promise in the falling statue, and initially things were more or less OK. Even with the church bombings, the ransom kidnappings, the faith-based killings, the sectarian fighting between Shiite and Sunni militias, and the...
Read More →Christian Iraqi Leader Mark Arabo Hopes America Saves Persecuted Refugees From ISIS
Mark Arabo, a Christian Iraqi-American man living in San Diego, is urging the US government to help save Iraqi Christians and other religious outcasts being persecuted and massacred during the ISIS genocidal campaign in the Middle East.
"Our nation is one specially positioned to be viewed as a failure for foreign inaction, and "imperialist" for our willingness to act. I tend to view our foreign role as a nation of great power, blessed with a moral obligation to enact change on a global scale," said Arabo said in a testimonial he released on his blog earlier this month.
Read More →Chaldean fundraiser brings in $500,000
The first major fundraiser in San Diego for persecuted Iraqi Christians has raised a half-million dollars for the Iraqi Christian Relief Fund. National Chaldean spokesperson Mark Arabo joined us on Good Morning San Diego Thursday to talk about the cause.
Watch More →Iraqi American leader in San Diego calls for rescue of Christians
A leader in the Iraqi community in eastern San Diego County is redoubling his efforts to rescue Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities facing slaughter by Sunni militants of the Islamic State.
Mark Arabo had earlier petitioned the White House to take military action to stop the militants from killing Christians and others as they attempt to form a caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq.
Watch More →List of Iraqis Seeking Asylum Could Be Ticket to Freedom
There is a list of Iraqis seeking asylum that includes family members of people living across the U.S. including here in San Diego. The man behind the list hoping to persuade leaders in our nation's capitol to immediately start flying the people on that list out of Iraq to safety.
Watch More →Who Will Stand Up for the Christians?
Efforts to fast-track Iraqi Christian refugees for resettlement in San Diego County and elsewhere in the United States are expected to pick up steam when Congress reconvenes early next month. Local Chaldean Catholics are working with the office of Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, on legislation that is expected to have the backing of the county’s four other House members.
Read More →Inside the Asylum Process That Could Bring More Iraqis to San Diego County
San Diego County is home to about 80,000 Iraqis and it could begin to see more. Eight weeks ago, El Cajon’s Mark Arabo began hearing from the local Chaldean community that their relatives back home in Iraq were being displaced or violently killed by Islamic State, or ISIS, militants. The extremist group is targeting religious minorities, including Chaldean Catholics, in a brutal offensive aimed at establishing a Muslim state across Syria and Iraq. Arabo, a member of the Chaldean Church and president of a local group that represents predominantly immigrant convenience store owners, wants Iraqi minorities airlifted from the country and set on a quick path to asylum.
Read More →Chaldeans Demonstrate in CA Over ISIS Call For Un Intervention
Hundreds of Chaldeans came out Tuesday night in El Cajon, California in an organized demonstration advocating for the United Nations, United States, and other countries to intervene in Iraq over actions of the terrorist group ISIS.
Part of the evening’s events included a “Peace Walk” that ended at El Cajon’s Centennial Plaza, where speakers took the stage to address the crowd. Two of those involved spoke with Breitbart News after the event concluded.
Read More →Local Iraqi Christians walk to end genocide in Iraq
EL CAJON, Calif. - Hundreds of local Iraqi Christians took part in a peace walk in El Cajon on Tuesday to end the genocide in Iraq. The walk was led by local Chaldean leader Mark Arabo, an advocate for fellow Iraqi Christians being persecuted by Islamic State militants. It went from St. Michael Chaldean Church to the El Cajon Centennial Plaza.
Watch More →Who Will Stand Up for the Christians?
WHY is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa? In Europe and in the United States, we have witnessed demonstrations over the tragic deaths of Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza. The United Nations has held inquiries and focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against that same terrorist organization. But the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference.
Read More →Local Chaldean leader reacts to Obama announcement on airstrikes in Iraq
SAN DIEGO - A local Chaldean leader who led a coalition during talks with the White House described the hope and tears of joy the San Diego Chaldean community shed when President Barack Obama announced the U.S. would be willing to launch airstrikes to protect threatened communities in Iraq.
Watch More →Iraqi community leader praises Obama for action against Sunni militants
A leader in eastern San Diego County's large Iraqi community immediately hailed President Obama's decision to order a humanitarian mission to support the endangered members of the Yazidi religious minority and to authorize airstrikes if Islamic militants threaten Americans and others in the Kurdish capital of Irbil in northern Iraq.
"This is a step in the right direction for our global community," said Mark Arabo. "We commend President Obama for referring to this massacre as a targeted genocide."
Watch More →Christian leader: ISIS beheading children
Jonathan Mann speaks to Mark Arabo about why he thinks ISIS' persecution of Christians in Iraq has become a genocide.
Watch More →S.D. Chaldean to Visit D.C., Urge Drone Strikes in Iraq
A San Diego business leader who sounded the alarm over the persecution of Christians in northern Iraq will travel to Washington this week to meet with top administration officials and ask for targeted drone strikes against ISIS — the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Mark Arabo, CEO of the Neighborhood Market Association, will lead a coalition of people who represent Chaldean Catholics in the Middle East. Arabo is scheduled to meet with National Security Adviser Susan Rice and possibly with Secretary of State John Kerry.
Read More →Chirstian Persecution in Iraq Felt Here
Separate the undesirables. Spray paint a symbol on their houses. Steal their homes, money and jewelry. Desecrate their holy places. Send them away. Execute the uncooperative.
These scenes may evoke Nazi Germany. In fact, they’re happening in Northern Iraq, according to news reports, images on the Internet, and testimony from displaced Iraqis communicating with relatives in San Diego. Militant extremists affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaeda splinter group, have executed or banished Christians who haven’t already fled the region.
The group’s goal is to institute a large and powerful strict Islamic state run by a caliph. In June, the group seized two northern Iraqi cities, Mosul and Tikrit, and began instituting restrictions against the region’s Christians, known as Chaldeans. First they were persecuted, and ultimately they were told to depart or convert.
Read More →San Diego's Chaldean Community Pushes for Asylum for Iraqi Christians
EL CAJON (CBS 8) - Hundreds of Iraqi-American Christians and their supporters packed the El Cajon Civic Center Friday evening, calling for an end to the brutal violence and merciless oppression that Iraqi Christians are now facing in their homeland.
"Our very community has been rocked to its core," said Chaldean-American leader Mark Arabo, who is also national spokesman of the organization 'Ending Genocide in Iraq'. "Christianity itself faces death throughout Iraq."
Read More →