Iraqi Refugee Works To Bring Family To MN With Him

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- An Iraqi man needs one thing to make Minnesota finally feel like home -- his family.

"Phillip," which is what soldiers call him to protect his identity, served as an interpreter for Minnesota soldiers during the Iraq War. Some credit him with risking his own life to save theirs. So, about a year ago, Paul Braun and other soldiers helped Phillip escape danger and move here.

Phillip's outgoing personality enabled him to make friends quickly and he even got a job working at a nursing home.

Minnesota is now Phillip's home. In October, even with the growing threat of ISIS, he risked his life to return to Iraq for his wife and kids, hoping to bring them here. It was an emotional reunion, one that took one of his daughters by surprise.

During the months Phillip worked to get his family ready to come to the United States, the threat of ISIS grew. The terrorist group recently hit close to home, killing an aunt and uncle of Phillip's wife near Baghdad.

"They got caught by ISIS and they are Sunni," Phillip said. "They got killed because they live in the Shiite Region."

In order to move his family, Phillip had to cross more than 50 checkpoints to get the paperwork ready in Baghdad.

"We knew he had to make the trip from where he lives to Baghdad several times," Braun said. "And with all the checkpoints and not knowing whose running those checkpoints, if you don't have enough bribe money, then things start to be very dangerous."

Especially if someone who shares the same beliefs as ISIS controls one of the checkpoints.

"Either you are with me or against. There is no in-between," Phillip said. "It's really dangerous. Bad, bad, bad in Iraq."

To make matters worse, Philip had to leave his family behind to fix a paperwork error back here.

He returned to Minnesota Tuesday night with the hope that in a few months his family will finally be able to experience the life he's always dreamed of.

Asked if they are eager to get out of Iraq, Phillip said, "There is no future there."

Phillip hopes that in three or four months the paperwork will be fixed for his wife and four kids to move here. When that happens, the family will stay with Braun until they're able to find a home of their own.