An Assyrian Christian teenager from Iraq is hoping to find asylum in the United States to avoid returning to her village in northern Iraq, which has been captured by ISIS–its church destroyed and slavers from the savage terror state on the prowl for young girls to kidnap.
As reported by KCRA News in Sacramento, Soyana Isaac Israel, 17, was brought to California with the help of the Assyrian Medical Society for a series of surgeries, after a botched operation in Iraq confined her to a wheelchair as a little girl. Unless she is granted asylum, she and her mother will be forced to return home after her final operation in November. Her father and four sisters are still in Iraq, having fled their village after the sacking of the church to seek refuge in a neighboring town.
“I thank very much all the doctors and the people who brought us here,” Soyana said, adding that she is afraid to return home because she believes her life would be in danger.
“She’s very thankful to be in the United States and she’s begging anybody who can help them stay here,” her interpreter Shimson Antal added on her behalf.