The first wave arrived in the 1990s in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War, following Saddam's brutal repression of Iraqi Shi'a and Kurds and the imposition of economic sanctions on Iraq.
[3] At first, Iran was the destination of choice for the hundreds of thousands fleeing Iraq, but after 1995 Iraqis increasingly turned to Jordan to either settle there or use it as a transit base to other countries.
[4] The Jordanian immigration authority has provided the numbers of Iraqi nationals entering and leaving Jordan since 1990 up to March 2007, estimating them at 547,000.
[5] This influx of cash helped boost the Jordanian economy, but also fueled inflation and wage shortages, which aggravated existing inequalities.
These remittances from Iraq expose Iraqis in Jordan to a host of vulnerabilities, including the depletion of savings and destitution resulting from the cessation of transfers.
[13] The Government of Jordan clarified its policy in August 2007 when Iraqis were allowed to access all types and levels of public education regardless of their parents' residential status.
[17] As the anthropologist Geraldine Chatelard has written, Jordanian officials initially viewed the Iraqis as a security and economic issue and not a humanitarian concern.
[19] Jordanian officials have consistently argued that the only solutions for displaced Iraqis were resettlement or repatriation, and the United Nations and donor countries have also adopted this idea.
[18] Jordanian policies came under fire in 2006, when a report by Human Rights Watch charged officials with trying to keep a large number of Iraqi refugees practically invisible.
[18] The report stated that wealthy Iraqis were able to buy residency permits, opening the way to better lives, work, and access to Jordanian public services.
Poorer Iraqis were unable to afford residency permits, and without legal status have no guarantee of jobs, health care, or education for their children.