| Total population | |||
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| 96,847[1] - 400,000 [2] | |||
| Regions with significant populations | |||
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| Languages | |||
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English, Neo-Aramaic (Syriac: 46,932[3]), Arabic |
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| Religion | |||
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Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church |
Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac Americans are American citizens of Assyrian descent. The United States constitutes the largest population of Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people in the diaspora. They are a Semitic, Aramaic speaking Christian people who descend from the ancient Mesopotamians. Almost all are followers of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Syriac Orthodox Church (15,700),[4] and the Syriac Catholic Church, the remainder are members of various Assyrian Protestant churches.
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Assyrians have been present in the United States since the early 20th century. They traveled in small groups and emigrated from Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran from 1914-1920 due to the Assyrian Genocide. Following those years, the Assyrian immigration increased dramatically due to other conflicts in the Middle East and still increases due to the Iraq War. The United States is home to the third largest Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac community in the world. The 2000 U.S. census [5] counted 82,355 Assyrians/Chaldeans/Syriacs in the country,[6] of whom 42% (34,484) lived in Michigan. The Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac organizations claim that their population in 2010 is around 400,000 [2] The highest concentrations are located in Detroit and Chicago. In 2005, the first Assyrian school in the United States, the Assyrian American Christian School, opened in Tarzana, Los Angeles.[7]
Assyrian Chaldean Christians immigration, mainly to Detroit, Michigan began in the early 20th century. The first reported Assyrian who immigrated to the United States was Zia Attala, who was a hotel owner in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Before the 1970s, Assyrians-Chaldeans came to the United States in search of greater economic opportunities. After the 1970s, many Assyrians-Chaldeans fled for political freedom, especially after the rise of Saddam Hussein and, after the Gulf War. Some Chaldeans were drawn by the economic opportunities they had seen successfully affect their family members who had already immigrated. Less stringent immigration laws during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated increasing numbers, with the 1970s seeing the highest number of Chaldeans coming to the United States. Assyrian-Chaldean immigrants were initially drawn by the potential employment at the Ford Motor Company River Rouge in Detroit. In 1962, the number of Assyrian-Chaldean-owned grocery stores was 120, but grew to 278 in 1972. The main cause of this were the 1967 Detroit riots, after which Jewish grocery store owners left the area and left the opportunity open for Chaldeans to take over. Often these Jews sold their old stores to Assyrians-Chaldeans.[8]
The largest Iraqi Assyrian-Chaldean diaspora is located in Metropolitan Detroit, where there are an estimated 121,000 members.[9] These cities include, but are not limited to, Detroit, Southfield, Sterling Heights, Oak Park, Troy, West Bloomfield,Commerce, Walled Lake, Rochester Hills, Shelby TWP, Macomb TWP Farmington Hills, Ferndale, Warren, Bloomfield Hills and Ann Arbor. More and more Assyrians-Chaldeans, as they establish themselves financially, quickly move out of Detroit and into the other locations, including San Diego and cities in Arizona.
Mostly all new Assyrians-Chaldean immigrants and low-income senior citizens tend to reside in Detroit, in the 7 Mile Road between Woodward Avenue and John R Street. This area was officially named Chaldean Town in 1999.[10]
There are eight Chaldean Catholic churches in Metropolitan Detroit, located in West Bloomfield, Troy (where there are two), Oak Park, Southfield, Warren, Sterling Heights and Detroit.
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Chaldean Catholic churches in Detroit and received a key to the city in the 1980s on behalf of mayor Coleman Young, when the Baath regime was an ally of the United States government.[11]
Saddam's bond with Detroit started in 1979, when the Reverend Jacob Yasso of Chaldean Sacred Heart congratulated Saddam on his presidency. In return, Yasso's church received 250,000 dollars. The money reportedly helped build the Chaldean Center of America located on Seven Mile Road next to the Sacred Heart Chaldean Church, which received an earlier Saddam gift of $250,000, the station reported.[12] More Iraqi money reportedly went to other churches around Detroit and around the country.
The U.S. federal government took Syrian to mean Arabs from Syria and not as one of the terms to identify Assyrians. The Syriac Orthodox Church was previously known as the Syrian Orthodox Church until a Holy Synod in 2000 voted to change it to Syriac, thus distinguishing from the Arabs. Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim wrote a letter to the Syriacs in 2000 urging them to register in the census as Syriac with a C, and not Syrian with an N to distinguish the group. He also urged them not to register as the country of origin.[13] On the U.S. census, there is a section for the Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriacs, which is listed separately from Syrian, Syrian being a subcategory for Arab. [14]
Accordin to the 2000 US census there are 82,355 Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people in the United States.
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