Foreign Policy Plays a Top Role in US Decisions on Refugees
By Charles A. Radin
The Boston Globe
Two years ago, ethnic cleansing was reported in Kosovo. Serbs employing executions, gang rape, and other techniques of terror were driving ethnic Albanians from their homes and businesses. The West, led by the United States, responded by launching an air war against Serb forces in Kosovo and other parts of the former Yugoslavia. The United States took in 14,000 Kosovars within a few months. Only 4,000 of them have returned home.
In 1994, genocide was reported in Rwanda, in central Africa, where the Hutu majority went on a rampage against the Tutsi minority, butchering, mutilating, and raping. The West did little to stop the violence, and less to help the refugees. In contrast to the Balkans, where US officials actively recruited in the refugee camps, there was no effort to open America's doors to Rwandans. The United States accepted 88 Rwandans in 1994 and 457 others in the years since.
The contrast between Kosovo and Rwanda sharply reflects continuing trends in US admissions of refugees and immigrants. Such patterns, advocates for refugees and other observers say, reflect racism in US policy. US officials deny this, but they acknowledge that the legacy of decades of blatant race-based bias and the political nature of setting immigration quotas have tended to work against Africans in particular.
Statistics kept by the State Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service have found a preponderance of East Europeans among recent refugees, and of East Asians among immigrants. While there are genuine needs in these regions, Deborah Anker, a founder of the Immigration and Refugee Law Program at Harvard Law School, said, "The very large refugee flows are in Africa. Vast numbers are in need of resettlement, and there are relatively low admissions."
Government officials, their critics, and refugee advocates agree that admissions often serve US foreign policy objectives, such as defusing European tensions over the burden of accepting Balkan refugees, rather than honor the ideals of the Statue of Liberty to "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
In the 1990s, 514,443 refugees, more than half of the total admitted to the United States in the decade, came from Eastern Europe, although ethnic and religious strife in much of the region was generally easing. A third of the total came from Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam and Laos. Just 64,294 refugees were admitted from Africa in the same period, a little over 6 percent of the total, as ethnic and political persecutions in many African countries were growing dramatically worse.
Joseph W. Mutaboba, Rwandan ambassador to the United Nations, said the small number of refugees coming from Africa reflected "a double standard, or just plain bias." When genocide was afoot in Rwanda, US leaders "knew but acted as though they did not know," he said, noting that President Clinton later acknowledged, and apologized, for this.
Bill Frelick, policy director at the US Committee for Refugees, a Washington-based advocacy group, said the Rwandan genocide was "studiously ignored" by the US government, but not out of blatant racism. "It was the US not wanting to put resources into humanitarian lifesaving endeavors that did not offer any short-term payoff or gain," he said. By contrast, the admission of tens of thousands of Balkan refugees served to keep key countries, particularly Germany and Macedonia, from breaking with US policy.
"Resettlement is an area that lends itself to bias because resettlement is completely discretionary," Frelick said. "Unlike in a country of first asylum, where it is against international law to force them back into peril, resettlement you do out of generosity and humanity. It is susceptible to ethnic constituencies and prejudices."
The figures for immigrants - who unlike refugees do not have to show they are being persecuted or are in danger - clearly reflect this susceptibility. Immigration quotas for each country are established through negotiation between the USCIS and Congress, and Asians and Latin Americans, as well as Europeans, are far more likely to be admitted than Africans.
From 1990 through 1998, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 30 percent of immigrants to the United States were from Asia, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines; 29 percent were from Mexico; and 13 percent from Europe. Less than 4 percent were from Africa.
"There are core constituent groups out there who advocate for people from their homelands," said Bill Strassberger, a spokesman for the BCIS. "We saw it when the Iron Curtain disappeared. There were opportunities, and suddenly you had Polish-Americans lobbying to ease conditions for Poles to come to the United States. "The argument is made that one of the problems for Africans," he said, is that because of the history of slavery, "African-Americans don't know
which countries their forerunners came from, so they don't know who to advocate for."
But even refugees from Liberia, a country with deep historic links with the United States, do not get much sympathy here. Liberia was established in1822 as a homeland for former American slaves; its government is patterned on the American model; and 12 of the men elected president before civil war erupted in 1989 were US-born.
Last year, US officials declared it safe for 10,000 to 15,000 people who fled that war to return to Liberia. About 3,000 of those were from Massachusetts; 4,000 were from Rhode Island. The government gave them 60 days to pack up and go - despite the fact that, after nine years, many had homes, careers, and children who were born here and are, therefore, US citizens.
The Liberians got a one-year reprieve through a presidential order, but face another departure deadline next month. The issue, said Torli Krua, executive director of Universal Human Rights International in Roxbury, demonstrates prejudice against Africans, since the Kosovo Albanian refugees allowed into the country last year were given a status allowing them to stay permanently, while the Liberians have been kept in a temporary status for nearly a decade.
US officials say there was no bias - that most of the Liberians were in this country on visas for study or tourism when the civil war broke out; they were given what the State Department calls "temporary protected status" and simply have no legal claim to permanent residency. Sometimes, the actions of other countries have almost a controlling influence on refugee policies of the United States.
Alan Kreczko, deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of the US bureau of population, refugees, and migration, pointed out that countries of first asylum in Europe, particularly Germany and Macedonia, were threatening to close their borders to fleeing Kosovars, or even force people to return to the Balkans against their will, unless other countries took in more refugees. Had they made good on those threats, it would have dealt a severe blow to US goals for the future of the Balkans. There was no such threat in Africa.
"It is a fair observation," Kreczko said, "that our program has definite humanitarian components but also serves foreign policy objectives." Although African countries are often willing to shelter refugees from their neighbors, said Louise Bailey, a spokeswomen for the Organization of African Unity's mission to the United Nations, "it is obviously not always in the best interests of the refugees to remain in those countries," where they are sometimes easy targets for murder and rape. "The OAU is concerned at the lack of parity, which was clearly demonstrated by the recent handling of Kosovo."
The order for Liberians to return home also may have been in the service of policy objectives. When the order was made, the State Department was asserting that western Africa had become safe and stable. "We realize that national security and other factors come into play, and that because of this there will be disparities," said Frelick of the US Committee for Refugees. "But policy makers need to question, and advocates and others need to examine, the extent to which, when lives are in the balance, one human being is weighed as worth more than another based on the color of skin."
LABOR: Study to Lend Insight to the H-1B Debate
By Juliana Gruenwald
National Journal's Technology Daily
The National Academy of Sciences plans to release a study next month that may provide independent insight into some of the major issues surrounding the H-1B visa debate and the high-tech industry's persistent claims that it faces a shortage of U.S. skilled workers.
The study, which is expected to be released at the end of September, was mandated by Congress in 1998 as part of legislation to increase the availability of H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers. High-tech companies are pushing Congress again to increase the H-1B visa cap, saying the 1998 law did not go far enough to meet their needs. The industry has produced its own studies that show hundreds of thousands of jobs are going unfilled because there are not enough skilled Americans to fill them.
"I think we believe...the numbers will bear out that there is an immediate shortage of U.S. citizens with these skill sets," said Michael Aitken, acting co-executive director for the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. The debate over the report "will be over whether or not there are U.S. individuals that can be trained or educated to immediately fill these needs." Critics argue that there are no independent studies to back up such claims and even if there is a shortage, more should be done to identify those specific areas most in demand.
"It wouldn't surprise me for them to say there is a shortage, because of the changes in technology," said Paul Kostek, former president of the U.S.-branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which opposes increasing the H-1B cap. The problem, he said, is that when a new technology emerges, companies want workers who are proficient in it, "but there really isn't anyone with that experience." The study is aimed at profiling the current information technology (IT) workforce and assessing the industry's needs over the next decade.
George Mason University President Alan Merten, chairman of the NAS panel that conducted the study, said one of the panel's first tasks was to try to come up with alternative definitions for an IT worker. This was complicated because many tech workers did not receive tech-related degrees. The panel then estimated how many workers there are in each field and examined where the gaps were compared with demand for those workers, he said.
Merten, who declined to discuss specific findings from the study, said the panel also examined the role of government statistics in trying to measure IT workforce needs and will make recommendations on how to improve government statistics gathering. Merten said he does not expect the study will put an end to the debate over how to deal with the industry's workforce needs. But he added that he hopes the study will help "distinguish between fact and opinion."
Schippers Accuses Gore of Abusing the USCIS
By Susan Jones
CNS
David Schippers, the chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Clinton impeachment trial, says Vice President Al Gore may talk about integrity, "but that's not how he always plays it." Writing in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, Schippers says President Clinton and Vice President Gore - running for re-election in 1996 -- pressured the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed up the naturalization of a million aliens that were expected to vote for Democrats. Schippers says Gore's job was to pressure the USCIS to naturalize aliens for the benefit of Democrats. He says Gore also pressured the USCIS to save time by foregoing the normal requirement that fingerprints and FBI arrest records be included in an alien's file. Says Schippers: "In the end, the White House got their one million voters and re-election. The U.S. got 75,000 new citizens who had arrest records when they applied [for naturalization]." Schippers says some of those new citizens have subsequently been arrested for committing serious crimes, including murder, rape, and child sexual abuse. Schippers is the author of the new book "Sellout: The Inside Story of President Clinton's Impeachment." He says if he had been given enough time to put together evidence and witnesses, the Clinton-Gore politicizing of the USCIS "might even have figured in Mr. Clinton's impeachment trial."
USCIS Abuse?
By Dan Stein
The Washington Times
[snip]
The real issue is whether the leadership in Congress will muster up the intestinal fortitude to move beyond its party popinjays and corporate hucksters and start listening to real Americans again. Both parties need to stop running from immigration issues. The H-1B program has been a sham from the beginning. It uses recently graduated foreign students to do jobs under conditions that discourage Americans from moving into these fields.
[snip]
In the name of fairness and decency for those who want equal opportunity in America, let's abolish the H-1B program once and for all. Let's get about the business of building our own economic future together, based on traditional notions of self-reliance, independence and "can do" determination. Our future American community -- conservative and liberal -- deserves nothing less.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-column-200081718179.htm
Alleged Slavery in Detroit Area Reflects Disturbing Global Trend
By Amy Klein
Detroit Free Press
She slept in the windowless basement of a sparkling brick colonial in Farmington Hills, while upstairs, a couple and three young children lived in bright rooms among new computers and televisions. Once in a while, the young girl from Cameroon was allowed outside to pull garbage to the curb, shovel snow or take down the Christmas lights. When she talked back, she was beaten, she said. Sometimes with belts. Sometimes with high-heeled shoes. And sometimes, the man would slip down to the basement and rape her, she said. The arrest of a Cameroonian couple in Farmington Hills late last month is the latest example, authorities say, of a flourishing, underground slave trade that smuggles women and children from destitute countries into the United States each year -- luring them with promises of an education, a green card and a way out of stifling poverty.
Each year, between 45,000 and 50,000 women and children are trafficked as slaves into the United States from Asia, Europe, Latin America, India and Africa, according to a 1999 report by the Central Intelligence Agency. Their stories take horrifying and tragic turns. Thrust into a foreign culture and speaking little or no English, some slaves are locked indoors for weeks at a time, forced to scrub the floors and walls in sprawling homes, repeatedly starved and threatened with deportation, say human rights advocates. In more egregious cases, they are beaten and raped, swapped or sold from family to family. During the past three years, many of the most high-profile and disturbing cases have emerged in the country's international hubs -- New York, Washington and Los Angeles, cities where diplomats bring domestic helpers from their own countries on temporary work visas and end up abusing them. Recently, however, allegations of slavery are cropping up in less likely areas, such as Michigan and Arkansas, underscoring the claims of activists that the practice is far more commonplace than previously suspected. "This is now the classic case that we are seeing again and again," Martha Honey, a spokeswoman for the Campaign for Migrant Domestic Workers Rights in Washington, said of the Farmington Hills allegations. Since it formed three years ago, the campaign has learned of around 200 cases of domestic worker slavery in Washington alone. And, since police arrested Joseph and Evelyn Djoumessi of Farmington Hills, two more local complaints of domestic slavery -- in Oakland County and in Ann Arbor -- are under investigation, said Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer. Against this backdrop, the U.S. Senate last month passed a bill that would punish those who use psychological force (existing laws punish those who use physical force) to hold a person against his or her will. The bill would also create a temporary visa to keep victims who speak out from being deported. The House passed a similar measure and Congress is expected to vote on a bill this fall. But it may not be enough.
In search of an education
Three years ago, a 14-year-old girl in Cameroon began a journey that would bring her to America. It is unclear where she lived in Cameroon, a central African country of more than 15 million people that is roughly the size of California. And it is unclear where her parents are now. The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office wants to charge them with neglect, arguing the girl's presence here gives them jurisdiction. This much is known: Through her mother, the girl met Joseph and Evelyn Djoumessi, police said. And her life changed forever. Joseph Djoumessi and Evelyn Neba came to the United States from Cameroon in 1986 on immigration visas. He was 29, she was 21. Neba had a handful of relatives in the area, including a sister in Southfield. In 1992, Joseph Djoumessi became a citizen; it is unclear when Evelyn Djoumessi gained citizenship. About 3,000 Cameroonians live in the United States; metro Detroit is home to about 75, experts say. The couple soon married and in 1993 Joseph Djoumessi graduated from Wayne State University Law School, but never passed the bar exam, and instead worked as a computer consultant. Evelyn Djoumessi worked as a pharmacist in Detroit, police said.
The Djoumessis had three children in the next seven years. They made several trips back to Cameroon, where Evelyn Djoumessi's mother still lives, prosecutors said. In October 1996, they greeted a young girl at the airport as she got off a plane from Cameroon, taking her back to their home on Arden Park in Farmington Hills. The girl passed through U.S. customs with an immigration visa but authorities suspect her birth certificate was forged -- perhaps by the Djoumessis, Chief Dwyer said.
The girl, speaking in English, testified at a preliminary hearing in 47th District Court on Wednesday that the Djoumessis had promised to send her to school if she took care of their children and cleaned their house. Instead, she said she never went to school, rarely left the house and was beaten by both Djoumessis. She had seen a doctor and a dentist once in three years, police say. Beginning in the summer of 1998, when the girl was 15, Joseph Djoumessi raped her three times, the girl testified. The Free Press does not print the names of alleged rape victims. "He told me not to tell anybody. I told him it hurts and he said he would do it gentle," said the girl, covering her face with her hands. "She had grown accustomed to it," Chief Dwyer said. "All she wanted was a good education." Early this year, Joseph Djoumessi moved to California to work as a computer programmer at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center.
With his wife in Farmington Hills focusing on the final stage of her pregnancy, the girl seized an opportunity. From a window, she had watched teenagers playing basketball and throwing parties at neighbor Susan Aschoff's house. She began showing up at Aschoff's door late at night after taking out the garbage or early in the morning, on her way home from walking the Djoumessis' child to the bus stop. At first the mother of four and the young girl only chatted in the doorway for a few minutes at a time, before the girl nervously sneaked back home. Gradually, Aschoff said, the girl told of the abuse in matter-of-fact snippets.
"This was brought to me, I wasn't someone who figured it out," Aschoff said. In February, growing increasingly worried, Aschoff called Farmington Hills Counseling Services for advice. They called the police. During the probe, Joseph Djoumessi lived in California with his 6- and 4-year-old daughters, while his wife stayed behind with the baby, now 6 months old. They put their home up for sale, and police said they believe Evelyn Djoumessi intended to join her husband. The Djoumessis were arrested July 26 -- he on the West Coast and she in Farmington Hills -- and both are being held at the Oakland County Jail. Joseph Djoumessi, held without bond, is charged with conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, three counts of criminal sexual conduct and three counts of child abuse. If convicted, he could be sentenced to four life terms. Evelyn Djoumessi, held on $500,000 bond, is charged with conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping and faces a maximum of one life sentence for each charge. She is also charged with child abuse. The couple's two older children are in state protective custody in California. The 6-month-old is staying with Evelyn Djoumessi's older sister.
Immigration and Naturalization Services is also investigating whether the couple forged the girl's birth certificate, Dwyer said. Lawyers for the Djoumessis deny the charges. Bill Mitchell, a lawyer representing Joseph Djoumessi, said details of the case have been exaggerated. "Just because there is an allegation, doesn't mean that it's true or that it's even a crime," he said.
The girl's biological mother and father wanted a better life for their daughter and handed parental control to the Djoumessis, Mitchell said, including the authority to discipline the child. "I don't deny that there may be people out there who are taking advantage of those who wish to come and participate in the glory of these United States, but I do not believe that the Djoumessis are these people," Mitchell said.
Meanwhile, the girl was removed from the home in February and now lives in an Oakland County foster home. She is 17 and bright, police said, but only recently finished the ninth grade after three years without schooling.
A global crisis
From her three-person, nonprofit office in central Los Angeles, Jennifer Stanger has heard many stories like this one.
Since the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking was founded last year, the advocacy group has counseled 15 victims in Los Angeles, helping them navigate a complex legal system. It is the only agency of its kind in the country, Stanger said, and it is overburdened. Slavery, Stanger said, is more profitable than other types of trafficking because a slave is easier to hide and can be used for many years, rather than the one-time profit reaped from selling drugs or guns.
Each year, anywhere from 700,000 to 2 million women and children are trafficked between countries around the globe, used for domestic work, sweatshops and prostitution rings, the CIA reports.
Among cases cited by the CIA:
In New York, a Nigerian smuggling ring charged parents $10,000 to $20,000 to bring their children to the United States, promising better educations for the children. Once here, the ring forced the children to work as domestics.
A pastor brought Estonian teenagers to Woodbine, Md., in 1997, promising to enroll them in a church school but then forcing them to clean roach-infested apartments and install office furniture.
A group of hearing-impaired and mute Mexicans were brought in 1997 to the United States, enslaved, beaten and forced to peddle trinkets in New York City.
While sweatshop abuses garner more headlines, immigrants smuggled into domestic slavery may be more vulnerable because prosecuting such cases is problematic. "This is a hard thing to prove because it's not like they're behind barbed-wire fences or under armed guard," Stanger said. Typically, the CIA found, people who use domestic slaves are Middle Eastern or African and bring over someone of their own ethnicity, promising to send wages home to the family. Often the well-intentioned family half a world away is unaware of the abuse.
The Campaign for Migrant Domestic Workers Rights is handling two such cases, in Maryland and Virginia. In both instances, no criminal charges have been brought against the sponsors. Christina Elangwe, now a 22-year-old Cameroonian, came to Germantown, Md., with a Cameroonian couple, using the passport of the woman's sister. Elangwe wanted an education and to see a new country, she said in a telephone interview from Maryland. "I thought they were really good people. They told me they had a lot of plans for me," she said. "I said, 'I want to go to school.' They kept telling me to wait. "I believed them and I thought it would happen."
Instead, Elangwe, then 17, cooked dinner and scrubbed floors while taking care of the couple's three children. She was not paid. The couple told Elangwe they were sending money home to her parents, but she has not spoken to them and does not know whether it is true. She said she was too scared and helpless to leave. Then she met Louis Etongwe, a Cameroonian living with his wife in Newport News, Va., who was helping three other enslaved women escape.
A 46-year-old public school employee, Etongwe spent months trying to free the women, writing pleas to U.S. government officials and ultimately letting the women move into his home. "The first thing that came to mind was that these people are evil," Etongwe said. "I felt misrepresented because that's not all Cameroonians." On Feb. 10, Elangwe ran away to stay with Etongwe. She was free with no money and no plans. She is talking to a lawyer about suing the couple for back pay. She has given up on the idea of school, she said through tears.
Dora Mortey, a primary school teacher in Ghana, came to the United States in May 1999 as a domestic helper for a man living in Fairfax, Va. She agreed to help as a nanny and cook meals in exchange for $400 a week and the promise that she could go to the library and continue her studies. Instead, the family called her "The Creature" and Mortey was awakened at 5:45 a.m. to work until 9:30 p.m., receiving only $400 over four months. "They embarrassed me and frustrated me," said Mortey, 28, who eventually ran away and moved in with a cousin who lived nearby. "I am going to stay in the country. It would be heartbreaking for me to go empty-handed back to Ghana."
A better life
The same vision that brought Elangwe to Maryland, Mortey to Virginia and the 17-year-old girl to Farmington Hills lures tens of thousands of women and children -- armed with work visas or prepared to slip in illegally -- to the United States each year. "There is an increasingly impoverished mass of the population that is being left behind or eroded," said Honey, with the Campaign for Migrant Domestic Workers Rights. "We're seeing people being forced out of their countries to search for work."
Cameroon is relatively poor. In 1999 the average adult earned $2,000, compared with $31,500 earned by the average adult in the United States, according to the CIA. It's not unusual for the poorest residents in African countries to work as domestic helpers for richer relatives, said Nicolas Van De Walle, a Michigan State University political science professor and member of the African Studies program. And those helpers may often be treated worse than if they were in the United States, he said.
But abuse is not the norm.
"There's nothing culturally that would predispose them to this," Van De Walle said of the Djoumessi case. "It would be a slur on Cameroonian culture to suggest otherwise." But many Africans dream of a better life in the United States, for themselves and for their children, Van De Walle said. It's a dream that leaves some vulnerable. Taking aim at the growing problem, a Congressional committee is expected to finalize comprehensive slave-trafficking legislation by mid-September. While activists hail the bill as a good start, some say it does not protect victims enough from being deported, particularly if they are in the United States illegally.
Meanwhile, in a foster home in Oakland County, a 17-year-old girl is learning what it means to be a teen. She has discovered American clothing and listens to boy-band rock, like 'N Sync. Most of all, she is smiling, said Aschoff, the neighbor who continues to visit the girl. "She is the bravest young lady I have ever seen," Aschoff said. "She was the one who made the decision to change her destiny."
Contact AMY KLEIN at 248-591-5629 or klein@freepress.com
Wealthy Latin American immigrants seek refuge in South Florida
By Alfonso Chardy
achardy@herald.com
Political and economic instability is prompting thousands of prominent and wealthy South Americans to flee their countries and seek permanent residence in the United States -- mostly in South Florida. During the last year, immigration attorneys estimated that between 25,000 and 50,000 people from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela have arrived in South Florida -- legally or illegally -- as virtual ``refugees'' from turmoil in their homelands. Most are seeking help in obtaining U.S. residency. ``It's a veritable new exodus of people who are leaving their home countries because of insecurity,'' said Michael Bander, a former U.S. diplomat in South America and veteran Miami immigration attorney who said he noticed the influx several months ago.
THE EXODUS
The exodus consists mainly of middle and upper-middle class, highly educated professionals or property owners who under normal circumstances would have stayed home. Augusto Mazariegos, a Colombian biologist who now lives in Pembroke Pines, said fear of abduction or persecution by leftist guerrillas and other armed groups in his homeland prompted him to seek residence in the United States in 1998. After his daughter Gabriela was born, he gave up on the idea of returning to Colombia to live. He was not sure the United States would let him stay. ``I don't want to go back,'' Mazariegos said. ``It's just not safe anymore for me or my family.'' The presence of people such as Mazariegos is being felt throughout South Florida, particularly in the high-end property markets of Key Biscayne, Weston and Boca Raton, where many South Americans already live. ``The wealthy are afraid,'' said immigration lawyer Tammy Fox-Isicoff said. ``People with money are beginning to get out of Venezuela and other countries. When the economy is good in South America, the rich stay. In some of these countries, they can have three maids and a chauffeur for what here is a middle-class existence.''
CHAVEZ'S EFFECT
About 150,000 Venezuelans have left their country since President Hugo Cháávez took over 18 months ago, according to published reports from Caracas. ``Many say Cháávez has been a catalyst for their departure,'' said Christopher Blackman, vice president of marketing and sales at the Ocean Club where -- he added -- ``more Venezuelans than usual'' were buying condominiums at the Key Biscayne resort community. In Weston, Jack Miller, Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer, said his office is getting increasing inquiries from South Americans about buying homes and businesses in the booming West Broward community. ``The tragedy is for those nations and the benefit is for us because we're getting the cream of the crop, highly skilled and highly motivated people,'' said Antonia Canero, a Miami immigration lawyer raised in Venezuela. Ira Kurzban, another prominent immigration lawyer, said he has noticed the greatest increase among Colombians. ``Every immigration lawyer now has more Colombian clients than they ever had before,'' Kurzban said, attributing it to ``destabilization and what's going on in the country.'' Maria Cardona, a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman, said USCIS is aware of the increase but does not have specific numbers. Many come into the country on tourist visas and then stay.
INCREASED NUMBERS
Said a senior Clinton administration official in Washington: ``Anecdotally, we have heard that there are increased numbers of Colombians, Venezuelans and other people from South America arriving,'' the official said. ``This is not out of the ordinary given some of the economic and social turmoil that these countries are experiencing.'' Argentines and Ecuadorans are leaving nations roiled by recession where unemployment and company failures have reached significant levels. Venezuelans are leaving because of political perceptions, fears that Cháávez may seize or disrupt their businesses. Colombians are escaping what many view as growing anarchy in which emboldened guerrillas and other armed groups have forced the government in Bogotáá to seek U.S. assistance. ``The truth is that our country is in a situation of war,'' a Colombian professional wrote to Bander in a recent e-mail in which she broached the idea of coming to the United States. Johanna Dáávila, program director for the Colombian-American Service Association, said her agency assists at least 1,000 newly arrived families a month who have fled Colombia. ``The exodus is impressive and alarming,'' said Dáávila, herself a recent Colombian immigrant. Dáávila said many are actually refugees from violence and that most -- if not all -- should receive political asylum in the United States. However, political asylum is often difficult to get and claims can take years to process. People who seek permanent residency may have no right to it, unless they have a close family relative living in the United States or special employment circumstances. Mazariegos, the biologist, for example, is legally in the country for now under a ``specialty occupation'' visa awarded to highly skilled professionals. The permit is scheduled to expire in December 2001, he said. He came here as a representative of a family-owned business that manufactures agricultural pesticides. Mazariegos can ask for resident status, but it is a complex and lengthy process during which he may have to return home to await approval -- something he does not want to do. Argentines also are leaving their country for South Florida, as well as Canada and Western Europe. ``Each time more Argentines are leaving the country for lack of jobs,'' read the lead headline in the July edition of the monthly Miami Spanish-language newspaper El Argentino MercoSur. The article attributed the exodus to a recession that has left hundreds of thousands unemployed. ``Argentina is going through a national emergency,'' said El Argentino MercoSur co-editor Graciela Micheli.
BIGGER COMMUNITIES
She estimated that the Argentine community, usually 30,000 or so throughout the 1970s and 1980s, has now grown to 50,000. Roberto Bignes, owner of Buenos Aires Market at 7315 Collins Ave., said he is seeing dozens of new customers at his Argentine bakery and grocery in Miami Beach. ``The jumbo jets from Buenos Aires arrive packed and not everybody goes back when their tourist visas expire,'' said Bignes, who has been living in Miami-Dade County for 10 years. Economic woes are also prompting thousands to leave Ecuador to live abroad, although many also head to the U.S. West Coast. Last month, for example, a Coast Guard cutter operating in the Pacific intercepted a boat carrying 186 Ecuadorans trying to enter the United States illegally -- the ninth vessel from Ecuador stopped at sea by U.S. authorities since March 1999.
Sounding Similar
POLITICS: With the Hispanic vote becoming increasingly important, both Bush and Gore are taking a softer approach to immigration.
By Minerva Canto
The Orange County Register
When it comes to immigration, the major-party presidential candidates aren't saying much. And when they are, they sound amazingly alike: "Immigration is not a problem to be solved. It is the sign of a successful nation," Republican candidate George W. Bush said during a speech in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago. "New Americans are to be welcomed as neighbors and not to be feared as strangers."
Compare that with what Democratic contender Al Gore said in a debate in January: "We are a nation of immigrants and with pride. It is what has made us a great nation."
On the surface, both candidates appear to be vying to see who can be more immigrant-friendly either by saying very little or being vague about most immigration issues, reflecting the importance they are placing on the increasingly powerful Hispanic vote. It's also indicative of good economic times.
The Republican platform deals with immigration issues in the same amiable tone, a turnaround from the 1996 platform which advocated an end to granting automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants. The latest platform does not mention "illegal immigration," said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates limits on immigration.
"They just want to try to convince everyone they're not as scary as everyone thought they were," Camarota said. Some in Orange County, particularly those concerned about the high levels of illegal immigration, share Camarota's concerns. They believe the Republicans' softer tone on immigration is merely an attempt to garner votes from the growing Hispanic constituency.Frank Sharry, who advocates on behalf of immigrant rights as head of the National Immigration Forum in Washington is "really happy" with Bush's tone on immigration. "But the problem is that with specific issues before the campaign, he has been resistant to take a stand," Sharry said. "Meanwhile, Gore and the Democrats have taken a stand that we like."
Sharry has been working with other immigrant-rights advocates such as National Council of La Raza, the nation's oldest Hispanic civil rights organization, to push legislation that is now known as the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act. The act collates three pieces of legislation that Democrats unsuccessfully tried to attach as amendments to a bill that would raise the cap on the number of H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers needed to fill computer and engineering jobs. The amendments have stalled the H-1B visa bill in Congress, much to the chagrin of the high-tech businesses that say they desperately need the workers.
The Fairness Act, introduced three weeks ago, would allow:
Immigrants who have been in the United States since 1986 to become permanent residents.
Certain immigrants who are eligible for residency to remain the United States while their documents are being processed.
Nicaraguans and Cubans fleeing human rights violations to become legal immigrants.
The legislation immediately received support from President Clinton and Gore, but Sharry said supporters have yet to hear from Bush or other GOP leaders. Many in Orange County believe it's the kind of legislation that is sorely needed to deal with problems faced by undocumented immigrants who have been living in the United States many years. They say the Fairness Act is a first step in addressing some of these problems but want more aggressive legislation that currently is not being addressed by either candidate.
Lillian French, principal of Wally Davis Elementary School in Santa Ana, believes Gore will do a better job of helping resolve problems resulting from illegal immigration. French, 40, a delegate at the Democratic convention, said she often hears of students who can't take advantage of higher education opportunities because they are undocumented. "I think there are many instances where we need to look at our immigration laws and make sure we're not denying residency to people who could benefit us economically," French said.
Adam Acosta, a representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 5,500 employees in Orange County, also thinks immigrants play a key role in the economy but said it is difficult to protect their rights as workers because they are more hesitant to join unions. Although neither candidate has publicly stated support for amnesty, he figures Gore, who often sides with labor, will be more likely to help pass an amnesty act of the type favored by the AFL-CIO to legalize undocumented workers.
Bush, who is known for his oft-repeated statement that "family values do not stop at the Rio Grande," has proposed changing immigration policy to encourage family reunification by allowing spouses and minor children of permanent residents to apply for visitor visas while their immigration applications are pending.
Republican convention delegate Pablo Molina, 60, whose Anaheim travel agency serves a predominantly immigrant clientele, believes a Republican in the White House would be better at reuniting families because he sees many families who are torn apart by current policies.
The real question will be whether Republicans in Congress would echo the immigrant-friendly sentiments expressed by Bush, especially if it's a Republican-controlled Congress that results after the elections. "I think it's a very visible and high-stakes showdown to see whether the GOPs in Congress can follow their leader," Sharry said.
Conservatives, labor backing amnesty bill
By Frank Davies
The Miami Herald
WASHINGTON -- On the surface, the timing looks right for legislation this fall to provide some form of amnesty for up to one million undocumented aliens, including thousands living in South Florida. The booming economy, labor shortages and two presidential candidates and political parties avidly wooing Hispanic voters have combined to reverse the anti-immigrant fervor of a few years ago.
A major bill to benefit Central Americans, Haitians and thousands of others in legal limbo even has the support of big labor, large employers and such conservative groups as Americans for Tax Reform and Empower America, headed by Jack Kemp and William Bennett.
``Weve stepped up our efforts this year for this bill,'' said Christina Howard, a lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association. She said the groups members, chain restaurants and independents, employ more immigrants than any other industry and are facing a ``huge'' labor shortage. Unions that used to be wary of immigrants as a cheap-labor threat now see them as a new source of stable membership and energy. Union leaders note that when immigrants whose legal status was in doubt tried to unionize, employers sometimes called in the Immigration and Naturalization Service as a way to blunt pro-union activities.
Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, said the measure ``is of enormous importance to our immigrant community. No matter what group youre talking to, theres help here. ``And the time is right -- this has the support of everybody from Alan Greenspan to the AFL-CIO,'' she added. ``We dont want it to be forgotten in an election year.''
Thats the problem facing the legislation, dubbed the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act. It may get lost in the political crosscurrents when Congress returns after Labor Day with just a few weeks to deal with dozens of contentious issues and one overriding priority -- its own reelection.
ISSUE AWARENESS
``The stakes are high, but I think the [immigration] issue is underappreciated by both parties,'' said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an advocacy group in Washington. So a pro-immigration coalition of groups is trying to turn up the heat for the legislation, which would do several things:
Undocumented immigrants who can prove they have lived in the United States continuously since 1986 would be eligible for permanent residency, and after two years that date would be moved up to 1991. The current date is 1972, disqualifying many immigrants. About 300,000 aliens from the 1980s applied for amnesty and won court victories, then found themselves in limbo after anti-immigration legislation in 1996 stripped the courts of jurisdiction in these cases.
Haitians, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans would have the same opportunity for permanent residency that was granted in 1997 to Nicaraguans and Cubans who were fleeing leftist and communist regimes. A change in immigration law in 1998 was designed to help some Haitians get easier access to green cards, but advocates say it was too restrictive and
implemented late.
Undocumented immigrants with work and family ties who are applying for legal status would not have to return to their country of origin while they wait. That was the case until 1997, when Congress did not renew a provision of law allowing them to stay while their status is determined.
``This is not a complete amnesty,'' said Sharry, who estimates that the bill would help one million of the estimated five million to six million undocumented aliens in the United States. Most of those affected, he said, have already applied for temporary legal status. In the Senate, the bill is sponsored by Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and three other Democrats: Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, Harry Reid of Nevada and Richard Durbin of Illinois.
So far, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have blocked votes on the measure. Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, who chairs the immigration subcommittee, says the moves toward partial amnesty would simply attract more undocumented aliens.
Hispanic groups are pressuring GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush, who is campaigning hard for the Hispanic vote, to lean on Congress to adopt the measure, but he has not taken a position. ``Bush has a chance to lead here with specific, bipartisan, modest proposals,'' said Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, at a recent press conference. ``Were asking that his deeds match some of his rhetoric.''
DEMOCRATIC SUPPORT
Democrat Al Gore and the Clinton White House support the measure, and Gore specifically endorsed the three provisions of the bill. ``Many Central Americans and Haitians who fled human rights abuses or unstable conditions find themselves treated differently than others who fled similar circumstances,'' Gore said. ``We should correct this long-standing injustice.''
How hard the administration will push the bill during the end-game frenzy of Congress, when many other issues are at stake, is a big question. Immigration advocates are worried that Republicans will avoid a divisive vote on the bill, while Democrats will be content to see it lose so they can seize it as a campaign issue.
``Weve got to challenge both the Republican and Democratic leadership,'' Yzaguirre said. ``Some may want to play politics with this, but for us this is a bread-and-butter issue.'' The one immigration measure many observers expected to pass Congress this year -- more temporary visas for skilled foreign high-tech workers -- has been bogged down in recent months by political infighting.
Immigration advocates say their challenge this fall is to make sure that Congress hears about the needs of low-skilled workers along with the demand for high-tech visas -- and that the two issues are not in conflict. ``Theres a golden opportunity for candidates and Congress to show some real leadership here,'' Sharry said.
South Floridians Creating Families from Afar as International Adoptions Increase
By Hellaine Anyango
Fort-Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
"Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on that farm he had a duck, E-I-E-I-O ... " The sound seeped from the nursery into the living room. A maze of toys of red, blue, yellow and green littered the floor. A baby table accompanied by a little red seat was tucked into a cove within the living room. By all signs, Rich and Shawn Erisman had prepared their home in the Coral Heights section of Fort Lauderdale for the arrival of their baby.
Like all new parents, they were in awe of Cavan Alexander Erisman, 19 months, their fair-skinned, blond son with clear gray eyes and a perfect smile. "He gets bored very fast," new daddy Rich Erisman said in an effort to explain the abundance of toys. Cavan is not just any baby, as his parents would be the first to proclaim. They traveled to Russia to bring him home to Florida only three weeks ago.
The Erismans are part of a growing group of Americans who are adopting babies from abroad. The National Council for Adoption says many Americans are turning to international adoption. They have doubled over the past decade, going from 7,948 in 1989, to 15,774 in 1998.
The council gives the top five source countries in 1999 as: Russia, with 4,348; China, with 4,101; Korea, with 2,008; Guatemala, with 1,002; and Romania, with 895. The top five countries accounted for more than half of the worldwide total of 16,369 last year.
NCFA founding president Bill Pierce says some Americans are wary of adopting children at home because they do not feel protected by the laws and are concerned about the tendency of courts to rule against adoptive parents in contests with birth parents. "A majority of them do not trust the judges or the state legislature to rule in their favor when it comes to illegal intrusion by biological parents," he said.
The emotional and financial investment that adoptive parents put into their children is enormous. To live with the possibility of someone turning up on their doorstep and breaking their family into pieces is what many of them admit fearing.
"I had gone through infertility treatments, endometriosis, laser surgery, artificial insemination, and when they all failed we turned to international adoption," said Shawn Erisman, Cavan's mother. "I wanted a baby in my arms. I wanted to come home and raise my child without having to worry about anybody ever taking him away from me," she said.
To many adopting parents, the leap of faith and the positive results at the end of it all are what make the experience so gratifying. Don't expect to bond right away, the adoption official had warned John Donahue and his wife, Sarah, when they went for their 27-month-old Guatemalan-born son. "But the sparks flew the moment I laid my eyes on him. I could feel this love engulfing me. Every time I looked at his little face, I couldn't contain a rush of feelings totally unknown to me from before," John Donahue said.
Doreen Kiwa, 39, of Lake Worth, feels the same rush every time she looks at her 1-year-old daughter, Lauren. She brought her daughter from Russia. "Both my grandmothers were from Russia, and deep down I felt the link with my family there," Kiwa explained.
The readiness to have children and the capability to provide a nurturing environment sometimes come late in life, and that can be one incentive to seek a child abroad.
"At the age of 45, I was getting too old to be a father by the country's regulations on domestic adoption. When my wife and I came to the realization all the miracles of science could not give us our own flesh-and-blood baby, we opted for international adoption," said John Donahue, who is a supervisor at Big Cypress National Preserve.
Pierce of the adoption council said he expects the numbers of international adoptions to stay on the rise because of a bill pending in the U.S. Congress, the Hague Convention for Inter-Country Adoption. He said if the bill passes, which is likely, it will reduce paperwork and prevent fraud in international adoptions. It would institute a central office in each country to ensure there is one authoritative source of information and point of contact. The idea is to cut down on unauthorized agencies that do not follow the right procedures, are prone to fraud, and could compromise children's safety.
Bureaucratic delays and paperwork can be a significant problem for the prospective adoptive parent. "My wife left her work to deal with the paperwork. It took us one year from the start to the finish," said John Donahue.
"International adoption has its ups and downs ... there are so many trivial details. The embassy of the government you have been working with closes down, the government official goes on vacation, lost paperwork, not to mention USCIS and FBI," he said, referring to required immigration and criminal background checks.
Kiwa, the Lake Worth adoptive mother, had other problems. "You are sometimes required to attend two court sessions in some countries before you take the baby," she said. "I wish the U.S. government could work with the foreign countries' governments to make the process faster."
The waiting and the anxiety clearly show that international adoption is not all cuddly babies and happy endings. Charlotte Danciu, a Miami-based attorney specializing in domestic adoption, argues that in many cases, people have run overseas only to find the children have hepatitis or are HIV-positive.
Jill Scott, a consultant for Adoption Source, agreed there is often very little or no medical information on the children. But she said the agencies try to give prospective parents all the information they have.
"They get video shots of the child's facial characteristics, obtain measurements of the head, and they keep records of their development milestones, like walking, coordination and recognition of people," Scott said. "All the information gathered is aimed at lowering the risk of bringing in a sick child."
"We have realized that a lot of these medical problems can be solved, by good nutrition and physical therapy," added Paul Lesnik, a social worker with Adoption Source. And luck may play a role. The Erismans' baby is a perfect example. "We were told to expect him to be slow, to be behind in his shots," said Rick Erisman, "but he is so full of energy that he tires me out. He is just like any other regular kid around here, if not better."
Brought up in the regimental orphanage in Russia with numbers as identification tags, Cavan knows, even at his tender age, that every time he goes outdoors he has to have his hat on to protect his skin. "He is just too conscious of his schedule," said his father, "but he is also very conscious of when his mother comes back home and he runs to the door to meet her."
Judge Frees Iraqi Dissident Accused by U.S. of Spying
The San Francisco Chronicle
Los Angeles -- Calling charges of espionage ``ill- founded,'' an immigration judge set free Iraqi dissident yesterday who had been jailed for nearly four years based on secret government evidence suggesting he was a spy for a Middle Eastern country. Dr. Ali Yasin Mohammed Karim, 39, walked out of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Detention Center shortly after 3 p.m., accompanied by his brother and his attorneys. ``I was kept for four years by the USCIS for things I never heard about,'' said Karim. ``I am innocent, but I have paid a high price.'' Karim was part of a group of six dissidents evacuated from Iraq by the United States in March 1997 only to be jailed by the USCIS and threatened with deportation. The case against them was based on classified evidence kept secret from defense attorneys during immigration hearings in 1997 and
1998. After the information was released, five of the Iraqis accepted an offer to remain in Nebraska until they could relocate to another democratic country. Karim, however, decided to fight the charges and pressed his claim for political asylum. He was retried in April by U.S. Immigration Judge D.D. Sitgraves, who originally concluded that he was a national security
threat. In reversing her earlier decision, Sitgraves said that Karim ``has sufficiently demonstrated that the government's claims were ill-founded,'' and concluded that the screening process used by the FBI was insufficient and conducted by agents who had limited knowledge of Iraq and its people.