Month: July 2008

South African refugees take guards hostage

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is an update on the South African troubles from earlier in the week from Johannesburg, the largest city in  the “rainbow nation.”   If you are a regular reader of this blog you may recall the recent riots in South Africa where South African blacks attacked and killed black multi-national African immigrants.  Those refugees are now in camps and being urged to register with the government.  But they refuse.

Police stormed a refugee camp today [July 17] in southern Johannesburg to release four security guards held hostage by foreign nationals displaced by the recent xenophobic violence in South Africa.

The tented “safety camp” in Johannesburg’s Glenanda suburb houses about 2,000 people from 16 African countries and was established in the wake of widespread xenophobic attacks that killed more than 60 people, injured hundreds more and displaced tens of thousands in May this year.

The residents have voluntarily divided the camp into sections according to nationality; people from the Democratic Republic of Congo, numbering about 700 people, are the dominant group.

I had to laugh!  Notice how the Reuters reporter can’t resist using the word “xenophobic”— twice within two paragraphs—they love that word.  Xenophobia is fear of foreigners, but if you look back at the cause of the original riots the black South Africans actually fear losing their jobs to these illegals who have flowed into South Africa drawn, no doubt, by the international reputation of South Africa as the “rainbow nation.”

Reread the last line of the quote above.  Residents of the camp have voluntarily divided themselves by nationality.  Multiculturalists take note!  This desire to live among your own kind is natural.

So why are the refugees refusing to register with the government.  Apparently the plan is for them to either be reintegrated into South African society or repatriated to their home countries and they want neither.   Instead they are aiming for the brass ring:

….. most people in the camp were hoping to be resettled in either Canada or Australia, so they were rejecting both reintegration in South Africa and repatriation to their country of origin.

[Sigh of relief!]  I guess that means the US is off the hook (at least for now)!

A kook and a bully introduce a bill to bring more Iraqis to the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and John Dingell (D-MI) re-introduced a bill this past week to increase by a minimum of 20,000 the number of Iraqi refugees we will bring to the US each year.  Now it’s not clear to me if this is 20,000 over the State Department’s 12,000 and over the additional 5000 Congress (Sen. Ted Kennedy) shoved down the Administration’s throat attached to the Defense Authorization bill earlier in the year.

Here is a portion of Hastings press release in which he thanks the groups who are supporting this effort.  NGO’s would get increased funding to do this work if the bill passes.

(Washington, D.C.) Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) and Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, lauded prominent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and religious groups for their support of the Iraqi Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement, and Security Act (H.R. 6496). The following organizations have endorsed this legislation: The Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict (CIVIC), Church World Service, Congregation of Divine Providence of San Antonio, Education for Peace in Iraq (EPIC), International Rescue Committee, the Leadership Conference on Women Religious, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Mercy Center, Mercy Corps, NETWORK, Open Society Policy Center, Pax Christi USA: National Catholic Peace Movement, the Presbyterian Church (USA), Refugees International, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Sisters of St. Joseph NW PA, and Save the Children.

Last night, Hastings and Dingell reintroduced H.R.6496, which addresses the impending humanitarian crisis and potential security break-down as a result of the mass influx of Iraqi refugees into neighboring countries, and the growing internally displaced population in Iraq, by increasing directed accountable assistance to these populations and their host countries as well as facilitating the resettlement of Iraqis at risk.

Read the bill (HR 6496) here (you will need to re-enter the bill number).   I couldn’t find any mention of how we could help refugees already returning to an increasingly stable Iraq.   I am such a cynic, but there is nothing in it for these groups if Iraqis go home.

And, as for the comment above that the internally displaced population is growing, where are they getting that information?

Refugees International: Bring the Iraqi Palestinians here now!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Refugees International an NGO (Non-governmental organization) that lobbies to bring more refugees to America is taking up the cause of Iraqi Palestinians caught at the border of Iraq.   The reason these Iraqi Palestinians were fleeing Iraq, according to a Brookings Institution report, is that they were favored by Saddam Hussein and he encouraged their residence in Iraq.  When Saddam met his fate, they fled their homes in an attempt to escape irate Iraqis who had been persecuted by Saddam’s regime.  In other words, it was payback, so don’t let them make you feel guilty, they were not fleeing American military action.

Recently a plan has developed to send 3000 of these Palestinian Iraqi refugees to Sudan—a decision which has really ticked off Refugees International and their ilk.   Bring them here they say: 

Approximately 34,000 stateless Palestinians have lived in Iraq since 2003. Since the beginning of U.S. military operations in Iraq, many suffered persecution at the hands of the Iraqi government and other armed groups. More than 3,000 fled to the Syrian-Iraqi border, where they live in makeshift tents in the desert with limited access to basic services. Syria refuses to allow them to enter its territory and only a few have been resettled, mostly to Sweden and Chile. Failure to act on the part of the U.S. government and other resettlement countries led UNHCR to sign a tripartite agreement with the PLO and the Government of Sudan that called for the relocation of this population to a neighborhood of Khartoum.

“We must not allow this vulnerable population to be used as pawns in a greater political game,” said Younes. “The U.S. government should acknowledge the vulnerability of this stateless population and resettle them here. It is appalling that Sudan, a country infamous for its violations of international humanitarian law, has stepped in to protect these people when the U.S. would not.”

To resettle this vulnerable population expeditiously, Refugees International urged the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration to create a special category to process refugee applications. Any process should be held without prejudice to the Palestinians’ right to return to their homeland.

Note that the PLO has been involved in this.  I would like to know why rich Arab countries like Saudi Arabia can’t begin to resettle Muslim refugees into their Muslim country.  Or why won’t Muslim Jordan and Syria let them in?

If we take any (we probably will) lets make sure, as Judy suggested the other day, that they go to cities like Berkeley, CA!  What the heck, put all 34,000 in a city that loves the Palestinian cause.  Maybe the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society could get the government contract to do the resettling.

Bill would make special immigrant visas available for Tibetans

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t been at this long enough—following refugee resettlement—so I don’t know if this is unusual.  Two Congressmen have introduced HR 6536 which would allow 3000 Tibetans to enter the US as refugees over the next 3 years.  See this news account.

Dharamsala, July 19: A bill to provide 3,000 immigrant visas to Tibetans has been introduced in the US House on Thursday.

U.S. Representatives George Miller (D-CA) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced the Tibetan Refugee Assistance Act on July 17 to provide 3,000 immigrant visas to long-staying Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal, according to a report by International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).

The Tibetan Refugee Assistance Act extends support by providing 3,000 immigrant visas to qualified Tibetans over a three year period, ICT’s report explained.

Why a special bill?   Each year the President determines what the ceiling will be for how many refugees will be admitted to the US, so it’s not clear to me whether bills like this one are attempts to add to the present ceiling of 80,000 for FY08, or are part of that 80,000.  It also strikes me that this is the State Department’s (really, the UN tells us) prerogative to choose which refugees we take and from where, and am now wondering if bills such as this are meant to tell the State Department what to do, or is it to stick a finger in China’s eye. 

A reminder to readers:  Refugees entering the US receive air fare loans, housing subsidies, food stamps, a case worker and other forms of welfare while immigrants entering the US through other means are basically on their own.  That is why there is such an interest in declaring someone a refugee.

HIV-positive immigrants will soon be on the way to a city near you

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some of you are asking what happened with the bill to open the door to HIV-positive immigrants.  Since I was away at the end of the week, I didn’t get all the details on final passage in the Senate of the $50 billion bill to provide funds to countries fighting HIV/AIDS and other diseases.  The bill passed the Senate with the section intact to lift the ban on HIV-positive immigrants to the US.   There are a few more legislative hoops, but last I heard it was on a fast track and expected to be signed by the President.

You can learn more (and get the gory details) about what happened by going to Blue Ridge Forum here.

If you are new to this topic, my previous posts are here and here.