Can you believe it, the Washington Post finally reported yesterday on the African immigration fraud and the State Department’s suspension of the P-3 family reunification program worldwide! Reported in the Metro Section, and entitled “Torn asunder in war, then peace,” the story is your usual sob story about families that cannot be reunited because the big bad US government isn’t processing their papers.
We have reported on this story extensively here. The WaPo is inaccurate when it says the program was suspended six weeks ago, the suspension actually occurred in the spring and was originally reported in the Wall Street Journal here.
Refugee advocates are spouting the line they always spout about how the definition of family is different in Africa.
The problem with this scientific and legal approach, say refugee advocates, is that it does not always mesh with the culture in conflicted African countries, where children are often adopted informally, definitions of family are elastic and chaotic conditions often leave orphans or lost children in other people’s permanent care.
None of those commenting mentions a word about possible terrorists getting into the US through refugee resettlement, but this article mentions another aspect I hadn’t thought of, namely slavery and child trafficking.
The problem, they said, is that when DNA does not match, it is difficult to sort through the thicket of family histories and glean the truth, especially in turbulent societies with few government records.
“We are sympathetic, but when people lie about blood relationships, it raises fears that we may be facilitating child trafficking or that people are trying to bring in their servants,” the State Department official said.
This is one sob story in the WaPo that interested me.
Teshaye Teferra, director of the Ethiopian Community Development Council in Arlington County, told of one man who was forced to flee Ethiopia years ago. For years, he faithfully supported the girl he thought was his daughter, paying for her education and sending birthday gifts. But when he applied to bring her here recently, it turned out that their DNA did not match and the case was rejected.
Sounds to me he was planning to bring himself a young honey. I could be wrong but I believe I read that Teferra is related (brother maybe?) to Niki Tesfai who was indicted last year for defrauding the government and the refugees she was supposed to be helping in Los Angeles. I don’t know what happened to her case, but to anyone looking for an incredible anatomy of fraud story see this article.