For all of our readers coming for the Somali story of the day (no, this is not Somali Watch!), I just wanted to note that the Infidel Blogger’s Alliance has pulled together a bunch of articles (many from RRW) on worldwide Somali activity. See their roundup here.
Category: Africa
U.S. attorney general orders asylum for victim of female genital mutilation
CNN reports:
The U.S. attorney general is trying to prevent immigration authorities from sending a Muslim woman to her home country, where she was a victim of female genital mutilation.
In a stinging order overriding federal immigration courts, Mukasey blasted a decision that said a 28-year-old citizen and native of Mali should be expelled “because her genitalia already had been mutilated [so] she had no basis to fear future persecution if returned to her home country.”
Calling the rationale “flawed,” Mukasey sent the case back to the Board of Immigration Appeals with orders to reconsider.
The woman, a native of Mali, begged the court not to send her back to her Bambara tribe.
The 28-year-old said if she returned and had a daughter, the child also would be subject to mutilation. The woman also said she faced forced marriage if she had to go home.
Several members of Congress — Reps. John Conyers, Zoe Lofgren and Sen. Patrick Leahy — had asked Mukasey to look into the matter after the court’s decision last January.
“Female genital mutilation is a gross violation of a woman’s human rights and has traditionally been grounds for the granting of an asylum claim,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, said in the letter.
This is always an easy call for government officials, who find the idea of genital mutilation stomach-turning, as any normal person would. The trouble is that the practice is widespread in certain countries of Africa and the Middle East. Any woman who makes it to America from such a country is therefore likely to get asylum. As with every refugee and asylum question, are we prepared to take all the women who want to come to America from these countries? NGOs and the UN are working in Africa to end the practice, with reported success. (Funny, I don’t hear about them working in the Arab countries of the Middle East. Maybe they wouldn’t get such an easy reception there.) If the members of Congress are really concerned about female genital mutilation, they should be supporting these efforts.
Hat tip to Bluelite Special.
Kenyan Somalis to be issued with passports for anywhere?
I’m bringing this news to you from a blog for Kenyan Somalis, therefore I can’t say for sure if this blogger knows what he is talking about. It seems that Kenyan Muslims are getting ready to go to Mecca in December but instead of getting restricted passports as in the past, they will be issued wide open passports.
I suppose this is one way to move along any malcontents who have taken up residence in Kenya.
Muslims travelling to Mecca for the Hajj will be issued with unrestricted passports valid for travel anywhere in the world, Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang’ has said.
In the past, pilgrims applying for passports were issued with travel documents valid for one year and restricted to the Middle East.
“The restriction imposed on passports issued to Muslims travelling for the Hajj shall be lifted. Consequently, they will be issued with travel documents valid for 10 years,” Mr Kajwang’ said.
He was speaking at his offices, where he held a meeting with officials of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem). The officials had an audience with the Minister to seek intervention to expedite the issuance of passports ahead of the annual pilgrimage in December. Supkem had complained the Government discriminated against Muslims seeking legal documents.
If this is true, it sure looks like the Kenyan government is saying, as it waves goodbye, “bon voyage!”
Egyptian policy: shoot African refugees
The Washington Post reports:
Egyptian security forces are killing an increasing number of Darfurian refugees and other African migrants attempting to cross from Egypt’s Sinai desert into Israel in pursuit of jobs and a better life, according to refugees, human rights groups and the Egyptian government.
Since the first recorded border killing in the summer of 2007, when Egyptian authorities announced a live-fire policy on the Sinai border, Egyptian security forces have shot dead at least 28 migrants as they left Egypt for Israel, the rights group Amnesty International said Thursday. Of those, the group said, 23 have been killed since January.
The shootings are illegal under international law because the refugees pose no threat, for the most part.
Refugee advocates blame Israel and the United States. Israel has been inundated with refugees from Africa, as we reported in February (Israel is overwhelmed with African refugees). It’s a tiny country, and has taken in thousands of refugees from Africa but can’t continue to accept the massive number that is trying to come in. So Israel asked Egypt to stop the flow into Israel. The article says that pressure, from Israel and the U.S. “led the Egyption government to adopt its live-fire policy — an assertion Israeli and U.S. officials deny.” Well, neither Israel nor the U.S. permits its forces to fire on migrants coming in illegally, so it’s highly unlikely they would have encouraged Egypt to shoot refugees. But never mind, everything is the fault of Israel and the United States.
Thoughts on that Greeley, CO news clip
Since I posted the link for that Greeley, CO news clip, I’ve been thinking about a couple of items in it.
Go here and watch it.
Note there is one Somali gleefully waving his dismissal notice and shouting “Africa.” We had a reader ask yesterday how did we define assimilation. Well, I would say this fellow is not assimilating too well. Nor were the 4 guys in a Greeley apartment (here) with nothing more than a folding table, a laptop computer, some papers, and a Somali flag on the wall working too hard at becoming upstanding American citizens.
And then, who is Graen Isse? He doesn’t look or sound like a Somali immigrant fresh off the boat (or a State Department funded flight). He looks and sounds like he is a “community organizer.” Does any one know how he came to be in Greeley?
How about the guy, with pretty good English, trying so hard to say it’s all about religious discrimination and skin color. Have these guys been trained or what!
Now, let’s all go pray in the lawn for the news cameras!
Let us know what else you find interesting in this film!