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	<title>U.S. Role in the World</title>
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		<title>Iraq veterans launch humanitarian missions</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/iraq-veterans-launch-humanitarian-missions/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:25:27 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Iraq-related]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Three Iraq combat veterans from Colorado have launched themselves on a new kind of mission abroad: fighting poverty as civilians. Discharged this year from the Quebec Battery, 5th Battalion, 14th Regiment of the 4th Marine Division, a reserve unit based at Buckley Air Force Base, the three are devoting themselves to humanitarian aid projects in [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Three Iraq combat veterans from Colorado have launched themselves on a new kind of mission abroad: fighting poverty as civilians. Discharged this year from the Quebec Battery, 5th Battalion, 14th Regiment of the 4th Marine Division, a reserve unit based at Buckley Air Force Base, the three are devoting themselves to humanitarian aid projects in Asia and Africa. A fourth is setting up a domestic violence support service he will pursue when he leaves the Marine Corps. &#8220;After you&#8217;ve experienced the world at its worst, it seems to be a natural instinct to want to make it better,&#8221; said Cpl. Brenton Hutson, 24, a Wheat Ridge High School graduate who joined the military at age 17 and served in Ramadi and Fallujah in 2006 during the worst of Iraq&#8217;s sectarian war. National veterans group leaders say the jump from combat to humanitarian aid is becoming common as Americans return from war and want more than a comfortable domestic existence.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_13936798">Read More</a></p>
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		<title>Asylum-Seekers</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/asylum-seekers/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Oct 2007 22:04:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Counter-Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Refugees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brucefinley.com/uncategorized/asylum-seekers/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Tough rules delay cases Anti-terrorism efforts require stricter proof of persecution, including documents that can &#8220;reasonably&#8221; be obtained. Jailed and tortured in Ethiopia, Samuel Tafesa made it to Mexico, then waded across the Rio Grande into the United States. Now in Denver, he&#8217;s begging for asylum protection, claiming that Ethiopian police beat him with sticks [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Tough rules delay cases Anti-terrorism efforts require stricter proof of persecution, including documents that can &#8220;reasonably&#8221; be obtained.</strong></p>
<p>Jailed and tortured in Ethiopia, Samuel Tafesa made it to Mexico,<br />
then waded across the Rio Grande into the United States.</p>
<p>Now in Denver, he&#8217;s begging for asylum protection, claiming that<br />
Ethiopian police beat him with sticks on the bottoms of his feet<br />
and held his head under water, trying to coerce information about<br />
fellow members of an opposition political party.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m afraid to go back to Ethiopia,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If I go back,<br />
I&#8217;ll be killed.&#8221;</p>
<p>For Tafesa and tens of thousands of other asylum-seekers, sanctuary<br />
in America has become harder to attain. U.S. officials are<br />
subjecting them to increasingly rigorous scrutiny, government<br />
officials and legal experts say.</p>
<p>New anti-terrorism measures require stricter proof of persecution,<br />
including documents that can &#8220;reasonably&#8221; be obtained.</p>
<p>Tafesa, 22, called back to Ethiopia repeatedly, asking his mother<br />
to get what she can for his lawyer, Michael Litman.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s higher standard of proof makes cases more complex and<br />
prolongs them, with government attorneys sending documents to a<br />
Homeland Security forensics lab for testing.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have a tradition, but we want to make sure people seeking<br />
(asylum) have a rightful entitlement,&#8221; said Mike Everitt, a unit<br />
chief in the lab near Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>The new measures are contributing to a record immigration-court<br />
backlog &#8211; 3,370 cases pending in Denver, a third involving asylum,<br />
federal statistics show. That&#8217;s double Denver&#8217;s pending caseload<br />
six years ago.</p>
<p>Department of Justice officials said 166,200 cases are pending in<br />
immigration courts nationwide, including 33,194 in Los Angeles,<br />
8,546 in Chicago and 9,455 in Orlando, Fla. In 2000, 125,764 cases<br />
were pending.</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Overburdened&#8221; system</strong></p>
<p>Dana Marks, a sitting judge in California and president of the<br />
National Association of Immigration Judges, said dozens more judges<br />
are needed.</p>
<p>The system is &#8220;unbelievably overburdened,&#8221; squeezing judges&#8217;<br />
ability to make life-or-death decisions, Marks said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why are we treating the asylum system this way? If we pride<br />
ourselves in America for treating refugees right, why aren&#8217;t we<br />
providing resources to ensure they get prompt and fair treatment?&#8221;<br />
Marks said.</p>
<p>Now, fewer people are applying for asylum, though the reasons for<br />
the drop aren&#8217;t clear.</p>
<p>Some 54,452 applications were received last year in immigration<br />
courts, down from 74,627 in 2002 and 84,904 in 1997, records show.<br />
Adjudicators for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration<br />
Services, who often see asylum-seekers first, received 36,502<br />
applications last year, down from 65,201 in 2002 and 149,000 in<br />
1995, according to a senior USCIS official who spoke on condition<br />
of anonymity, in accordance with agency policy.</p>
<p>In Denver, about one in three cases handled is approved. Asylum<br />
experts say it&#8217;s too early to gauge whether the new standards for<br />
proof will change that percentage.</p>
<p>USCIS adjudicators approved 27 percent of cases they handled this<br />
year, down from 43 percent in 2001, according to the senior<br />
official. In immigration courts, stats show 23 percent of<br />
applications processed last year were approved, up from 20 percent<br />
in 2002.</p>
<p>Previously, asylum-seekers often were accepted solely on the basis<br />
of government &#8220;country condition&#8221; reports and testimony that<br />
judges found to be credible and persuasive.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s higher standards requiring documentation that could<br />
&#8220;reasonably&#8221; be obtained &#8220;change the burden of proof,&#8221; the<br />
official said. But &#8220;there&#8217;s still the allowance&#8221; that an<br />
applicant who can&#8217;t obtain documents can win asylum if deemed<br />
credible, he said.</p>
<p><strong>&#8220;Out of reach for many&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>One problem caused by the more frequent demand for documents is<br />
that hiring document and medical experts raises legal costs, said<br />
Regina Germain, legal director at the Rocky Mountain Survivors<br />
Center and author of a legal text on asylum law.</p>
<p>&#8220;I fear recent changes &#8230; could put asylum out of reach for many<br />
people who flee with little more than the clothes on their backs,&#8221;<br />
Germain said.</p>
<p>In Tafesa&#8217;s case, an Addis Ababa police document his mother sent<br />
says he was imprisoned for 17 days in 2005 for being a member of<br />
the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party. The document accuses<br />
him of involvement in &#8220;illegal demonstrations&#8221; and &#8220;promoting<br />
unhealthy propaganda and causing conflict of people against<br />
people.&#8221;</p>
<p>It says he was released from prison on the condition he cease all<br />
political activity and check in weekly, which he failed to do. It<br />
warns: &#8220;The police department will track you and your family<br />
down.&#8221;</p>
<p>The government is vetting those documents. His case is scheduled<br />
for a hearing in May.</p>
<p>Meantime, he works under a temporary permit, washing rental cars at<br />
Denver International Airport for $8.85 an hour that he uses mostly<br />
for legal fees.</p>
<p>His father and brother in Ethiopia have gone missing, and his<br />
6-year-old son, Mathais, is bewildered, Tafesa said before work<br />
Friday.</p>
<p>&#8220;He asks me: &#8216;Where are you?&#8217; I tell him I&#8217;ll be there one day,&#8221;<br />
Tafesa said. &#8220;What can I do?&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Citizenship Case Takes a New Twist</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/citizenship-case-takes-a-new-twist/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Sep 2007 22:27:19 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[New filings in the citizenship battle of a blind Palestinian computer whiz show that the FBI completed its background check a year ago but that Homeland Security officials then failed to rule as required under federal law. The government also has admitted it failed to comply fully with a federal judge&#8217;s order to turn over [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>New filings in the citizenship battle of a blind Palestinian<br />
computer whiz show that the FBI completed its background check a<br />
year ago but that Homeland Security officials then failed to rule<br />
as required under federal law.</p>
<p>The government also has admitted it failed to comply fully with a<br />
federal judge&#8217;s order to turn over the FBI background check<br />
results.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Walker Miller on Thursday reordered the<br />
government to provide full results of the FBI check on Colorado<br />
resident Zuhair Mahd &#8211; to be sealed and delivered by the end of<br />
next week.</p>
<p>Government lawyers say the FBI never reveals background-check<br />
results whether they are positive or negative. Revealing results<br />
&#8220;may interfere with ongoing law enforcement or national security<br />
investigations or interests,&#8221; according to U.S. Attorney Troy<br />
Eid&#8217;s latest filing.</p>
<p>Eid on Thursday said: &#8220;The government will comply with the court<br />
order.&#8221;</p>
<p>Department of Homeland Security citizenship spokesman Chris Bentley<br />
declined to comment on the delays.</p>
<p>The case has revealed irregularities in how the government carries<br />
out security checks on citizenship applicants under a system<br />
instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Mahd is among tens of<br />
thousands of applicants nationwide who have passed tests but have<br />
been left in limbo.</p>
<p>After applying for citizenship in September 2004 and passing tests<br />
three months later, Mahd waited and waited, told by citizenship<br />
officials that the FBI hadn&#8217;t completed his background check. In<br />
May 2006, he filed a lawsuit to force action and won this year when<br />
Miller ordered the FBI to complete the check in 45 days.</p>
<p>Then, citizenship officials rejected Mahd&#8217;s application after he<br />
refused to submit to an additional videotaped interview.</p>
<p>A computer expert who pioneered text-to-speech software, Mahd, 34,<br />
is representing himself. He was born totally blind to Palestinian<br />
refugees in Jordan and came to the United States as a teenager with<br />
the help of U.S. officials. He has worked for IBM and on government<br />
contracts, living in the country legally for 17 years.</p>
<p>Judge Miller has asked government lawyers why Mahd shouldn&#8217;t be<br />
naturalized immediately.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney Eid has argued Miller doesn&#8217;t have jurisdiction.<br />
Federal judges once handled citizenship cases, but this duty was<br />
transferred in the 1990s to the Department of Justice in an effort<br />
to unburden courts.</p>
<p>U.S. immigration law says, however, that if applications of<br />
immigrants who pass citizenship tests aren&#8217;t handled in 120 days,<br />
the applicants can go to federal court and ask judges to decide.</p>
<p>Mahd said he&#8217;s bewildered to learn the FBI check has been done for<br />
a year. He has appealed the denial.</p>
<p>&#8220;For all I know, they think I&#8217;m a heinous criminal or a<br />
mischievous person. I&#8217;d like to clear this,&#8221; he said.</p>
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		<title>Feds Get Judicial Scolding</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/feds-get-judicial-scolding/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:51:08 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Judge exasperated at new delays in immigrant&#8217;s citizenship quest Zuhair Mahd, a blind Palestinian computer programmer, has been in the U.S. legally for 17 years and passed his citizenship test in 2004. A federal judge bristled with what he called &#8220;sheer disbelief&#8221; at the government&#8217;s failure to follow his order in the case of a [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Judge exasperated at new delays in immigrant&#8217;s citizenship quest </strong></p>
<p><strong>Zuhair Mahd, a blind Palestinian computer programmer, has been in the U.S. legally for 17 years and passed his citizenship test in 2004.</strong></p>
<p>A federal judge bristled with what he called &#8220;sheer disbelief&#8221; at<br />
the government&#8217;s failure to follow his order in the case of a blind<br />
Palestinian immigrant stalled in his quest for citizenship.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Walker Miller ordered federal authorities to<br />
produce proof of an FBI background check of Colorado-based computer<br />
expert Zuhair Mahd within 10 days.</p>
<p>Then, Miller said, he&#8217;ll decide whether he will rule on Mahd&#8217;s<br />
long-delayed citizenship application &#8211; rather than leave it to the<br />
Department of Homeland Security.</p>
<p>&#8220;This man&#8217;s been waiting since 2004,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;This man has<br />
rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>The federal court action Friday in Denver gave a glimpse into what<br />
have become widespread problems in the government&#8217;s<br />
background-check program for all citizenship applicants to guard<br />
against terrorism, started after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.</p>
<p>Last month, Miller ordered the government to prove why Mahd<br />
&#8220;should not be immediately naturalized.&#8221; In March, he ordered the<br />
FBI to complete Mahd&#8217;s background check within 45 days &#8211; after Mahd<br />
filed a federal lawsuit.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney Troy Eid notified Miller that the check was done,<br />
with results forwarded to immigration officials, yet no<br />
documentation had been given to the court.</p>
<p>On Friday before Judge Miller, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth<br />
Weishaupl argued that the judge has no jurisdiction to handle this<br />
case.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have the jurisdiction to determine whether my order has been<br />
followed,&#8221; Miller said.</p>
<p>&#8220;What you are saying is: &#8216;You have to have a name check.&#8217; But then<br />
there&#8217;s nothing to show whether it&#8217;s been done. &#8230; I am not<br />
satisfied,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Eid later issued a written statement: &#8220;We are confident that the<br />
FBI completed the name check within the time frame mandated by the<br />
court, and we look forward to proving this fact to the judge.&#8221;</p>
<p>Federal judges rarely rule on citizenship applications. In the<br />
early 1990s, that responsibility was transferred to immigration<br />
officials overseen by the Department of Justice so that courts<br />
wouldn&#8217;t be bogged down.</p>
<p>But now immigration cases increasingly end up back in federal<br />
court. Judges nationwide face multiplying cases filed by<br />
citizenship applicants who have passed tests &#8211; but still aren&#8217;t<br />
approved. The FBI is struggling to process hundreds of thousands of<br />
background checks.</p>
<p>U.S. law says immigrants who pass citizenship tests must have their<br />
cases handled in 120 days. Otherwise, applicants can go to court<br />
and ask judges to decide.</p>
<p>Mahd, 33, who has legally been in the U.S. for 17 years, passed his<br />
citizenship test in December 2004.</p>
<p>He was born blind to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, and came to<br />
the United States as a teenager with the help of U.S. officials. A<br />
computer programmer, he has worked for IBM and on government<br />
contacts, pioneering Arabic text-to-speech software.</p>
<p>After Mahd won his case compelling the FBI and Homeland Security to<br />
handle his application, immigration officials demanded that he<br />
provide additional documents and submit to videotaped interviews.</p>
<p>Mahd at first refused, saying he feared a fishing expedition. He<br />
asked agents to explain why the additional demands were legally<br />
justified.</p>
<p>In June, he complied and presented four years of tax records,<br />
travel documents, employment data back to 1998 and more. He still<br />
refused to be interviewed. This month, his application was denied.</p>
<p>Mahd has appealed that denial within Homeland Security&#8217;s<br />
immigration system.</p>
<p>On Friday, Judge Miller said he wanted to see certified background<br />
check results, not merely a declaration that the FBI check has been<br />
done.</p>
<p>If the background check involves matters of national security,<br />
Miller said, he will review the documents in his office.</p>
<p>Mahd, as a self-represented noncitizen, would not be able to attend<br />
that meeting.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m confident the judge would evaluate this properly,&#8221; he said<br />
Friday.</p>
<p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Weishaupl told Miller she needed to have<br />
his request for background-check documentation in writing.</p>
<p>&#8220;You will note, of course, the irony of you wanting something in<br />
writing,&#8221; Miller said, assuring her it would be done in the<br />
tradition of open government.</p>
<p>&#8220;I have no hesitation to put my orders in writing for all to<br />
see,&#8221; he said.</p>
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		<title>Feds Block Citizenship of Suit Plaintiff</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/feds-block-citizenship-of-suit-plaintiff/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Aug 2007 22:39:05 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[IN LIMBO THREE YEARS A blind computer expert who passed his citizenship test in &#8217;04 recently won a suit forcing his background check&#8217;s completion. The government began a last-ditch effort to deny citizenship for a blind Palestinian computer whiz in Colorado who recently won a lawsuit forcing the FBI to complete his long-stalled security background [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>IN LIMBO THREE YEARS </strong></p>
<p><strong>A blind computer expert who passed his citizenship test in &#8217;04 recently won a suit forcing his background check&#8217;s completion.</strong></p>
<p>The government began a last-ditch effort to deny citizenship for a<br />
blind Palestinian computer whiz in Colorado who recently won a<br />
lawsuit forcing the FBI to complete his long-stalled security<br />
background check.</p>
<p>Homeland Security officials now have blocked Zuhair Mahd&#8217;s<br />
three-year citizenship quest because he wouldn&#8217;t submit to<br />
additional interviews after the FBI check was done, said Robert<br />
Mather, Denver district director of U.S. Citizenship and<br />
Immigration Services.</p>
<p>&#8220;We weren&#8217;t able to move forward with an approval process because<br />
we didn&#8217;t have all the information we requested,&#8221; Mather said in<br />
an interview.</p>
<p>This denial escalates a standoff that already had spun out of the<br />
immigration system into federal court &#8211; where judges nationwide<br />
increasingly face cases of citizenship applicants who passed tests<br />
but still aren&#8217;t approved.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Walker Miller in Denver last week ordered the<br />
government to prove why Mahd &#8220;should not be immediately<br />
naturalized.&#8221; A hearing is set for Aug. 31.</p>
<p>Federal judges rarely grant citizenship. But U.S. law says<br />
immigrants who pass citizenship tests must have their cases handled<br />
in 120 days. Otherwise, applicants can go to court and ask judges<br />
to decide.</p>
<p>Mahd, 33, who has been in the U.S. legally for 17 years, passed his<br />
citizenship test in December 2004.</p>
<p>Born blind to Palestinian immigrants in Jordan, he came to the<br />
country as a teenager with the help of U.S. officials. Today he<br />
works for the University of Colorado helping a blind engineering<br />
graduate student adapt.</p>
<p>He worked previously for IBM and on government contracts.</p>
<p>He said that he&#8217;s been forthcoming with immigration officials who<br />
this year, long after their 120-day deadline, demanded that he<br />
provide additional documents and submit to a videotaped interview.<br />
At first, he refused but then in June complied and presented four<br />
years&#8217; worth of tax records, travel documents, employment data back<br />
to 1998, and more. But he still refused to be interviewed,<br />
according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and his<br />
application was denied.</p>
<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re not entitled to the interview or the documents. The<br />
documents were provided as a goodwill gesture,&#8221; Mahd said.</p>
<p>&#8220;They were going to deny (the application), no matter what I did<br />
or didn&#8217;t do. All they are doing is buying time and splitting<br />
hairs, and I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s good for any of us.&#8221;</p>
<p>Miller on March 22 ordered the FBI to complete Mahd&#8217;s stalled<br />
background check after Mahd filed a federal lawsuit on his own &#8211;<br />
his first legal case.</p>
<p>This case set a regional precedent as the FBI grapples with a<br />
growing backlog of 440,000 uncompleted background security checks,<br />
which were instituted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to guard<br />
against terrorism.</p>
<p>Prosecutors on Tuesday asked Miller to cancel this month&#8217;s hearing,<br />
arguing that the government has obeyed his order.</p>
<p>Mahd&#8217;s application &#8220;has been denied,&#8221; U.S. attorney spokesman<br />
Jeff Dorschner said. &#8220;He needs to now go through the process of<br />
appealing that denial&#8221; with immigration officials.</p>
<p>Mahd said he would prefer to rely on Judge Miller in federal court.<br />
Government officials &#8220;have broken a law, and they&#8217;re acting in a<br />
vindictive manner,&#8221; Mahd said.</p>
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		<title>Adjusting to America in a New Land, New Challenges</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/adjusting-to-america-in-a-new-land-new-challenges/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:03:53 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Refugees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/adjusting-to-america-in-a-new-land-new-challenges/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Refugees from Myanmar, formerly barred from the U.S. for opposing the regime there, are settling in Denver. But they need help crossing a wide cultural gap. Running shoeless and wading neck-deep through jungle rivers to evade Myanmar&#8217;s military dictatorship enraged her. But sitting in Denver&#8217;s jail for seven hours, hearing the sobs of a cellmate [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Refugees from Myanmar, formerly barred from the U.S. for opposing the regime there, are settling in Denver. But they need help crossing a wide cultural gap.</strong></p>
<p>Running shoeless and wading neck-deep through jungle rivers to<br />
evade Myanmar&#8217;s military dictatorship enraged her.</p>
<p>But sitting in Denver&#8217;s jail for seven hours, hearing the sobs of a<br />
cellmate and knowing only of a world where authorities torture and<br />
kill prisoners, refugee Always Ways, 37, doubted that America would<br />
be better.</p>
<p>&#8220;I just prayed I&#8217;d be released,&#8221; she said, speaking through an<br />
interpreter.</p>
<p>Her detention &#8211; after police found her toddler son roaming as<br />
village children do &#8211; illustrates the bewildering cross-cultural<br />
challenge she and other tribal refugees from Myanmar face as they<br />
adapt to an alien U.S. culture that revolves around technology and<br />
money.</p>
<p>After years of rejecting refugees from Myanmar out of concern they<br />
supported terrorists, the U.S. government recently began resettling<br />
thousands in cities nationwide &#8211; including about 200 in Denver.</p>
<p>This latest wave of newcomers who speak no English and need help<br />
with everything from food stamps to riding buses has resettlement<br />
agencies, on contract with the government, scrambling to meld the<br />
traditional and modern. Denver is regarded as comfortable for<br />
refugees based on experience with the Hmong, facilities such as the<br />
Rocky Mountain Survivors Center and a robust economy.</p>
<p>Yet social workers here are hampered by a lack of interpreters who<br />
speak Karen and other tribal languages.</p>
<p>Isolated from one another in scattered low-income housing, refugees<br />
accustomed to cooking with charcoal and fetching water from streams<br />
struggle with taps, electric stoves, and TV images of sex and<br />
murder.</p>
<p>They&#8217;re told they can receive free food for 90 days, but wait for<br />
weeks as caseworkers try to arrange these benefits. Job interviews<br />
at hotels and casinos often stall on the language barrier. Doctors<br />
facing refugees and their children often aren&#8217;t sure what they<br />
need.</p>
<p>One family fell deeply in debt after an auto dealer gave generous<br />
financing for a fully loaded van. Children brace for<br />
misunderstanding at schools. At one, teachers struggled just to<br />
identify a girl awaiting class whom they wrongly assumed spoke<br />
Korean.</p>
<p>A father working in a foam factory was left brain-damaged after an<br />
accident.</p>
<p>&#8220;My friend call me: &#8216;Help me! Help me!&#8217; I go to the machine. The<br />
machine hurt my head,&#8221; said Tar Pine, 51, now living in an Arvada<br />
head-injury care facility with a dent in his skull.</p>
<p>Distraught to be raising three kids without him, Tar Pine&#8217;s wife,<br />
Dah Doh Moo, 47, recently wrecked the family car. &#8220;I saw the red<br />
light, but I didn&#8217;t remember to stop.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now she nurses a bruised chest, tries to counsel other refugees by<br />
telephone and reminisces of her simpler days fighting Burmese<br />
forces with a U.S.-made M-16 rifle as a member of the Karen National Liberation Army,<br />
or KNLA.</p>
<p>&#8220;We just protect our Karen people. Never do any terrorism. &#8230; We<br />
want Americans to know we are not terror people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Her mother, Bheir, 87, waters backyard garden vegetables, telling<br />
stories of &#8220;crying every day&#8221; in what is now Myanmar during World<br />
War II, when she helped British soldiers fighting Japanese<br />
occupiers.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been in trouble my whole life. It got better here in<br />
America,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But a lot of problems here, too.&#8221;</p>
<p>For two decades, ethnic minority refugees from Texas-sized Myanmar<br />
(population 48 million) have been fleeing to escape abuse, forced<br />
labor, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and death at the<br />
hands of the nation&#8217;s Chinese-backed military regime. Myanmar is<br />
the name adopted by the current government, which suspended the<br />
nation&#8217;s constitution in 1988, though the U.S. government and the<br />
Karen still refer to the nation as Burma.</p>
<p>Congress last week voted to extend economic sanctions against<br />
Myanmar.</p>
<p><strong>Bending post-9/11 laws</strong></p>
<p>Today, hundreds of thousands of Karen and other refugees languish<br />
in crowded camps just across the Myanmar-Thailand border.<br />
International resettlement efforts began in 2005.</p>
<p>But U.S. officials at first rejected these refugees because of<br />
provisions in the post-9/11 USA Patriot and Real ID Acts that deny<br />
resettlement to those who helped armed groups. Myanmar has charged<br />
that the KLNA and another group, which have been battling for<br />
independence for almost 60 years, are responsible for terrorist<br />
acts, including a pair of bus bombings in June that killed 27<br />
travelers.</p>
<p>A year ago, U.S. officials waived the rules and agreed to resettle<br />
up to 15,000 even if they did support armed groups.</p>
<p>&#8220;Few people are suggesting that terrorists might lurk&#8221; among<br />
refugees from this region, said Paul Stein, state refugee<br />
coordinator in Colorado.</p>
<p>U.S. security officials &#8220;have gone a little bit overboard because<br />
the definition of &#8216;terrorist group&#8217; is so broad,&#8221; said Rachel<br />
O&#8217;Hara, director of refugee resettlement and employment for the<br />
U.S. Committee for Refugees, an advocacy group.</p>
<p>U.S. officials &#8220;have said the government of Burma is committing<br />
atrocities, and yet we term those who fight that government<br />
terrorists? It just doesn&#8217;t make any sense,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p><strong>Bridging cultural chasm</strong></p>
<p>For Always Ways and her five children, one of them a disabled<br />
8-year-old boy, just leaving her apartment is scary.</p>
<p>First she got shaken down in the hall by a big man for money.</p>
<p>Then one day, when she went to talk with other refugees, police<br />
picked up her 3-year-old, Tah Paw Kwa. He&#8217;d left the apartment and<br />
was exploring other buildings. The officer handed her a ticket with<br />
a court date Ways couldn&#8217;t comprehend. Children wander constantly<br />
in her home village and Thai camps. Why not in Denver?</p>
<p>When she failed to show up in court, police came to arrest her with<br />
handcuffs. Ways panicked, collapsed and was taken to an emergency<br />
room &#8211; then jail.</p>
<p>A resettlement caseworker and members of a newly formed Colorado<br />
Burma Roundtable Network negotiated her release.</p>
<p>Ways now laughs at her misunderstanding, embarrassed. The arrival<br />
of her mother and sister last month may free her to study English<br />
at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School.</p>
<p>Such cases consume de facto community leader Rocky Martin, 47, a<br />
Karen-speaking sushi chef who escaped Myanmar a decade ago. He<br />
translates for refugees, warns them about credit cards, escorts<br />
them to emergency rooms and arranges gatherings at a church where<br />
the Karen hold Christian services in downtown Denver.</p>
<p>&#8220;In jungle, we scared. &#8230; We were raped, tortured and killed<br />
because the government people hate the Karen people,&#8221; Martin<br />
said.</p>
<p>&#8220;In the jungle, they can kill the Karen people. But they cannot<br />
kill the soul,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Here in the United States, good place<br />
to live. But we have to take care of our spiritual welfare. We have<br />
to fight for our soul.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>New Paperwork Sought in Fight for Citizenship</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/new-paperwork-sought-in-fight-for-citizenship/</link>
					<comments>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/new-paperwork-sought-in-fight-for-citizenship/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:01:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/new-paperwork-sought-in-fight-for-citizenship/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[A standoff between a blind Palestinian computer whiz seeking citizenship and the government intensified Thursday when Homeland Security officials asked him to submit additional tax, employment, passport and other documents before the FBI completes a background check. Zuhair Mahd refused, calling it unjustified legal fishing. A federal judge last week ruled that the government has [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A standoff between a blind Palestinian computer whiz seeking<br />
citizenship and the government intensified Thursday when Homeland<br />
Security officials asked him to submit additional tax, employment,<br />
passport and other documents before the FBI completes a background<br />
check.</p>
<p>Zuhair Mahd refused, calling it unjustified legal fishing.</p>
<p>A federal judge last week ruled that the government has violated<br />
federal rules in handling Mahd&#8217;s case and ordered FBI and<br />
immigration officials to complete the process.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s been no transparency in this process, and that&#8217;s what<br />
scares me,&#8221; Mahd said after meeting with an immigration agent.</p>
<p>&#8220;I want to be forthcoming. I have nothing to hide. But I get<br />
suspicious,&#8221; said Mahd, who has lived in the country legally for<br />
17 years.</p>
<p>Federal officials said they have the right to investigate further.</p>
<p>Mahd&#8217;s case &#8220;certainly has been complicated&#8221; by his refusal to<br />
submit more information, said Chris Bentley, spokesman for U.S.<br />
Citizenship &amp; Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security.</p>
<p>The order from U.S. District Judge Walker Miller gives the FBI 45<br />
days to complete a background check and then 45 days for<br />
immigration officials to make a decision.</p>
<p>Court records show Mahd passed an interview and written tests<br />
required for citizenship in 2004. FBI agents later interviewed him<br />
twice.</p>
<p>Federal law says immigrants who pass citizenship tests must be<br />
granted citizenship in 120 days.</p>
<p>When Mahd&#8217;s quest for citizenship never moved forward, he finally<br />
sued the government and won the order from Miller.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney Troy Eid is weighing whether to appeal Miller&#8217;s<br />
ruling.</p>
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		<title>Closer to the Oath</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/closer-to-the-oath/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:46:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[Ruling may speed up FBI security checks for local Palestinian and other aspiring citizens. A blind Palestinian computer whiz in Denver fought the FBI and Department of Homeland Security without a lawyer &#8211; and won. Now his case may help force the FBI to expedite background checks on aspiring citizens. U.S. District Judge Walker Miller [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Ruling may speed up FBI security checks for local Palestinian and other aspiring citizens.</strong></p>
<p>A blind Palestinian computer whiz in Denver fought the FBI and<br />
Department of Homeland Security without a lawyer &#8211; and won. Now his<br />
case may help force the FBI to expedite background checks on<br />
aspiring citizens.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Walker Miller has ordered the FBI to complete a<br />
stalled background check within 45 days for Zuhair Mahd, 33, who<br />
passed all U.S. citizenship tests in 2004 but still couldn&#8217;t get<br />
sworn in.</p>
<p>Miller ruled that federal officials violated their own rules in<br />
handling Mahd&#8217;s case. The order last week in Mahd&#8217;s self-filed<br />
lawsuit set a regional precedent for dozens of similar lawsuits by<br />
mostly Muslim citizenship applicants pending in federal court. It<br />
adds to pressure from federal judges around the country who are<br />
demanding that the FBI complete the security checks &#8211; instituted<br />
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to guard against terrorism &#8211; in a<br />
timely manner. Court records show the FBI faces a growing backlog<br />
of 440,000 uncompleted checks.</p>
<p>&#8220;I would hope I&#8217;ve inspired people to take their cases forward,<br />
speak out, and realize they can trust the legal system and feel<br />
vindicated,&#8221; Mahd said Wednesday at an apartment where he&#8217;s<br />
staying in Aurora.</p>
<p>Immigrants often &#8220;don&#8217;t even know they can seek judicial relief&#8221;<br />
when their applications are stalled, he said. Part of his<br />
motivation was &#8220;wanting to be sure I&#8217;m not living an illusion in a<br />
country that claims to be democratic but really isn&#8217;t.&#8221;</p>
<p>This was Mahd&#8217;s first legal case. Born totally blind to Palestinian<br />
refugees in Jordan, Mahd endured poverty and rejection as a<br />
teenager before finding a banker who, with the help of U.S.<br />
officials, bought him a ticket to Boston. Mahd graduated from U.S.<br />
schools, then pioneered Arabic text-to-speech software working for<br />
IBM and as an independent contractor interested in government<br />
business.</p>
<p>FBI officials &#8220;respect the court&#8217;s ruling,&#8221; spokesman Paul<br />
Bresson said from Washington. &#8220;We will continue to evaluate ways<br />
to improve our ability to process these name checks in a more<br />
expeditious manner.&#8221;</p>
<p>Delays are caused by &#8220;the sheer volume of names submitted&#8221; by<br />
multiple government agencies &#8211; about 3 million a year, Bresson<br />
said. &#8220;Every name is processed thoroughly. We have never<br />
sacrificed security in any way.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>   FBI could appeal ruling</strong></p>
<p>Today, Madh plans to ride the bus to a hearing with immigration<br />
officials that was scheduled before he won his lawsuit. Mary<br />
Mischke, acting Denver district director for U.S. Citizenship and<br />
Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security, had asked him to<br />
present more &#8220;evidence,&#8221; including tax records, travel documents<br />
and a driver&#8217;s license.</p>
<p>Mahd said he&#8217;s hoping the judge&#8217;s order will mean his citizenship<br />
now will be approved.</p>
<p>But immigration officials &#8220;can&#8217;t do anything until we get a clear<br />
record from the FBI,&#8221; immigration spokeswoman Maria Elena<br />
Garcia-Upson said. &#8220;We owe that to the American public.&#8221;</p>
<p>Immigration officials &#8220;are reviewing&#8221; Judge Miller&#8217;s order,<br />
Garcia-Upson said, declining to comment further.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney Troy Eid in Colorado, whose office defended the FBI<br />
and Homeland Security against Mahd, is weighing whether to appeal,<br />
his spokesman Jeff Dorschner said.</p>
<p>Federal law says immigrants who pass citizenship tests must be<br />
granted citizenship in 120 days. That&#8217;s the law Mahd cited in the<br />
legal case he prepared on his home computer.</p>
<p>Court records show immigration officials twice asked the FBI to<br />
complete Mahd&#8217;s case.</p>
<p>The system clearly is broken, and federal court orders like the one<br />
in Denver should force &#8220;an improvement in security,&#8221; said Crystal<br />
Williams, deputy director of the American Immigration Lawyers<br />
Association.</p>
<p>&#8220;If there is something wrong with this guy, the judge has ordered<br />
(FBI and immigration officials) to find out once and for all what<br />
it is. If there isn&#8217;t anything wrong, then the FBI must clear him.</p>
<p>&#8220;Federal officials have let this build up, and it&#8217;s only going to<br />
build up more if they don&#8217;t address it. The FBI needs more<br />
resources to do these checks. And they need to focus them more.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Quest to be Citizen Slows</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/us-role-in-the-world/quest-to-be-citizen-slows/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Dec 2006 23:48:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Immigrants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[FBI SUED OVER DELAYS Muslim immigrants often wait years for a background check to become Americans. But officials say they&#8217;re not being singled out. Zuhair Mahd of Denver made all the right moves to become a U.S. citizen after escaping poverty and rejection as a blind Palestinian-refugee teenager in Jordan. He found a banker to [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>FBI SUED OVER DELAYS </strong></p>
<p><strong>Muslim immigrants often wait years for a background check to become Americans. But officials say they&#8217;re not being singled out.</strong></p>
<p>Zuhair Mahd of Denver made all the right moves to become a U.S.<br />
citizen after escaping poverty and rejection as a blind<br />
Palestinian-refugee teenager in Jordan.</p>
<p>He found a banker to buy him a ticket to Boston. He excelled in<br />
U.S. schools. He pioneered Arabic text-to-speech software and<br />
worked for IBM, honing skills that recruiters for the CIA and other<br />
agencies covet for the war on terrorism.</p>
<p>Then he applied for citizenship, passed the tests and waited for an<br />
FBI background check.</p>
<p>And waited. And waited.</p>
<p>After waiting for two years, Mahd, 33, sued the FBI.</p>
<p>Now his case is pending in federal court along with hundreds of<br />
other lawsuits nationwide by Muslims who made the grade to become<br />
citizens but have been delayed while waiting for FBI checks for up<br />
to five years.</p>
<p>Applicants for U.S. citizenship come from many nations and<br />
cultures, but most of the lawsuits filed recently in Colorado<br />
involve Muslim immigrants.</p>
<p>Federal law says immigrants who pass citizenship tests must be<br />
granted citizenship in 120 days.</p>
<p>The lawsuits are getting results. An internal government memo<br />
indicates suing can accelerate FBI action.</p>
<p>Yet the core problem is getting worse: a mounting FBI backlog of<br />
unfinished background checks as the nation seeks greater protection<br />
against terrorism. Today&#8217;s backlog tops 440,000.</p>
<p>FBI officials won&#8217;t say how many of those waiting for background<br />
checks are Muslims but insist that the agency is not targeting any<br />
particular group.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is a backlog,&#8221; Special Agent Jeff Lanza said at FBI<br />
headquarters in Washington. &#8220;We&#8217;re not using &#8216;backlog&#8217; as a<br />
euphemism for discriminating against Muslims.&#8221;</p>
<p>After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the government began<br />
requiring FBI background checks on all immigrants poised to become<br />
citizens, increasing the FBI&#8217;s workload to about</p>
<p>4 million checks a year. The checks are seen as essential to weed<br />
out terrorists.</p>
<p>Now these very delays are raising security concerns. People whose<br />
names trigger computer &#8220;hits&#8221; against federal databases remain in<br />
the country for years.</p>
<p>&#8220;If there are concerns about these people, why are we just letting<br />
them sit here?&#8221; said Crystal Williams, deputy director of the<br />
American Immigration Lawyers Association, a pro-immigration group<br />
in Washington.</p>
<p>&#8220;This system isn&#8217;t working &#8230; and nobody&#8217;s taking responsibility,&#8221;<br />
Williams said.</p>
<p>The delays also foster ill will &#8211; just as the U.S. government<br />
launches a new campaign to persuade more eligible immigrants to<br />
apply for citizenship. Record numbers choose not to apply.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is injurious in so many ways. You&#8217;re sitting here, singled<br />
out, hanging, with no indication why it&#8217;s taking so long,&#8221;<br />
Jordanian immigrant Mahd said last week during a defense industry<br />
job fair in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>There, a recruiter who initially was eager to hire him balked when<br />
he learned Mahd still lacked the citizenship required for security<br />
clearances.</p>
<p>FBI agents twice visited him at home in Denver, he said, asking if<br />
he&#8217;d be willing to work as an informant or monitor online chat<br />
rooms for anything suspicious.</p>
<p>&#8220;I told them I&#8217;m not willing to fill in the blanks when I don&#8217;t<br />
know the full story,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Why the delay? What did I do?&#8221;</p>
<p>Hundreds of lawsuits against the FBI and Department of Homeland<br />
Security are pending in federal courts nationwide, including<br />
class-action cases in California, Illinois and New York, according<br />
to judicial records and attorneys.</p>
<p>The lawsuits ask judges to order completion of background checks &#8211;<br />
or waive the checks &#8211; so that citizenship is granted within 120<br />
days as required.</p>
<p>In Colorado, 31 of the lawsuits have been filed this year. At least<br />
10 cases recently were settled, with the FBI agreeing to expedite<br />
checks, presumably encouraging more lawsuits. At least 21 cases by<br />
26 plaintiffs are pending, and federal attorneys report a couple of<br />
new lawsuits filed every week.</p>
<p>Colorado Muslim leaders warn that citizenship delays feed a<br />
deepening discontent.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you want people to be good citizens, you have to make them<br />
feel welcome, not discriminated against,&#8221; said Colorado Muslim<br />
Society Imam Ammar Amonette at Denver&#8217;s Abu Bakr mosque.</p>
<p>Some of those delayed for citizenship have served the U.S. military<br />
as translators in Iraq.</p>
<p>Training Iraq-bound U.S. soldiers at Fort Carson, Iraqi refugee<br />
Sattar Khdir, 52, a father of two who needs citizenship to join the<br />
soldiers in battle, said he feels &#8220;ashamed. I&#8217;m sitting, eating<br />
with the TV, seeing U.S. troops getting killed helping my<br />
people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Khdir begged FBI and immigration officials repeatedly for a year to<br />
finish his case &#8211; &#8220;Why don&#8217;t you let me go?&#8221; &#8211; before hiring an<br />
attorney this fall.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is extremely unfair,&#8221; said Denver lawyer Jihad Muhaisen,<br />
whose firm has filed more than 15 lawsuits. Government lawyers<br />
swiftly arranged expedited checks in each case settled so far,<br />
Muhaisen said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, citizenship applications for non-Arab clients &#8220;go<br />
through&#8221; without delay, he said. &#8220;If (Muslims) qualified for<br />
citizenship, they should get citizenship.&#8221;</p>
<p>A Department of Homeland Security memo reveals that the FBI now<br />
considers a &#8220;lawsuit pending in Federal Court&#8221; as grounds for<br />
speeding up stalled background checks.</p>
<p>FBI agents say they&#8217;re working as fast as they can. Lawsuits won&#8217;t<br />
intimidate anyone into doing sloppy work, said FBI Special Agent in<br />
Charge Richard Powers in Denver. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to do it right,<br />
because in some cases to make an error could be grievous. &#8230;<br />
Certainly, security is an issue,&#8221; Powers said.</p>
<p>Suing the government &#8220;is an unfortunate way to try to resolve what<br />
is a system that generally works at a very high capacity,&#8221; he<br />
said.</p>
<p>Frustrations in Denver reached the point last week that Muslim<br />
community leaders, with Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman acting as<br />
a bridge, visited FBI offices. Powers met with the delegation,<br />
explaining how checks are done.</p>
<p>Computers at FBI headquarters cross-check names against multiple<br />
databases. Some 62,000 names a week are sent electronically for<br />
background checks. Nearly half are immigrants who have qualified<br />
for citizenship; 85 percent of the checks are completed within<br />
three days.</p>
<p>The problem: Names that trigger computer hits require agents to<br />
ferret out data that may span the globe.</p>
<p>Demand to do more checks is growing. In 2001, the FBI faced<br />
requests to conduct 2.8 million name checks. Last year, the<br />
requests topped 3.3 million.</p>
<p>Federal officials say the backlog is growing as well.</p>
<p>Homeland Security officials recently began refusing to schedule<br />
citizenship interviews and tests for anyone until FBI checks are<br />
complete &#8211; an effort to reduce the government&#8217;s legal exposure.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the government is struggling to reverse what Congress<br />
and others have identified as a worrying trend: More than 7 million<br />
immigrants eligible for citizenship haven&#8217;t applied.</p>
<p>The government just launched a $6.5 million &#8220;Americanization&#8221;<br />
campaign to encourage more eligible immigrants to become citizens,<br />
said Alfonso Aguilar, Homeland Security&#8217;s chief of citizenship.</p>
<p>&#8220;Until now, we&#8217;ve kind of taken assimilation for granted. The<br />
truth is, we&#8217;ve come to the point that Congress and the<br />
administration realize we need to strengthen our assimilation<br />
efforts. If we don&#8217;t, we could have a problem&#8221; with lack of unity<br />
in the future, Aguilar said.</p>
<p>&#8220;You cannot preserve a stable democracy if your people aren&#8217;t<br />
united by common values.&#8221;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, government lawyers say they increasingly are diverted<br />
from fighting crime to defending the FBI.</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid estimated that for the amount<br />
of time his staff has devoted this year to defending the FBI, it<br />
could be &#8220;putting 50 or more bad guys behind bars.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;This problem appears to be getting worse, not better. &#8230; One<br />
obvious solution that could be considered would be to increase the<br />
resources available to the FBI&#8221; for checks, he said. &#8220;These<br />
background checks need to be done. How they get them done on time<br />
is a public-policy issue that needs to be addressed.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Pressuring the FBI</strong></p>
<p>Civil-liberties advocates are demanding that the FBI set and meet<br />
deadlines for background checks on immigrants poised to become U.S.<br />
citizens.</p>
<p>Otherwise, the post-9/11 system of having the FBI check names of<br />
all applicants &#8220;means they can just keep people waiting for years<br />
and years,&#8221; American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ranjana<br />
Nataranjan said.</p>
<p>&#8220;The question is: Are there legitimate reasons to delay so many<br />
people? We think the answer is no. Somebody isn&#8217;t connecting the<br />
dots here. And, if there are real security issues, we don&#8217;t want<br />
the FBI to sit on those.&#8221;</p>
<p>A growing FBI backlog of unfinished checks, and a new immigration<br />
policy of refusing to schedule citizenship tests until FBI checks<br />
are done, is causing havoc and feeding discontent. Hundreds of<br />
mostly Muslim immigrants who have been delayed for up to five years<br />
allege unfair treatment.</p>
<p>&#8220;When a group is singled out, that&#8217;s contrary to our principles,&#8221;<br />
said Lema Bashir, legal adviser for the Arab-American<br />
Anti-Discrimination Committee.</p>
<p>Delayed immigrants also seek help from members of Congress,<br />
including Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.</p>
<p id="1equ" class="ArwC7c ckChnd">&#8220;Prompt and thorough background checks are essential for our<br />
nation&#8217;s security,&#8221; Salazar said Friday. &#8220;But we must also<br />
guarantee no one is being denied for the wrong reasons.&#8221;</p>
<p id="1equ" class="ArwC7c ckChnd"><strong>To become a U.S. citizen, you must:</strong></p>
<p id="1equ" class="ArwC7c ckChnd">Live as a legal resident in the country for five years (three if<br />
married to a U.S. citizen) with no absence of more than one year<br />
and at least 30 months of total presence, including three months in<br />
one state or district.</p>
<p>Be at least 18 and of good moral character, meaning not a criminal<br />
or habitual drunkard or person who has refused to support<br />
dependents or lied under oath.</p>
<p>Pass English-language and civics tests and an interview with a<br />
federal adjudicator.</p>
<p>Swear to support the Constitution and obey laws, renounce any<br />
foreign allegiance, and bear arms or perform other government<br />
services when required by law.</p>
<p>Give fingerprints for submission to the FBI.</p>
<p>Receive FBI clearance after a background check is completed.</p>
<p>Average wait time for all applicants: eight months after filing<br />
application.</p>
<p>Average number of immigrants who become citizens each year: 5,700<br />
in Colorado; 604,000 nationwide.</p>
<p>Number of applications rejected a year: 108,000.</p>
<p>Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of<br />
Homeland Security</p>
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		<title>Africa Lifelines: FBI Cultivating Africans as Security Teammates</title>
		<link>https://brucefinley.com/africa/africa-lifelines-fbi-cultivating-africans-as-security-teammates/</link>
					<comments>https://brucefinley.com/africa/africa-lifelines-fbi-cultivating-africans-as-security-teammates/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Bruce]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 13 Nov 2005 22:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Africa Lifelines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Counter-Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Globalization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human Rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Migration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Role in the World]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://brucefinley.com/africa/africa-lifelines-fbi-cultivating-africans-as-security-teammates/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Denver agent training Kenyan officers in forensics The U.S. views Africa with interest as a frontier for terrorism, but any military acts can stoke resentment. Nairobi, Kenya &#8211; Nine thousand miles from his home in Denver, FBI Special Agent Carle Schlaff faced 60 top African detectives packed into a room in Nairobi as part of [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Denver agent training Kenyan officers in forensics The U.S. views Africa with interest as a frontier for terrorism, but any military acts can stoke resentment.</strong></p>
<p><em>Nairobi, Kenya</em> &#8211; Nine thousand miles from his home in Denver, FBI Special Agent Carle Schlaff faced 60 top African detectives packed into a room in Nairobi as part of a new U.S. focus on Africa.</p>
<p>Schlaff&#8217;s mission: to work with these African counterparts on<br />
forensics and cultivate them as security partners.</p>
<p>The U.S. government views Africa with renewed interest as a<br />
frontier for terrorism where al-Qaeda and other Islamic radicals<br />
hide. Africa also supplies a growing share of the oil Americans<br />
consume &#8211; nearly a fifth.</p>
<p>Terrorists in Africa could affect U.S. interests and organize<br />
attacks inside the United States, said William Bellamy, U.S.<br />
ambassador to Kenya.</p>
<p>&#8220;We try to monitor as best we can&#8221; airport travelers to prevent<br />
terrorists from entering America, he said. &#8220;But I would not<br />
exclude the possibility that could occur. … It&#8217;s certainly<br />
possible.&#8221;</p>
<p>Kenyan police recently found anti-tank missiles &#8211; some U.S.-made &#8211; in a terrorism suspect&#8217;s apartment at Mombasa, Kenya.</p>
<p>The U.S. priority in Africa of combating global terrorism has led<br />
President Bush to deploy military forces at a growing network of<br />
bases from Algeria to Uganda &#8211; in a pattern Bush set after the<br />
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>About 1,600 U.S. soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors are posted<br />
in Djibouti at a base called Camp Lemonier, a former French Foreign<br />
Legion outpost. It is the first large long-term deployment of U.S.<br />
forces to Africa.</p>
<p>Bush also sent special forces soldiers to Mali, Chad and Niger for<br />
exercises with local forces against radical Muslims.</p>
<p>And U.S. officials have delivered more than $152 million in weapons<br />
to sub-Saharan Africa since 2001, up from $92 million during the<br />
previous four years.</p>
<p>But the military approach stokes resentment. African leaders say<br />
they&#8217;re more interested in fighting worsening poverty than serving<br />
U.S. interests.</p>
<p>African authorities believe young men were willing to join<br />
anti-U.S. groups &#8220;because they had no jobs,&#8221; said Nicholas<br />
Kamwende, commander of the Kenyan National Police anti-terrorism unit.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think fighting poverty is one of our ways of fighting<br />
terrorism,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Kamwende said the United States traditionally has used skillful<br />
diplomacy and developmental aid to help Africa address water,<br />
health care and economic needs.</p>
<p>Tensions are mounting. Kenyan courts recently acquitted several<br />
terrorism suspects indicted in the United States, and Kenyan<br />
lawmakers have refused to pass an anti-terrorism law.</p>
<p>U.S. State Department officials say savvy cops such as Schlaff, who<br />
also has worked in Botswana and the Red Sea area, can be more<br />
effective than soldiers in helping locals root out terrorists.</p>
<p>In a spartan conference hall in Nairobi, Schlaff wore a sport shirt<br />
and slacks instead of the camouflage fatigues that mark most U.S.<br />
warriors.</p>
<p>He smiled the way he might over coffee back home as the African<br />
detectives in coats and ties stood quiet. He handed out FBI pins,<br />
patches, fingerprint kits and cameras. He showed photos of his<br />
family in the Colorado mountains.</p>
<p>He told of his forensics work on the FBI team that investigated the<br />
bombing of the USS Cole warship that killed 17 sailors. Schlaff<br />
helped dredge the harbor off Yemen and found part of an outboard<br />
motor that cracked the case.</p>
<p>The attentiveness of Kenyan police officers impressed him, Schlaff<br />
said.</p>
<p>&#8220;Their focus is street crime. We&#8217;re not suggesting a different<br />
focus. We&#8217;re just trying to make them aware there could be a<br />
terrorism matter involved.&#8221;</p>
<p>Now, Schlaff is back in the United States. But detectives he<br />
coached are working in Eastleigh, a Somali-run ghetto on the<br />
outskirts of Nairobi, trying to recruit sources, offering money for<br />
tips.</p>
<p>They&#8217;ve discovered funds flowing from Somalia to Eastleigh for<br />
construction of shopping malls. They&#8217;re investigating who might be<br />
sinking roots or raising money in Kenya.</p>
<p>These efforts bore out Schlaff&#8217;s conclusions. Street-</p>
<p>level police when treated with respect &#8220;are genuinely interested<br />
in working with us&#8221; against terrorism, he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you want to convince people Americans are not the aggressor, I<br />
think you&#8217;ve got to do it by being there low on the ground.&#8221;</p>
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