World Cup: Minnesota (and U.S.) join the world

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Be still, America, the World Cup is here. My first World Cup experience was surreal: Cameroon had just accomplished the impossible by defeating defending champions Argentina 1-0 in their first match in the 1990 World Cup. They would go further than any African team had ever done, earning a place in history and my heart. Thus began my love of the world cup, a tournament where the improbable could and often did happen. To be honest, Cameroon was not really my favorite team. Continue Reading

Helping Somali mothers in Minneapolis

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As a high school teacher in Kenya, Paul Orieny identified behavioral problems in children that he was sure stemmed from their home environments. He felt that counseling children without addressing issues at home, with parents and family, was only part of the solution. He also knew that as a teacher he was ill-equipped to help his students beyond their classroom needs.

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Proposed reform would aid refugees

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Local immigration advocates, including Michele Garnett McKenzie of the Advocates for Human Rights, are excited about a new refugee bill introduced in Congress by Representative Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Minnesota is home to thousands of refugees and asylees. The new bill would allow for a strengthened comprehensive framework for the settlement of refugees and asylum seekers in Minnesota. 
“I love this bill. It fixes a ton of problems with asylum seekers and refugees,” said McKenzie, an immigration lawyer who is the director of advocacy at the Minneapolis-based Advocates of Human Rights.Both refugees and asylees are immigrants to the United States who are seeking protection based on fear that they will be persecuted in their home countries. However, while refugees receive their immigration status outside the United States and often are assisted by refugee resettlement programs, asylum seekers apply for protection after their arrival. Continue Reading

Taking a stand on principle: Advocates reject Craigslist money

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Last year, the Minneapolis-based Advocates for Human Rights released a damning report, Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota, that showed how pimps and traffickers use Craigslist to solicit minors for sex. This week, the Advocates for Human Rights joined the ranks of several non-profits across the nation by rejecting an unsolicited donation from the Craigslist Charitable Fund.  In its rejection the Advocates said that Craigslist “fuels the human sex trafficking industry. It is the exploitive behavior resulting from these ads that makes our efforts necessary.””I don’t know why and how they decided to send us a check,” said Robin Phillips, the executive director of the Advocates. The  $25,000 donation was unsolicited. Last week, the New York Times reported that this year Craigslist expects to make $36 million dollars, a 22 per cent increase in revenue. The Craigslist Charitable Fund was set up in 2008 with funding from Craigslist’s revenues. Continue Reading

Muslim students face teasing, harassment in schools

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Tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim students in St. Cloud and Owatonna school districts have kicked up a storm, with advocates calling for the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to look into reports of racial and religious harassment. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) describes hostile school environments where students were harassed solely for being Muslim. CAIR-MN charged that “school administrators have failed to effectively respond to the incidents and the harassing treatment often becomes worse after they report it.” According to CAIR-MN a student wrote a racist essay that he used to taunt Muslim students while other students shoved pork into the faces of Muslim students. Continue Reading

Private means private – not even FBI can access census information

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“We have always counted, in this country, everyone, whether they are documented or not. Over the years, we have learned that if we have strong [privacy] laws, we protect individuals who might hesitate to participate,” Robert Groves, the Census Bureau director told the Daily Planet on a recent visit to Minneapolis.  
“I can say with certainty that because of this law, no enforcement agency, no landlord, no one from immigration can access information from the census.” Groves said that it is in the best interest of the Census Bureau to protect this information because only then can the information gathered be reliable. Data collected from the census is used for drawing political boundaries, distributing federal funds and for city planning, which includes roads and public schools. 
The first US Census was in 1790, and the census has been conducted every ten years ever since then. As Grove indicates, the census is an actual count of everyone in the United States every 10 years: American citizens and residents, foreigners with visas as well as those without, people living in temporary homes, jails, hospitals and even the homeless are counted. Continue Reading

Obama offers immigration reprieve to Liberians on DED

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President Obama has extended Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) status to eligible Liberians residing in the United States, granting them an 18-month reprieve from imminent deportation. This extension, announced today, will allow Liberians to continue working and living legally in the United States. Of the 25,000 Liberians living in Minnesota, it is estimated that there are between 4,000 and 10,000 Liberians on DED. For background, see One year later, Liberians are still facing deportation, seeking permanent residenceIn a press statement, Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has been one of several local and national legislators pushing for the extension, said, “Granting Liberians extended DED status is the right decision. The Liberian Community has become an important part of the social fabric of Minnesota – they are our neighbors and our co-workers. Continue Reading

Seeking asylum from threat of female genital cutting

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What happens to an American child when their immigrant parent, facing deportation, fears that their child might be harmed in the parent’s home country? Can a foreign parent seek amnesty in the United States based on fear for their child’s well-being? The answer, many asylum seekers have found, isn’t a straightforward one. An hour long documentary, Mrs. Goundo’s daughter, profiles a woman who is desperately seeking these answers. The film follows Mrs. Goundo, an asylum seeker living in Philadephia having fled her native Mali in 1999 as a political refugee, as she tries to make her case before an immigration judge; having faced female genital cutting (also female genital mutilation/FGM), Goundo fears that her two-year old daughter will be circumcised should the family return to Mali. It wasn’t easy for Goundo to make this claim, for you see, she had already been circumcised and it could be argued that because she no longer faced this threat, she did not need protection from the United States. Continue Reading

One year later, Liberians still facing deportation, seeking permanent solution

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A year ago, I reported from a church in Robbinsdale where Liberians had gathered to petition the White House for a reprieve from impending deportation. Nothing much has changed since then. The temporary reprieve offered by President Obama will expire on March 31. 
The first Liberians sought refuge in the United States following their homeland’s first civil war in 1989, while the second wave came here when another civil war broke out in 1999. There are now more than 25,000 Liberians living in Minnesota, one of the largest populations in the US. Many were granted Temporary Protected Status, later changed to another temporary status called Deferred Enforced Departure. Continue Reading

FBI reaches out to Minneapolis Somali youth

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Last year, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into the case of disappearing young Somali men who were allegedly being radicalized in Minnesota  they met resistance from the community. From anecdotal accounts, it is not that the community was harboring potential terrorists, or their recruiters, but that people had there a legitimate fear of speaking to law enforcement of any kind, be they local or federal authorities.

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