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File - "BEST OF" ANTI_IMMIGRATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS OF ARTICLES IN THIS "BEST OF" ANTI-IMMIGRATION RECENT
EMAILS
1 - A personal letter from the Moderator regarding Immigration Policy
2 - A Personal Note from Moderator regarding Multi-culturalism.
3 - Religious Jews in Israel are Anti-immigration, Jews in USA
pro-immigration
4 - A Comanche Patriot Tries to Save the White Man
5 - Mexico's plans for its newest colony: Inevitable response to U.S.
abdication
6 - A LIST OF WEBSITES DEALING WITH IMMIGRATION ISSUES
7 - NYTimes: New Shelter Seeks to Better Accommodate Asylum-Seeking Families
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Friends and subscribers to the Anti-Immigration Email list,
I am opposed to the massive waves of immigrants that our national immigration
policy is currently allowing. Why? Because we are being overwhelmed by such
large numbers of immigrants and they are not joining our churches and they
are not melting into our Christian culture.
Friends, my highest goal is that we remain a Christian nation with liberty
and justice for all. The Bible states that "Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is Liberty." I believe that the source of America's greatness and the
source of America's wealth and the source of America's liberties is The
Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that if America continues down the path to
secularization and rejection of God, then we will lose our freedoms, lose our
prosperity, suffer great tribulation, become slaves and ultimately be
destroyed as a nation. Taking all of this into consideration I am not opposed
to reasonable but much smaller numbers of immigrants who meet the following
list of stipulations.
First, I would demand that potential immigrants read, write and speak English
proficiently at least at a 6th grade level. Rigorous tests should be designed
and administered at American Embassy's for the purpose eliminating applicants
who do not know how to read, write and speak English proficiently.
Second, they must be "selected" or chosen from the upper income and or more
highly educated classes in the nation that they hail from. Why? Because we
want our immigration policy to strengthen our nation and thus we want ONLY
the best intellectuals and most successful types of people to be eligible for
immigration into America. Currently we are taking in millions of low IQ,
poorly educated third world people with no skills and no chance of rising in
or contributing to the American economy. Did you know that? Is that the
immigration policy that you want for your nation?
Third potential immigrants must be well educated and have a useful University
degree in a field such as medicine or engineering, or else they must have a
high level of skill in an employable field such as engine repair, carpentry
or plumbing. Potential immigrants must, for example, be computer programmers,
electrician's or have some other such skill that is useful and makes them
employable in the American economy. Does that make sense to you or do you
think it is a good national policy that we allow millions of immigrants from
third world nations who cannot speak English and have no skills?
Fourth I would demand that they have an American sponsor who is reasonably
financially successful and could support them during their transition to self
reliance.
Fifth, I would make them and their family ineligible for any kind of
government benefits, whether welfare and or social security, Medical care,
housing allowance, food stamps, University or college scholarships from any
government supported agency of any kind until they have lived and worked in
America for at least 21 years.
Sixth and most important of all, I would demand that in order to be eligible
to obtain a visa to emigrate to America that potential immigrants must be a
"Christian," any kind of "Christian." Using and defining the term "Christian"
in the broadest sense possible. Potential Immigrants must Orthodox, Anglican,
Catholic or Protestant, or even members of western "Christian" cults such as
the Morman church or Jehovah Witness'es. Potential immigrants must prove this
with documentable evidence of faithful membership in such a church in their
own nation for at least 10 years prior to their application to emigrate to
America.
Muslims, Buddhists, Hindi's, Taoist's, Ba'hai's, Pagan's, Wiccan Witches or
those who practice Witchcraft or Shamanism, Atheists, Agnostic's and all
members of all other manifestly non-Christian religions should be absolutely,
permanently and strictly denied any and all rights to emigrate to America.
Friend, Will you agree with me that we want our immigration policy to make
our nation stronger, not weaker?
Will you agree with me that anti-Christian Multi-culturalism is weakening our
nation?
Will you agree with me that our immigration policy has to be modified,
because as it currently stands it is harming more than it is strengthening
our nation?
Please open your spiritual eyes and observe the wisdom of what I am
proposing. I want to make America stronger because I believe that a strong
America is a benefit to advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Can you imagine
the wonderful implications for the Gospel of Jesus Christ if America were to
grow stronger and stronger and wealthier in comparison to the nations of the
world and if America at the same time became a more moral and more righteous
and thoroughly Christian nation. Can you imagine how our missionaries in
other nations would be benefited if America became a strong, righteous,
moral, exceedingly wealthy and militarily dominant nation?
Friend, are you in agreement with me? Do you agree with me that we need a
drastic and immediate change in our immigration policy in America? Can you
see how important it is to keep America strong? Can you see how our enemies
have been using immigration policy to weaken our nation and turn us further
away from Christ?
I am sincerely yours, Bob from Michigan.
PS - Please tell your friends and family about this email list. Send me their
names and email address'es and I will invite them to join this email list.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Anti_Immigration
Subscribe: Anti_Immigration-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Post message: Anti_Immigration@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: Anti_Immigration-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
List owner: Anti_Immigration-owner@yahoogroups.com
My Email address: anti_immigration_man@yahoo.com
My Email address: BobFromMichigan74@Hotmail.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Personal Note from moderator of Anti-immigration list regarding
Multi-culturalism.
In Quebec Canada there are two groups of people who hate each other. The
French and the English. Why do they hate each other? One reason, the diffence
in their language and culture.
In the article below we see another example of
multi-culturalism NOT working. Where? In Israel.
The root word of culture is CULT. The word cult refers to a religion.
(Remember, one man's cult is another man's religion). Liberals in America and
around the world are forcing Multi-culturalism upon the western nations. Let
me say in no un-certain terms, WE DO NOT WANT MULTI-CULTURALISM.
Multi-culturalism is a recipe for disaster.
Multi-culturalism means that Christianity will no
longer be the dominant religious group in Western nations. Multi-culturalism
means that western nations will be subdivided into tiny little groups that
all hate one another. Multi-culturalism means that western nations will be
Balkanized into tiny subdivided religious groups, ethnic groups and language
groups which are forever warring with each other over the monetary crumbs
from the socialist government nipples.
We must stop immigration now or America may very well likely be forever
changed for the worse.
It is a fact that immigrants are far more likely to vote for the Liberal
candidate who is promising to give him free education, free health care and
free everything. This is how America is going to be destroyed and turned into
a socialist slave state if we do not get our immigration policy under
control.
In the past, our strength as a nation has been our homogeneity, our shared
religion, shared language and shared culture. Wake up your friends. Ask
people to join this email list. Sincerely Yours, Bob from Michigan.]
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Religious Jews in Israel are Anti-immigration, Jews in USA pro-immigration
NOTE FROM MODERATOR: I have a question for your consideration... Why do the
religious Jews in Israel oppose immigration laws that will increase
diversity? And why do Jews in the USA support immigration laws in America to
"increase diversity"? The religious Jews in Israel are strongly
Anti-immigration. The Jews in America are strongly Pro-immigration. Why?
See article below:
Israelis Debate Immigration Laws
By MARK LAVIE Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The bedrock of the Jewish state-a law that grants Israeli
citizenship to anyone with a Jewish grandparent-is coming under the harshest
attack in years, amid allegations it has enabled hundreds of thousands of
non-Jews to immigrate.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, with the support of some government officials, proposed
this week that the Law of Return be tightened. "Even sacred cows are
slaughtered sometimes," Rahamim Malul, a lawmaker from the religious Shas
party, asserted Monday.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak staunchly opposes restricting immigration, angrily
insisting at a Cabinet session Sunday that the law would not be amended as
long as he is prime minister.
The debate reflects the disagreement between secular Zionists and observant
Jews about what Israel should look like. For the religious, the most
important value is to preserve the Jewish character of Israel, while Zionists
believe immigration should be encouraged at all costs. The recent debate was
triggered by figures showing that non-Jews outnumbered Jews, 55 percent to 45
percent, among immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the first three
months of 1999.
Rabbis have complained that the influx of non-Jews has led to a proliferation
of butcher shops selling pork, despite religious laws that prohibit Jews from
eating it. Others warn that non-Jews from the former Soviet Union, estimated
at 225,000 of Israel's 6 million citizens, are amassing increasing political
clout.
"The loopholes in the law must be closed," warned Malul, "so that the state
will not turn into a country where a large percentage of its citizens are
gentiles."
The Law of Return was conceived five decades ago, when Israel was a poor,
besieged, fledgling nation where survivors of Holocaust-ravaged Europe and
Jews from Arab countries sought shelter.
Now that Israel is a prosperous country with a per capita income on a
European scale, some fear non-Jews from economically depressed areas may be
lured by generous government benefits for newcomers.
Faced with the statistics, officials in the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption
have drawn up a proposal for restricting non-Jewish immigration. It aims at
reducing the number of non-Jewish descendants who can gain automatic
citizenship because of a distant Jewish ancestor.
However, ministry spokeswoman Michal Aharoni said the proposal "will never be
the policy of the ministry." The minister for immigrant absorption, Yuli
Tamir, opposes restrictions on immigration.
Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon said the Law of Return is the basis of the Jewish
state, offering a home to Jews "in the wide definition and not the narrow
religious definition."
Under religious law, a person is a Jew if his mother is Jewish. The Law of
Return recognizes a much wider category as eligible for citizenship.
Ramon said experience shows that even those who are technically non-Jewish
"become good Jews in a few years."
Yet even some immigrants from the former Soviet Union feel it is time to make
changes. Yuri Stern, a member of parliament from Israel Beiteinu, a party
representing the immigrants, said those with no link to the Jewish people
must be stopped from immigrating.
Though his party stands to benefit from additional immigrant votes, Jewish or
not, Stern warned that Israel could face a demographic problem if no changes
are made.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Comanche Patriot Tries to Save the White Man
FrontPageMagazine.com
http://www.frontpagemag.com/poesnotepad/2001/pn01-17-01.htm
"I'M A PATRIOT because I love and value what America stands for,"
says Dr. David A. Yeagley, a Comanche Indian and humanities professor
at Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City. "I value freedom, and
I'm willing to fight for it."
Next month, Yeagley takes his fight to the state legislature, which will
consider his proposal to add an optional patriotism course to Oklahoma's high
school curriculum. Governor Frank Keating has endorsed the plan.
Yeagley dreams of taking his course national. "Patriotism has to be taught,"
he says. "It doesn't just grow out of the ground."
Up to now, U.S. schools have done an exceptionally poor job of teaching it. A
Zogby poll taken in June 2000 showed that nearly one third of American
college students are not proud to be Americans.
"As an Indian, I feel it is my sacred honor to save the white man again, this
time, from himself," says Yeagley, who holds a divinity degree from Yale.
"Before he gives this country away, thus defeating me twice, I want to try to
save what he built out of my land."
Indians saved the white man before, says Yeagley, when they helped the first
settlers get established. Now they must save him again, this time from
political correctness.
"White guilt is the biggest flaw in the American psyche," warns Yeagley.
As a Comanche, Yeagley feels no guilt over his ancestors' deeds. "They were
the lords of the south plains," he says. "They kicked out all the other
Indians. They had no tolerance for other Indians, no tolerance for white
people, no tolerance for anybody except themselves." Comanche elders have
been instilling that warrior spirit in their young, for centuries, through
the stories and customs of their ancestors.
Unfortunately, says Yeagley, white Americans have failed to do the same. The
fighting spirit that built this country has been allowed to fade.
The problem became clear to him last summer, when he assigned his class to
debate the question of whether or not patriotism should be taught in school.
After a two-hour discussion, the student jury voted no.
"They were afraid that skinheads and militia people would somehow get control
of it," says Yeagley.
Beyond such scare images from the media, his students had little concept of
patriotism. Yeagley made up his mind to design a course that would fill the
gap.
"America has held out this offer of charity for all, that everyone, including
minorities, can have a better life," says Yeagley. "But if you want to be
kind to people and charitable and indulgent, you have to do it from a
position of strength, otherwise you lose the ability to do any good for
anybody."
In their willingness to indulge even the most extreme demands of the Jesse
Jackson crowd, white Americans are slowly giving up their strength, warns
Yeagley.
"I think it's demonstrable that, historically speaking, the most people get
the best deal under this system," says Yeagley. "I'm trying to come to the
rescue here and say to the white man, look, don't destroy everything you
have. If you don't want the country, give it back to me! Don't give it away
to someone else."
Born of a Comanche mother and a white father, Yeagley has always been
fascinated by the question of identity.
"I was curious to know what makes a people a nation," he says.
Yeagley concluded that love is at the root of it. "It's difficult to love an
abstract idea, especially for young people. You love real things, the land,
the people, the language, the food. Basic things."
Yeagley wants to focus on those basic things in his proposed course, teaching
a simple love and respect for one's people and culture.
"Being willing to take your grocery cart back into the store instead of
leaving it in front of somebody's car, I think that's patriotic," he says.
During Yeagley's classroom debate over patriotism last summer, one young man
confessed, "Dr. Yeagley, I don't think we have a clue of what you're talking
about. When I think of patriotism, all I can think of is my grandfather who
fought in World War II. I think of old people."
Maybe that's not such a bad thing, Yeagley suggests. It is the elders who
preserve the stories of the tribe.
"If an Indian wants to know what it means to be Indian, he asks his elders,"
says Yeagley. "If you want to know what it means to be patriotic American,
ask your grandfather. He'll tell you."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://savetheusa.net/mexiplan.html
MEXICO'S PLANS FOR ITS NEWEST COLONY: INEVITABLE RESPONSE TO U.S. ABDICATION
Mexico's recent presidential election may have profoundly altered the U.S.
political scene. A Los Angeles businessman and Mexican citizen, Eddie Varon
Levy, 42, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), living and
working in the United States (resident alien) has apparently become the first
person living outside Mexico to be elected to Mexico's Congress.
Even though his PRI party lost the historic July 2 election, Levy appears to
have won a congressional seat. A Sunday, July 9, 2000 Miami Herald Article
reported that the final vote results will be released next week and Levy may
be a winner for one of approximately
50 PRI-controlled seats garnered by vote apportionment. If Levy has
sufficient votes for a seat, he will take that seat when Mexico's
Congress convenes September 1.
Says Varon Levy, "It's a breakthrough. I am going to be in the trenches
fighting for Mexicans living abroad." Mr. Levy added that he plans to commute
between Los Angeles and Mexico City for the Tuesday through Thursday
congressional sessions.
Mr. Levy was one of three Mexican citizens/U.S. residents running for
political office in Mexico's presidential election. Winning presidential
candidate Vincent Fox's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) ran 55-year-old
Jose Jacques Medina of Los Angeles and 33-year- old Raul Ross Pineda of
Chicago as its candidates for the 200 at- large Mexican congress seats. Mr.
Ross runs the Mexican affairs section of the Chicago area American Friends
Service Committee. Had Mr. Pineda won, regular commutes to Mexico City for
the weekly congressional sessions would have been necessary. His PRI party
would also have expected him to informally represent some 10 million Mexicans
-- 10 percent of all Mexicans -- living in the United States.
Early returns suggest that at least two of the expatriate candidates didn't
receive enough votes. However, their candidacies and the fact that Mexican
presidential candidates were campaigning in Los Angeles and Chicago show how
important the growing expatriate Mexican population in the United States has
become to Mexico's political scene.
At this Los Angeles Times article readers can learn about the third Mexican
congressional candidate, Eagle Rock resident Jose Jacques Medina who recently
stated, "Now I'm here and I'm going to be here, fighting for my people," ...
"It's my destiny, the U.S." Mr. Medina is an attorney, international AFL-CIO
representative and behind-the- scenes player in the Mexican immigrant
community through his nonprofit organization, Comite Pro-Union. Comite
provides legal assistance on immigration problems and other issues. Last year
he gained the right to become a U.S. citizen, and plans to file the papers
soon.
All three of these Mexican expatriates are very much aware of the AZTLAN plan
- the Latin intention to conquer the seven U.S. southwest states. (California
licensed) Attorney Jose Jacques Medina is very much in favor of AZTLAN. It is
outrageous that any individual holding an office of trust (attorneys are
court officers -- positions of trust) could attain or retain citizenship of
the country he/she is openly trying to undermine. Fortunately, a remedy does
exist and is described at end of this article.
Mexican Racists Unafraid To Flaunt It ...
Comments by prominent Mexican American public officials, activists and a
Mexican newspaper:
Augustín Cebada, Brown Berets:
"Go back to Boston! Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims! Get out! We are the
future. You are old and tired. Go on. We have beaten you. Leave like beaten
rats. You old white people. It is your duty to die. ..... Through love of
having children, we are going to take over."
Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council:
"They're afraid we're going to take over the governmental institutions and
other institutions. They're right. We will take them over. .... We are here
to stay."
Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, Director of Mexican-American Studies Center,
University of Texas at Arlington and founder in 1967 of the Marxist/Leninist
Mexican American Youth Organization: "We have an aging white America. They
are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population.
..... I love it. They are shitting in their pants with fear. I love it." And
since 1970, he has professed, "Our devil has pale skin and blue eyes."
Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party: "Remember 187
(proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non citizens) is the last
gasp of White America in California!" and "Que Viva La Causa!" Long Live our
Cause!).
Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor:
"We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming
citizens of this country.... I gotta tell you that a lot of people are
saying, "I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back."
Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and California
State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Jerry Brown, also
awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton. "California is
going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave."
Jose Pescador Osuña, Mexican Consul General
We are practicing "La Reconquista" in California."
Professor Fernando Guerra, Loyola Marymount University: "We need to avoid a
white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos...." (emphasis added)
Xavier Hermosillo, a Los Angeles radio talk show host In 1993, proclaimed on
the CBS 48 Hours show that Mexican-Americans were taking political control of
the "former Mexican colony, California ... house by house, block by block".
Excelsior - The national newspaper of Mexico "The American Southwest
("AZTLAN") seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without
firing a single shot."
In a well-written Mankind Quarterly article, The Deconstruction of America,
by Joseph Fallon, public officials Antonio Villaraigosa, majority leader of
the California State Assembly and Art Torres, Chairman of the California
Democratic Party, speakers at the "Latino Leadership Summit Response to Prop
187" are mentioned for their apparent agreement with many declarations
uttered at the meeting. Neither Villaraigosa nor Torres repudiated these
comments: "English should be a foreign language"; "We are hostages in our own
land, prisoners of war"; "We live under occupying alien force."; "We live in
the annexed territories of AZTLAN"; and "We're in a state of war ... a
vicious threat to our existence". And neither man condemned the repeated
calls for the establishment of an independent country of Aztlan or the
references to this country as "AmeriKKKa" and the "United Snakes of America".
SierraTimes.com has a picture of Mexicans burning the U.S. flag in L.A. The
people of the United States should take such actions, comments and events
seriously. They will be increasing.
A Weapon For Those Brave Enough To Wield It ...
Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8 of our Constitution prohibits government
officers and employees from committing treason and bribery, and from taking
office or pay from a foreign state "without the consent of Congress."
However, no penalty is provided for such derelictions. In May of 1810,
Congress overwhelmingly voted to send to the States, a proposed Titles of
Nobility Amendment to the Constitution:
"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain
any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of Congress,
accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind
whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall
cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding
any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them." At that time
there were 17 states in the union and ratification by 13 states was needed
for passage. On March 12, 1819, the last of the required 13 affirmations was
attained when the Virginia Assembly (Legislature) voted to publish its
"Revised Codes of the Laws of Virginia". This culminated a two year effort by
that State's foremost legal and legislative authorities. The Revised Codes
book contains the Constitution of the United States and amendments, including
the Titles of Nobility amendment. Few citizens of the United States know
about th!
!
is amendment because it has been so well ignored, with claims that it did not
achieve ratification. The story of the research which found evidence to the
contrary is a fascinating tale and can be found at the following URLs:
The Patriots' Missing 13th Amendment Pages
Barefoot Bob Hardison's Missing Thirteenth Amendment page Demon of Discord:
The Ratification and Suppression of the Original Thirteenth The Project 13
Home Page We invite you to visit these sites and/or our website: SAVE THE
USA!
Alan & Suzanne Nevling, nevling@e..., July 11, 2000
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A LIST OF SOME WEBSITES DEALING WITH IMMIGRATION
http://www.americanpatrol.com/ vct@a...
http://www.wakeupordie.com/
http://www.amren.com/index.html
http://www.fairus.org/
http://www.usdoj.gov/ins/
http://www.census.gov/
http://www.americanworker.org/
http://migration.ucdavis.edu/
http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/uscir
http://www.tscpress.com/
http://www.netcom.com/~jimrobb/
http://www.ceousa.org/
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/pub/Immigration/Index.html
http://www.numbersusa.com/
http://www.projectusa.com/
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b
http://www.ilw.com/
http://www.cis.org/
http://www.numbersusa.com/home.html
http://www.anu.org/newsservice.html
http://www.numbersusa.com/home.html
http://www.sqlife.org/
http://www.adnc.com/web/bstf
http://www.h1-b-visa.com/
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reference: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/causes.html
Subject article boasts new shelter to "better accommodate" asylum-seeking
familes.
Reference was not mentioned in the New York Times article - reference
provides a fact sheet on the homeless in the United States... which indicates
that in 1997 14.6 million Americans earned LESS THAN HALF of the poverty
rate.
This article is from NYTimes.com
New Shelter Seeks to Better Accommodate Asylum-Seeking Families
By ERIC SCHMITT
EESPORT, Pa., June 12 - Just off a tree-lined country lane nestled among lush
rolling hills, the Immigration and Naturalization Service is trying to put a
kinder, gentler face on a piece of its oft-maligned system of jails and
detention centers that house 20,000 undocumented immigrants every day.
Responding to a growing number of families who are entering the United States
illegally, the immigration service has opened a new shelter in a converted
nursing home here exclusively for asylum-seeking families fleeing persecution
and death threats in their strife-torn native countries.
Until now, the immigration service has routinely put hundreds of illegal
immigrant families in hotel rooms, posting armed guards outside, or split up
families, segregating men, women and children in different detention centers
across the country.
The dormitory-style Family Shelter Care center here,
60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, allows as many as
40 mothers, fathers and children from Albania to Yugoslavia to stay together
while their claims for asylum are processed. While they wait, school-age
children attend classes. Their parents learn the ways of the United States,
from cashing a check to running a washing machine. Family members receive
medical and dental care, and three meals a day.
"In my country, it is a question of your race, of where you came from," a
32-year-old businessman from Rwanda said, lifting his pant leg and shirt to
reveal scars that he said were inflicted when he was tortured in jail in his
homeland.
"Here, it's good," he said in an interview in French, speaking on condition
that his name and family details would not be disclosed to protect relatives
in Rwanda. "There is justice here and security."
As a pilot program, the shelter has worked well enough since it started in
March that officials plan to open others for all types of illegal immigrant
families in Texas and the Chicago area, and perhaps the West Coast, in the
coming months.
The shelter stands out in a detention system that has gained notoriety from
scores of complaints and
lawsuits alleging physical and mental abuse of immigrants detained in 300
county jails and other detention centers nationwide. The immigration service
finally issued national standards for the treatment of its detainees earlier
this year.
At the one-story brick building here, there are no bars on windows. Most
doors are unlocked. "Residents," as immigration officials call the
immigrants, wear photo identification cards around their necks, but no
uniforms.
But the hospitality goes only so far. Asylum-seekers are closely supervised
and are not allowed to leave the center without an escort.
And there have been growing pains with staff members who have training in law
enforcement, not family
dynamics, and who speak few, if any, foreign languages. Advocates for
immigrants say, for example, that shelter officials are sometimes reluctant
to use a $160-an-hour interpreter-by-phone service to resolve
miscommunications.
The culture clash has led to some tense moments, the advocates say. Shortly
after the center opened, a
Lebanese woman went on a two-day hunger strike to protest what she said was
the staff's insensitivity to Muslims, said Charu Newhouse al- Sahli, who was
a program coordinator with the Detention Resource Project, an advocacy
organization in Philadelphia that assists asylum- seekers here. Immigration
service officials said they had no reports of any protest.
"When you have individuals in custody, issues will arise over and over
again," said John J. Pogash, the agency's national juvenile coordinator. "But
the overall high rating of the program is tied to how quickly those issues
are overcome."
The agency has contracted with Berks County, Pa., which operates another
shelter for unaccompanied
immigrant children in the same building, to run the family shelter. It costs
the federal government $168.48 a resident per day.
As of early June, the shelter had housed a total of
105 people, roughly half children and half adults, with slightly more women
than men. The families are screened to ensure smugglers posing as loving
couples with kids are not sent here.
About 5,000 people taken in immigration service custody each year seek
asylum. The asylum seekers
chosen for the family shelter were screened at the airport where they entered
the United States, and sent here if space was available.
The families' cultural diversity and range of sophistication have challenged
shelter officials.
Asylum seekers have come from a dozen countries, from affluent professionals
from Colombia with cellular phones to uneducated immigrants from other
countries who had never used a flush toilet.
Most families are here for only two to three weeks. So far all the immigrants
here have persuaded asylum officers they have a "credible fear" they will be
persecuted or worse if they return home, and have been released to sponsors
in the community pending formal asylum hearings.
Residents' lives revolve around a 110-foot-long corridor decorated with
hanging plants and posters. Small group bedrooms and communal bathrooms - one
for men, another for women - flank the hallway. Sleeping quarters are
separated by sex - men and women and children older than 7, usually four to a
room. Children under 7 may sleep in one of their parent's rooms. At night,
state law requires shelter workers to check on all residents every 15
minutes.
In recreation rooms along the corridor, art supplies, chess boards,
computers, a pool table and stacks of toys await the children. But during a
three-hour visit, most of the younger children not in class joined virtually
all of the adults on couches watching television.
The immigrants' days are tightly structured: Up at 7 a.m., breakfast at 7:45,
classes for schoolchildren and adults. Then lunch at 1, an hour of outdoor
activity, and dinner at 5:15. Children must be in bed with lights out at
9:30; adults at 11 p.m.
Children have aerobics classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and take an
occasional field trip to
amusement parks and museums in Philadelphia, officials said. Outdoor
volleyball and basketball courts are under construction.
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