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New agreement threatens safe asylum for refugees
They have come from El Salvador and Russia, Uganda and Colombia, Iraq and Cameroon. Most of them have been tortured. Most of the women have been raped along the way. Some die or are arrested on their way to the rundown streets of the southwest side of Detroit. Yet several thousand do arrive every year, finding their way across the globe to an ancient red-brick former convent in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge called Freedom House, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" to do just that. Those who come here, and who huddle for a few weeks or months in its dormitory-style rooms, risk their lives for the promise of new ones in this nation or in Canada. But now, thanks to a new agreement between Washington and Ottawa, Freedom House's ability to help these people may be largely cut off. On Dec. 29, something called the "Safe Third Country Agreement," will take effect and severely curtail the ability of most of the world's refugees to cross over to Canada, where asylum has been easier to win in recent years. What it means is that refugees who land in a nation regarded by both Canada and the United States as "safe" (i.e., free and democratic) will be obliged to apply for asylum there, rather than crossing the border to do so. "This is perfectly reasonable and meant to reduce the abuse of the asylum systems by stopping asylum shopping in both Canada and the United States," said George Costaris, who manages political and economic relations for the Canadian government's consulate in Detroit. David Koelsch, Freedom House's staff attorney, doesn't think it is reasonable. He thinks this is an outrage. "This is an attempt by both governments to cut down on the number of refugees in the name of national security." What it will do, he fears, is doom some persecuted people. "It will also force people to go underground, both in the United States and Canada," he fumed, since the new regulations specify that if refugees apply for asylum and are turned down, they may be detained and swiftly deported. Gloria Rivera, a Mexican-born Roman Catholic nun who has run Freedom House for the last five years, is dismayed by the ruling, especially because so many of the refugees who she has helped go to Canada. For many years, Canada has been much more willing to grant refugees asylum than the United States has. Members of her staff have been toiling selflessly to help them win political asylum and get a new chance since 1983, when Freedom House was founded, spurred in large part by local outrage over United States policy in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Many of the founders were Catholic, though Freedom House's charter is scrupulously nondenominational. Last year, the house housed more refugees from Albania than any other country, followed by the persecuted of half a dozen nations of sub-Saharan Africa. Far more of them sought asylum in Canada than in the United States. Last year, Freedom House helped 2,481 adult men and women take the first steps to apply for asylum in Canada, and a mere 286 apply here. Things will be different now. Not entirely; it will still be possible for people from some countries - Mexico, Cyprus and Iraq among them - to bypass the system and make a refugee claim from the United States. Those with close blood relations already in Canada will also be able to apply. But otherwise, starting Wednesday, if a refugee lands in America first - and there are very few international flights direct to Canada - they will have no choice but to apply for asylum in the United States. If it is denied, they won't have the option, as they have had in the past, of trying again in Canada. They'll be sent back to wherever they escaped from. "This isn't about national security, it is economics," said Koelsch. In other words, the rich nations of the world no longer want the world's poor. There is something sad about that, I think, especially given that this ruling comes at Christmas time, when people gather together to remember a homeless and stateless couple whose baby was born in a manger. What is ironic too is that virtually all those making it harder for new immigrants are the direct descendants of persecuted immigrants themselves. Detroit, where the refugees have huddled in Freedom House, is largely depopulated, with less than half as many people as it had half a century ago. Canada is one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world. Taking in a few more immigrants might not hurt either country. Odds are the immigrants would give back more than they receive. They usually do, you know. Jack Lessenberry is editorial vice president of HomeTown Communications. He can be reached by phone at (248) 901-2561 or by e- mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED]. Richard The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
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