Author: mopress

The story from New York, about the immigrant cab driver who will be allowed to leave the country to bury his family, reminded us of a family that we would like to see back in Texas.

Adel Suleiman was deported in late January, along with his wife Asma Quddoura, their 17-year-old son Ayman, and their American twin daughters, age four.

Why can they not also receive something like an “advance parole” that would allow them to return to their freshly bought home in Dallas? We asked a relative how they are doing in Jordan.

“They’re doing fine,” came the reply. “Ayman is at school now, and their furniture is on its way. Regarding the house, it’s currently in the foreclosing stage. I don’t know how soon the bank will act on foreclosure. If you can help in any way I would be very appreciative. I really appreciate your concern and efforts.”

As for the family’s return to the USA, the relative expresses a sense of the difficulties involved, but it would be the best thing for them to return home to Texas.

“You probably know something better, please advise how if possible,” writes the relative. We only know what we read in the news. With international press attention, intervention by a US Senator, and the administrative power of US Citizen and Immigration Services, it is possible to take care of these things.

In other words, it is possible that federal officials can return two 4-year-old Americans to their Dallas home tomorrow. It is what should be done.–gm

By Greg Moses

There are some people who live in the shadow of Lady Liberty, and some people who don’t.

We feel nothing but sympathy for Mamadou Soumare, the much publicized New York cabdriver, whom immigration authorities will allow to return to the USA after he buries his family in Mali.

And we feel nothing but heartache for Radi Hazahza, the widely ignored Texas vehicle inspector whom immigration authorities will not release to the embrace of his living family until at least the end of April.
Toward the arbitrary gavels of power that grant humanitarian treatment, international press coverage, and involvement of a US Senator in one case, while the other case begs for anything that could be counted on two hands–we feel nothing but rage.

Our readers lately have turned to symbols of Civil War to make sense of the moral gravity we feel about the struggles that surround us. And the contrast between news from New York and Texas does remind us of the difference between blue and gray.

As Jay Johnson-Castro prepares for a walk next week to dramatize the injustice of immigrant detention, he sends a list:

The Rio Grande Valley is home to several detention facilities. Other than the newly built county jails in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, there are the Segovia State Prison, Lopez State Prison, La Villa Detention Center, Wackenhut Detention Center, and the federal detention centers for immigrants in Raymondville and Bayview.

When we compare the political economies of New York City with the Rio Grande Valley or the Texas Rolling Plains, we do find Civil War parallels in contrasting maturities of industrial development.

Yet we do not forget that New York also has its prisons and immigrant detention hells, which also get ignored more than they get reported. And although the jails of New York are mixed into neo-liberal development, we do not forget that their functions are no different than the ones in Texas.

So we ask for something besides a military-prison economy in Texas, but we ask for something better than even New York has seen. Today it looks like the shadow of Lady Liberty covers New York better than Texas, but we’ve been down Malcolm X Boulevard, where the shadow of Lady Liberty’s gown also blows this way and that.

Immigration: Dad Can Take Bodies to Mali

Wednesday March 14, 2007 10:46 PM

By VERENA DOBNIK

Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) – The man whose wife and four children killed in a fire in the Bronx won special permission Wednesday to return to the United States after taking their bodies to his African homeland for burial.

Mamadou Soumare had faced the possibility of not being able to accompany his family’s remains for fear he wouldn’t be allowed to return to New York.

A space heater was blamed for the fire last week in the building that Soumare’s family shared with Moussa Magassa, the father of five other children who died in the blaze.

On Wednesday, the federal Citizen and Immigration Services office in Manhattan gave Soumare a so-called “advance parole” that will allow him to return to the United States from Mali.

“We’re happy we’re able to do it,” said an agency spokesman, Shawn Saucier.

Saucier would not say what Soumare’s current immigration status is or why he needs the parole, citing federal privacy laws.

Soumare had applied for asylum in 1992, but the case was never adjudicated, said Sen. Charles Schumer.
Rep. Jose Serrano said after Monday’s funeral for the 10 fire victims that some members of the Soumare family may be living in the United States without immigration papers.

Advance parole for re-entering the country typically is issued to people living in the United States who have applications pending for legal residency.

Soumare’s family is to be flown back to Mali later this week and buried in his remote village of Tafaciriga. In addition to the four children who died, Soumare has three sons in Mali.

“He goes home to three children. This is a day of light in what was a week of hell for this man,” immigration lawyer Michael Wildes said after his client received the re-entry permit.

The Magassa children were buried in New Jersey.

Three surviving fire victims are still hospitalized in good to fair condition.

Email from Jay Johnson-Castro.

Jay,

I don’t know if you know but it looks like the judge has said no to the Hazahza situation. What I read was that the courts think they should stay in jail for six months. Please let me know your thoughts,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My thoughts are simple…

I’m saddened…disappointed. And…what will they do with them after six months? Further destroy their lives?

The greed for money and the collective complicity is manifest. $7000 per month per victim x 6 months amounts to $42,000. There are 4 Hazahzas. $42,000 x 4 = $168,000.

The people who commit this are immoral, un-American…and ultimately criminal. It was legal to own, raise, and sell slaves at one time, too. They have just found a new way to enslave people for money. As in the case of slavery…a lot of humans suffered at the hands of those with political power over their lives. Lives are being ruined. Families are being ruined. Communities are being ruined.

I will be shortly sending out an insider’s report on how all this has come about. There are too many people who siphon money off of this immoral and inhumane design. When we break this mold…there will be a lot of people who will long remember. They’ll remember who committed these crimes against humanity…and who didn’t do anything. I will not be in either of those categories. I will continue to fight to free the victims.

Haskell will always be remembered for being a prison camp of people who never committed a crime. I only hope the people of the City of Haskell and Haskell County separate themselves from those who fail to protect innocent people…and even oppose such a travesty.

I am going to be doing a walk against such prisons in Cameron and Willacy Counties this next week. Not long after that…we will bring even more attention to Haskell to hold a vigil. When we do…the Haskell prison camp will be an embarrassment to the state, Perry and to the nation.

That’s my take…and thanks for asking.

Jay The Hazahza imprisonment began in early November. A six-month term would not end until late April.–gm