Refugees Housing

The Clinton Administration has won agreement from Jamaica to set up a facility on the Caribbean island to support shipborne immigration hearings for Haitian refugees fleeing their country by sea, officials said Tuesday. The agreement, which may be announced as early as today, will come as a major relief to the Administration, which has been searching for a home for the refugee processing operation ever since President Clinton announced his new hearing policy more than three weeks ago.

Like most refugees who fled this war-ravaged city to Albania or Macedonia, Naser Mehmetaj returned to find that his once-handsome two-story house had been torched by Yugoslav forces. Only the orange brick walls remained. So Mehmetaj pitched a donated tent beside his house. He is camping out with his wife, 70-year-old mother and five children.

Ismail Samakova may have set a record for hospitality. Thousands of Macedonian Albanians have opened their doors to their ethnic brothers and sisters who have been forced out of neighboring Kosovo by Serbian forces. But it is difficult to imagine that anyone has opened his doors wider than Samakova has.

The modern, 78-unit townhouse complex in this Kosovo village became a showpiece Tuesday of the mad, vicious refugee cycle spawned by a decade of wars in the Balkans. Until last week, the complex was a residential enclave built exclusively for Serbian refugees from nations that broke away from Yugoslavia earlier this decade. It was home to people such as Zivka Savic, 43, who in 1995 fled fighting in Croatia, and Dobrila Cuk, 40, who two years earlier escaped the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base tent cities set up to shelter Haitians and Cubans will close at the end of this month.

The modern, 78-unit townhouse complex in this Kosovo village became a showpiece Tuesday of the mad, vicious refugee cycle spawned by a decade of wars in the Balkans. Until last week, the complex was a residential enclave built exclusively for Serbian refugees from nations that broke away from Yugoslavia earlier this decade. It was home to people such as Zivka Savic, 43, who in 1995 fled fighting in Croatia, and Dobrila Cuk, 40, who two years earlier escaped the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Brutalized by warfare and drug violence, tens of thousands of Colombian peasants have fled the countryside during the last decade to settle in this sprawling shantytown outside Bogota. They are still streaming in, building row upon row of rickety, plywood-and-aluminum shacks and posing a major test for the 7-month-old government of President Ernesto Samper. Jobs here are few and public services are scarce.

Like most refugees who fled this war-ravaged city to Albania or Macedonia, Naser Mehmetaj returned to find that his once-handsome two-story house had been torched by Yugoslav forces. Only the orange brick walls remained. So Mehmetaj pitched a donated tent beside his house. He is camping out with his wife, 70-year-old mother and five children.

Every year, Januz Reka, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, rents vacation space in the resort town of Ulcinj, on Montenegro's Adriatic coast. He's in town again now, but this time as a refugee. "I always rented a room from the same landlord, but now he claims he does not recognize me, and I can have the room only if I pay 600 deutsche marks [$340] a month," Reka said. "Where can I get that kind of money?"

The Clinton Administration is facing a daunting and politically risky challenge as it prepares to expand the refugee detention centers at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: how to hold Cuban and Haitian refugees there indefinitely without inviting violence and riots. A series of disturbances already has erupted among Haitians at the base on Cuba's southeast shore. Although U.S.

Every year, Januz Reka, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, rents vacation space in the resort town of Ulcinj, on Montenegro's Adriatic coast. He's in town again now, but this time as a refugee. "I always rented a room from the same landlord, but now he claims he does not recognize me, and I can have the room only if I pay 600 deutsche marks [$340] a month," Reka said. "Where can I get that kind of money?"

Ismail Samakova may have set a record for hospitality. Thousands of Macedonian Albanians have opened their doors to their ethnic brothers and sisters who have been forced out of neighboring Kosovo by Serbian forces. But it is difficult to imagine that anyone has opened his doors wider than Samakova has.

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base tent cities set up to shelter Haitians and Cubans will close at the end of this month.

Brutalized by warfare and drug violence, tens of thousands of Colombian peasants have fled the countryside during the last decade to settle in this sprawling shantytown outside Bogota. They are still streaming in, building row upon row of rickety, plywood-and-aluminum shacks and posing a major test for the 7-month-old government of President Ernesto Samper. Jobs here are few and public services are scarce.

The Clinton Administration is facing a daunting and politically risky challenge as it prepares to expand the refugee detention centers at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: how to hold Cuban and Haitian refugees there indefinitely without inviting violence and riots. A series of disturbances already has erupted among Haitians at the base on Cuba's southeast shore. Although U.S.

The Clinton Administration has won agreement from Jamaica to set up a facility on the Caribbean island to support shipborne immigration hearings for Haitian refugees fleeing their country by sea, officials said Tuesday. The agreement, which may be announced as early as today, will come as a major relief to the Administration, which has been searching for a home for the refugee processing operation ever since President Clinton announced his new hearing policy more than three weeks ago.

On the porch of a friend's mobile home in Long Beach, the Cambodian doughnut king falls asleep each night shivering. Once, he enjoyed the warmth of family and the respect of his community. Once, he was a poor boy who carried away one of Cambodia's wealthiest daughters. Once, he was a millionaire who met three U.S. presidents. Ted Ngoy made a fortune in doughnuts. Over the years, he led thousands of his countrymen into the business.

The U.S Embassy will not process Soviets who want to settle in the United States as refugees until Oct. 1 because a huge surge in immigrants has exhausted government funds, an embassy spokeswoman said today. Armenians, who were the hardest hit by the move, criticized the decision.