Refugees United States

He is an energetic man of 66, with silky white hair, mischievous eyes and a voice that erupts in a laugh so intense one is sure its force is meant to subdue some rising pain. He is replaying the years since he fled Iran in 1980--escaping a firing squad for the third time. "What I am really missing is my 12,000 volumes of books, which I left in Tehran," says Dr.

It has taken far too long, but Congress has finally begun addressing the plight of Iraqis who have become targets for violence because they worked for the United States or its contractors. Included in the defense authorization bill, which President Bush is expected to sign this week, is an amendment that will allow the United States to admit up to 5,000 Iraqis each year for the next five years as "special immigrants." The refugee language, originally written by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.

To settle a class-action suit filed in federal court in Sacramento, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has agreed to return millions of dollars in overcharges to more than 180,000 Salvadoran refugees who had applied for a temporary asylum program. Known as Temporary Protected Status, the program was created to provide temporary safe haven to refugees fleeing war or natural disaster in their home countries and was intended to be self-supporting.

The first Kosovo Albanian refugees returning home from the United States received joyful welcomes Tuesday from loved ones they thought they might never again see. There were embraces and tears, and shouts to friends and neighbors along the bustling streets. "This is the greatest day of all time," said Eshref Latifi, who returned home after almost four months. "We had doubts about ever being together again, but hope kept us alive."

Reversing a nearly decade-old practice, federal authorities Thursday announced a pilot program that will parole from detention facilities certain groups of foreign-born immigrants who are seeking political asylum.

Bush Administration officials conceded Wednesday that Washington lacks the money to process and resettle all of the Soviet emigres seeking refugee status in the United States, and one of the officials suggested that some might want to go to Israel or return to the Soviet Union. Jewish applicants who are turned away by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service "can always go to Israel or return to Russia," said Jewel S. Lafontant, the State Department's coordinator for refugee affairs.

It has taken far too long, but Congress has finally begun addressing the plight of Iraqis who have become targets for violence because they worked for the United States or its contractors. Included in the defense authorization bill, which President Bush is expected to sign this week, is an amendment that will allow the United States to admit up to 5,000 Iraqis each year for the next five years as "special immigrants." The refugee language, originally written by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.

Congress completed action Friday on legislation giving California and other states with large populations of new immigrants less than half of the $1 billion previously earmarked for 1991 assistance programs, promising to make up the difference next year. The bill, which contains funds for both immigrants and refugees, was sent to President Bush after budget-weary House members accepted changes approved late Thursday by the Senate.

In a move expected to have significant impact on Southern California's burgeoning refugee population, the U.S. government has issued major changes in the way asylum is granted to aliens who fear persecution at home and seek haven here. The new guidelines, which take effect Oct. 1 and will cost up to $9 million to implement, come after a decade of legal debate and negotiation and are intended, in part, to answer critics who say asylum has not always been granted even-handedly or efficiently.

America's growing immigration problems require the creation of an independent agency that would absorb the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the visa-granting and refugee responsibilities of the State Department, according to the results of a three-year study of immigration policy commissioned by Congress.

Seven-year-old Fitore Vlashi stood in a pink dress before the third-grade class, caught between cultures. The young Kosovar refugee had arrived in the United States with little more than the clothes on her back. The schoolchildren brought their own toys as gifts, offering them to Fitore one by one. As each student approached, Fitore's mother would whisper fiercely in Albanian, "Stand up, stand up!"--since in Kosovo, it is tradition to receive a gift standing up.

The first refugees bound for the U.S. left in the dark of early morning today, carrying almost no baggage but sorrow and the loss of what they have left behind. "I can't explain my feelings right now," said Xhavit Korca, 45, who was traveling with his family of five. "I'm very upset. I'm losing my birth land. The minute that Kosovo is free, I will come back."

To settle a class-action suit filed in federal court in Sacramento, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has agreed to return millions of dollars in overcharges to more than 180,000 Salvadoran refugees who had applied for a temporary asylum program. Known as Temporary Protected Status, the program was created to provide temporary safe haven to refugees fleeing war or natural disaster in their home countries and was intended to be self-supporting.

The case of Lawrencia Bembenek, now in its 11th year, has from its outlandish beginnings been ripe for true-crime miniseries treatment. The gist of the story to date: - Bembenek, a pin-up model and sometime Playboy Club waitress, is convicted of the brutal, execution-style murder of her husband's first wife in a tract house hard by a Wisconsin interstate while the victim's two young sons scream in the next bedroom.

In the midst of a slumping economy, national religious agencies that resettle refugees are scrambling to find congregations willing to a adopt Haitians entering the United States. Church workers say that finding a job and a place to live for the Haitians, at a time when growing numbers of Americans have neither, is getting harder. Beyond those immediate problems, religious organizations involved in resettlement have begun to take on a much bigger cause.

Encouraged by a recent loosening of procedures by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, a rush of Salvadoran refugees are applying for a unique program allowing them to temporarily live and work in the United States. With less than two weeks left before the June 30 application deadline, immigrants rights groups in Los Angeles say they are handling several thousand applications a week, compared with less than 100 a week three months ago.

Encouraged by a recent loosening of procedures by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, a rush of Salvadoran refugees are applying for a unique program allowing them to temporarily live and work in the United States. With less than two weeks left before the June 30 application deadline, immigrants rights groups in Los Angeles say they are handling several thousand applications a week, compared with less than 100 a week three months ago.

Peace groups, refugee lawyers in Canada and some Canadian consulates in the United States say they are receiving queries from draft-age American men who fear a reinstatement of conscription and who say they will flee north of the border if it comes. But Canada has changed substantially since the days of the Vietnam War, when it provided a haven to tens of thousands of American draft dodgers. Experts advise draft-age men and U.S.

Peace groups, refugee lawyers in Canada and some Canadian consulates in the United States say they are receiving queries from draft-age American men who fear a reinstatement of conscription and who say they will flee north of the border if it comes. But Canada has changed substantially since the days of the Vietnam War, when it provided a haven to tens of thousands of American draft dodgers. Experts advise draft-age men and U.S.

Congress completed action Friday on legislation giving California and other states with large populations of new immigrants less than half of the $1 billion previously earmarked for 1991 assistance programs, promising to make up the difference next year. The bill, which contains funds for both immigrants and refugees, was sent to President Bush after budget-weary House members accepted changes approved late Thursday by the Senate.