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Minnesotans raise concerns about executive order restricting immigration from Myanmar, Eritrea

By Maya Rao Star Tribune

http://m.startribune.com/minnesotans-ra ... 567478412/


FILE - In this file photo dated Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2017, Rohingya Muslims, who crossed over from Myanmar into Bangladesh, wait in queues to receive aid at Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh.(A.M. AHAD – ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Minnesotans with ties to Myanmar and Eritrea raised concerns on Friday that President Donald Trump’s new executive order restricting immigration from those countries could interfere with families reuniting.

The Trump administration said it would block most immigration from those and four other countries in the interest of national security. Immigrant visas, issued mostly to foreigners intending to live in the United States, will be banned from Nigeria, Myanmar, Eritrea and Kyrgyzstan. The ban would prevent immigrants from Sudan and Tanzania from obtaining diversity visas drawn from a lottery.

The plan is not very clear to us yet, but there is a lot of apprehension by the Eritrean community and what it means to have this travel ban,

said Essey Asbu, host of Eritrean Community Radio on KFAI-FM (90.3 and 106.7) in the Twin Cities.

Eritrea is recovering from war, and living standards are poor, he said, and people want to come to America and reunite with their families.

It’s just a sad day in the relations of American and Eritrean history,

he said.

U.S. Homeland Security and State Department officials said some immigrants would be able to obtain waivers from the restrictions. The total number of countries on the restricted travel list, including Somalia and others banned previously by the Trump administration, now stands at 13. Immigration advocates are paying close attention to whether it could affect refugees, a group that is not explicitly included under the expanded travel ban.

At a time when so many of these countries are going through crisis, now is not the time for the U.S. to close its borders to these countries,

said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, one of the largest refugee resettlement agencies in the nation.

She added:

Our fear is that this expanded ban will operate as a policy preventing families from reunifying.

Last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said,

We’re adding a couple of countries. We have to be safe. Our country has to be safe. You see what’s going on in the world.

The administration has argued that the ban, originally enacted in 2017 to restrict travel from Muslim-majority countries, is necessary to ensure that countries satisfy security requirements for travel into the United States, or face restrictions until they do. It says that the countries on the list have harbored terrorists, maintained outdated passport systems or failed to ensure adequate information-sharing.

The expansion of the restrictions, which already affected more than 135 million people in seven countries, is likely to hinder more than 12,300 potential immigrants from resettling in the United States or reuniting with their families.

Myanmar, formerly Burma, has been one of the largest sources of refugees to Minnesota in recent years as the Karen ethnic minority flees persecution. Many still have family members who travel back and forth. Earlier this week, some were concerned about whether the ban would affect visas for temporary visits, but the administration says that there would not be restrictions on that type of travel for the new countries on the list.

It would definitely become challenging and a concern if that ban took place,

said Eh Tah Khu, co-executive director of the Karen Organization of Minnesota.

Hsa Moo Sheemo, a pastor at K’nyaw Baptist Church in St. Paul, had been concerned about whether relatives in Myanmar would be able to make it to his daughter’s summer wedding in Minnesota.

We should see if there’s a way to do a better job of screening people. … [The new policy] is putting everybody in the same bucket whether or not they are causing the problem, so it’s not a good thing,

said Sheemo, who came here as a refugee and is now an American citizen.

Veena Iyer, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, denounced the ban for targeting African countries, on top of Somalia, which was a target of the first ban. And she noted that it would affect family members living abroad of significant numbers of refugees and immigrants who came here from Myanmar and Eritrea.

This action will directly harm Minnesota communities,

she said in a statement.

The executive order comes as the 2020 election heats up. Trump is expected to use his travel ban, as well as his efforts to cut refugee admissions, to rally his political base. Democrats condemned its expansion.

The expansion of the administration’s latest travel ban to add additional countries including Myanmar, where many families in our state are from, is wrong,

said U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, in a statement.


PROVIDED, STAR TRIBUNE: Veena Iyer

The New York Times contributed to this report.

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Happy Birthday PIA.
ክሳብ ጥርዚ ናይቲ ጎቦ ንበጽሕ ብረትይን ብረቱን ተሰኪሙ ነቲ ጉዕዞ፡ዛዚሙዎ።

እዞም ጽኑዓት ምኩራትን ተባዓትን ብጾት አንተ ዘይህልዉስ፡ ህልውናን ህላወ ጉዳይናን ኣብ ልብናን ኣእምሮናን ኣይምሰፈረን ነይሩ

ምስ ነብሰይ ተዛረብኩ።
(DA⚘ #RLB4Leader: @ERI_HISTORY448)



ኣብ ኤርትራ ሓላፍነትን መዓርገን ውልቃዊ ዝናን ሽመትን ዘይኮነ፡ ንኣገልግሎት ህዝቢ ዘውሃብ ናይ ስራሕ ሓላፍነት ከምዝኾነ ተረዲኡ፡ ኣንቃዕሪሩ ዘይኮነ ደኒኑ ድምጺ ዉልቀሰብ ዝሰምዕ ፈጣርን ውላድ ህዝባዊ ሓይልታት ዘለዓለ ብዓል ስልጣን ኢዩ ዘሎ።
(Debesay Nebaray: @MiRAs1970)


On PIA's bday today, perhaps it is most interesting to understand President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea as a political theorist, one who descends from the same tradition as Cabral, Sankara, Nyerere, etc.



Post-referendum in 1993, Afwerki addressed the UN, stating:

Formidable as our problems are, we are confident that we can and will rebuild our devastated country and provide a decent life for ourselves. It is our firm conviction that outside assistance, no matter how generous, cannot of itself solve our problems. Ultimately, deliverance will depend on our own efforts, on the mobilization and efficient utilization of our resources.

He continues:

...Africa must seize its own destiny. Its people and leaders must tap deep into their human and material resources and come up with the wisdom, strategy and commitment to lift Africa from the mire. But as they set out on this difficult road the international community needs to come to their assistance, not with hand-outs that only increase dependency, not with the familiar packages and projects that have gone down the drain, not with preconceived formulas and attitudes of 'We know what is best,' but in a spirit of partnership dedicated to helping Africa to stand on its own feet and contribute to the enrichment of human life and the protection of the environment.

(Dina M. A.: @blkgirlmilieux)

Pleased to meet the great author Tesfaye Gebreab who wrote many books about our regional politics, but most of all Mahder Nurenebi is a must read to Eritreans & Ethiopians. It depicts how our ugly past is interwoven & the hope of change, to live in peace as equals.
(AMB. Beyene Russom: @BeyeneRussom)

Diplomatic history thread:

...pressured by the United States, a UN commission recommended that Eritrea become part of a federation with Ethiopia rather than a separate nation.

Source: Paths to Victory: Detailed Insurgency Case Studies, Rand Corporation, 2013
(Eri Diplomacy : @DiplomacyEri)

Eritrea: Part of the military parade in Sawa during the celebration of the Silver Jubilee, of the start of the national service.
(mahmud frezer: @SamiKubud)



Huge flat screen installed, at Sawa Educational & Vocational Training Center .... for leisure time (Shur Shur)

Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan kick against expanded US travel restriction

February 2, 2020



By Ripples Nigeria

https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/eritrea- ... striction/

The governments of Eritrea, and Kyrgyzstan have both denounced the move by President Donald Trump of the United States of America to add both countries to its expanded travel ban list.

Reacting to the travel ban, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed said on Saturday that the government saw the ban as a political move that would hurt the country’s relations with the US.

We find this move unacceptable,

he told Reuters news agency by telephone.

We will, however, not expel the US ambassador,

Mohammed said.

In the same vein, the government of Kyrgyzstan on Saturday condemned the immigration restrictions by the US that will restrict travel to the US from the ex-Soviet country, complaining they were applied selectively and had damaged relations.

Trump’s move to add Nigeria and six other countries to its expanded travel ban list has been condemned by civil organisations in the United States of America.

Reacting to the expanded list, Immigrant advocates and rights groups on Friday slammed the expansion of President Trump’s controversial travel ban, saying it weaponises

immigration law to advance [the administration’s] xenophobic agenda.

The rights groups decried Friday’s announcement, saying the

Trump administration continues to push white supremacist and exclusionary policies that discriminate on the basis of faith, national origin, and immigration status.