December 4, 2004: Headlines: COS - Marshall Islands: Service: Crime: Homeland Security: Immigration: Yokwe Online: Jimmy Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with Marshall Islands RPCV Bob Cress's family of Minneapolis
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December 19, 2004: Headlines: COS - Marshall Islands: Service: Crime: Homeland Security: Immigration: Bismark Tribune: RPCV Bob Cress helped get Jimmy Mote released after almost one year in custody :
December 4, 2004: Headlines: COS - Marshall Islands: Service: Crime: Homeland Security: Immigration: Yokwe Online: Jimmy Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with Marshall Islands RPCV Bob Cress's family of Minneapolis
Jimmy Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with Marshall Islands RPCV Bob Cress's family of Minneapolis
Jimmy Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with Marshall Islands RPCV Bob Cress's family of Minneapolis
Year-long Immigration Ordeal for Marshallese Man Ends Happily
Jimmy Mote is home for Christmas with his family in North Dakota. On Thursday, December 2, a Minnesota immigration judge told Mote that he was a free man. The Marshall Islands' man and his family now look forward to a cozy holiday together, unlike last year when Mote spent the season locked behind cold, cell walls.
In December of 2003, Mote, upon seeking new state I.D., was arrested in North Dakota, detained, and eventually sent to Carver County Jail in Chaska, Minnesota for six months when Homeland Security questioned his immigration status and criminal record.
Mote had entered the United States legally under provisions Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. RMI Citizens can enter the US freely, with only a passport, and reside any duration of time as non-immigrants.
In July, he was released into a home-monitoring custody program, which required him to stay-put locally.
Mote found help and hope in a new friendship with the Bob Cress family of Minneapolis. Bob, a former Peace Corps volunteer to the Marshall Islands, and his wife, Margina, a Marshallese, eager to help Mote, broke the news of Mote's situation to the Marshalls' Embassy in Washington, D.C. and Yokwe Online.
At the first hearing in August, the judge did not terminate proceedings and set the next hearing for December.
While still in the home-custody program for the past five months, Mote has been living with the Cress Family. Mote was allowed a work permit by his supervisory office, but unable to secure work in the Minneapolis area. When Mote went to the hearing last Thursday, he had no assurance of the outcome.
Last Friday evening, Mote said he is so glad to be free again. He said he appreciated emails and gifts of support he received from Marshall Islanders in the States and abroad, who had read his story at this website.
When asked if he had any comment about his ordeal, Mote said only, "I want to thank Bob and Margina Cress and family for all their help."
--by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, December 4, 2004
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Yokwe Online
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Marshall Islands; Service; Crime; Homeland Security; Immigration
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