The facts demonstrate that, in Chertoff's eyes, all Muslims and anyone who comes from a country with a Muslim majority is automatically suspected of being a terrorist, and should not be allowed into our pristine nation — or, if already here, should be deported. I've written about this before, pointing out that this is not "The American Way.” The number of refugees we've accepted from Iraq, people who, after all, owe their refugee status to us, is shamefully small. We've allowed less than 500 Iraqi refugees into this country since the war began, while Sweden, the European champion for accepting refugees, has accepted over 80,000! We can't go on like this. We must allow Iraqi refugees to come here, as we have refugees from wars past. President Gerald Ford personally arranged for thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia to come to the U.S. in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. And we must allow people like Ruslan Sharipov, who has the probability of becoming a highly functioning and valuable member of American society, to stay here and enjoy a future free from oppression. Isn't that why almost all of our ancestors came here? Do we really want to end this great experiment in democracy? The current congressional brouhaha over immigration reform is being watched closely all over the world. We talk loudly about American values and generosity, and we claim that we are determined to spread democracy and the American ethos all over the world. But again, the people of the world are watching. Is that really the message we're sending?
Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: Is homeland security really serving democracy?
Is homeland security really serving democracy?
A commentary by John Smart
The Daily Press
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 09:21:17 AM
In March of 2005, Tom Barry published an article on the International Relations Center's website regarding Michael Chertoff, the current Secretary of Homeland Security. Mr. Barry is the Policy Director of the IRC, and it sounded to me like he knew whereof he spoke. I recently reread it on Common Dreams, and it certainly did not make me feel more secure. [http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0329-32.htm]
Regular readers of my commentaries will know of my concern for the people of Uzbekistan. I served in that Central Asian nation for three years as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1995 through 1998, and I have been trying ever since, in my small way, to help the wonderful Uzbek people as much as I can.
The regime there is widely regarded as one of the most repressive in the world. I was embarrassed that the Bush administration treated them like favored buddies for several years, sending dignitaries to Tashkent to praise their "President-for-Life," Islom Karimov, and to greet him as a trusted friend when he visited the White House. What Bush's planners were doing was angling to get control of the huge old Soviet airbase at Karshi-Khanabad, which was later used by the U.S. military in the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.
But then, on May 13, 2005, Uzbek "Homeland Security" troops fired on peaceful demonstrators in the streets of Andijan, a city in eastern Uzbekistan, killing many — the exact number is still in doubt but ranges from the official 187 to 5,000. )For more information on this outrage, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2005_unrest_in_Uzbekistan.)
The European Union was the first to criticize the Uzbek regime for this violent atrocity, and the U.S. was finally shamed into joining them. This led to the Uzbek regime angrily turning from the western powers and concentrating on re-establishing ties with Russia and China. They also expelled the U.S. military from that airbase, which finally soured the favored nation relationship that the Bushies had fostered.
One of my former students, a young journalist named Ruslan Sharipov, was caught up in this conflict. Ruslan was arrested in Tashkent and charged with violating the country's antiquated laws against homosexuality. Ruslan is indeed gay and has never denied it.
That was not, however, the real reason he was arrested, tried and thrown into prison it was his effective work as an underground, anti-regime journalist who spoke out powerfully against the human rights abuses in his country.
This work led to his being awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom by the World Association of Newspapers, based in Paris. Sadly, he was unable to attend the awards ceremony in Istanbul in 2004 as he was in prison. Repeated pleas to President Karimov were to no avail. [https://www.wan-press.org/article4429.html]
A number of people all over the world worked very hard to obtain Ruslan's release from that Uzbek prison. The World Association of Newspapers, PEN and Human Rights Watch were untiring in his cause. I worked with Senator Feingold's staff from this end, and my Senator enlisted help from several of his colleagues, notably Senator Blanche Lincoln, of Arkansas. They put pressure on the U.S. State Department to put pressure on the Uzbek Foreign Ministry, and it all miraculously worked!
Ruslan told me that his guards came to him one day in October of 2004 and said, "Come with us." He was certain that they were going to take him out and shoot him. It had happened to many others before, after all. But someone helped him to escape, and put him on a train to Russia. Human Rights Watch personnel met him in Moscow and arranged for him to be hospitalized for several weeks. After the frighteningly harsh prison conditions, he was understandably very ill.
Eventually, we managed to get Ruslan a U.S. visa and official status as a political refugee, and he was flown to Sacramento, California, where he is now, living with his mother and two brothers, who had gotten out earlier.
Here is where the Department of Homeland Security comes in: Uzbekistan is no longer on the "favored nation" list, of course, and Ruslan is now being denied permanent resident status or a "Green Card," which would allow him to earn his living as a journalist, because of the original charges of homosexuality brought by the Uzbek government. The official term used is he was guilty of the "commission of a crime involving moral terpitude." Does that make any sense?
It should be clear that deporting him back to Uzbekistan would not be in Ruslan's best interests at all. The human rights record of Karimov and his henchmen is much worse these days, and Ruslan would be treated very badly — guaranteed.
So why is Ruslan being denied permanent residency status? Here is where Secretary Chertoff comes in. A brief study of his actions and opinions as a U.S. Circuit Court judge, federal attorney and deputy attorney general describes a major hardliner when it comes to cases like Ruslan's and immigrants in general. Like so many other Bush appointees, Chertoff's principle qualification seems to be absolute loyalty to the Bush/Cheny agenda, and that doesn't make me feel more secure either!
The facts demonstrate that, in Chertoff's eyes, all Muslims and anyone who comes from a country with a Muslim majority is automatically suspected of being a terrorist, and should not be allowed into our pristine nation — or, if already here, should be deported.
I've written about this before, pointing out that this is not "The American Way.” The number of refugees we've accepted from Iraq, people who, after all, owe their refugee status to us, is shamefully small. We've allowed less than 500 Iraqi refugees into this country since the war began, while Sweden, the European champion for accepting refugees, has accepted over 80,000!
We can't go on like this. We must allow Iraqi refugees to come here, as we have refugees from wars past. President Gerald Ford personally arranged for thousands of refugees from Southeast Asia to come to the U.S. in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
And we must allow people like Ruslan Sharipov, who has the probability of becoming a highly functioning and valuable member of American society, to stay here and enjoy a future free from oppression. Isn't that why almost all of our ancestors came here? Do we really want to end this great experiment in democracy?
The current congressional brouhaha over immigration reform is being watched closely all over the world. We talk loudly about American values and generosity, and we claim that we are determined to spread democracy and the American ethos all over the world. But again, the people of the world are watching. Is that really the message we're sending?
John Smart is retired in Park Falls. He is a member of the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the United Nations, the UN Association of the USA and Citizens for Global Solutions. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan from 1995 through 1998, serves on the Park Falls School Board and chairs the Democratic Party of Price County.
