Weekend Links

• Boys with sisters are more likely to be Republican
• We are asking men the wrong question when it comes to violence against women
• Responding to Anne-Marie Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg
• Freida Pinto says the film industry is too male dominated
• Coming to a refugee camp near you: Ikea
• Brazilian youth entry into drug gangs
• Cell phones cause war?

Haitians Granted TPS!

At 5 P.M. this evening, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that she was extending TPS to all Haitians currently in the United States:

“As part of the Department’s ongoing efforts to assist Haiti following Tuesday’s devastating earthquake, I am announcing the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals who were in the United States as of January 12, 2010. This is a disaster of historic proportions and this designation will allow eligible Haitian nationals in the United States to continue living and working in our country for the next 18 months. Providing a temporary refuge for Haitian nationals who are currently in the United States and whose personal safety would be endangered by returning to Haiti is part of this Administration’s continuing efforts to support Haiti’s recovery. [. . .] Haitians in the U.S. who are eligible to apply for TPS should call USCIS toll-free at (800) 375-5283.”

Earthquake in Haiti Changes Immigration Policy in the US

Responding to the devastation from the Haiti, the Obama administration has temporarily suspended deportations of undocumented immigrants from that country. About 30,000 Haitians in the United States are facing deportation orders.

While this is a decent move, some advocates are urging more action From Foreign Policy:

Now, immigrants' rights advocates and Florida lawmakers are pushing the administration to grant Haitians Temporary Protected Status, a special dispensation given to immigrants who cannot return to their homelands:

On Wednesday, South Florida's three Cuban-American Republican members of Congress -- Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- sent a joint letter to Obama requesting TPS for Haitian nationals, along with immediate humanitarian aid for Haiti. They have organized a news conference on Thursday to talk about the issue.

"How much does Haiti have to suffer before Haitians in the United States are granted TPS pursuant to law?'' said Lincoln Diaz-Balart Wednesday. ``The reason TPS exists in the statute as an option for the president is precisely for moments such as this in Haiti.''

The other countries whose nationals are currently eligible for TPS are El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan. Given Haiti's traumatic recent history and promximity to the U.S., I have to wonder why isn't already on that list.

From the New York Times:

Lawmakers and immigrant advocacy groups renewed calls for the administration to grant Haiti a special status that would shield Haitian immigrants in this country from deportation for an extended period and allow them to work legally. The Haitian government and advocates here have been asking Washington to grant the status, known as temporary protected status, since late 2008.

Haiti has sought the status after a punishing series of natural disasters, starting with floods in 2004 that left more than 5,000 people dead or missing. In 2008, four big storms killed at least 800 people and destroyed most of Haiti’s food crops.

The Bush administration decided against granting Haitians the temporary status in December 2008, and the Obama administration decided last March to continue deporting Haitians.

Among those calling on Wednesday for the Obama administration to reconsider were Senators Schumer and Gillibrand New York, both Democrats, and Representatives Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart of south Florida, both Republicans, as well as John C. Favalora, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Miami.

Via Immigration Impact:

A TPS designation based on a natural disaster requires first that the affected country request the designation, that DHS and the State Department determine that a substantial but temporary disruption of living conditions has taken place, and finally that the country is temporarily unable to handle the return of its citizens who are abroad.

Given Haiti’s chronic poverty, civil unrest, and lack of infrastructure, coupled with frequent and punishing tropical storms and hurricanes, it seems that granting TPS for Haiti would have been an easy policy decision many times over in the last decade. Thus far, however, nationals of Haiti living in the U.S. have never been eligible for TPS. Haiti’s proximity to the U.S., politicians’ fear of mass exodus, and trumped up national security claims, such as those made under Attorney General John Ashcroft, have kept Haitians in limbo for years.

During a national call with advocates on Wednesday, the White House acknowledged the many voices already calling for TPS, but said it intended to focus on immediate relief efforts in the coming days. In President Obama’s pledge of support yesterday, he stated that a response to Haiti’s devastating loss will “require every element of our national capacity” and that “Haiti must be a top priority for [U.S. diplomatic, developmental and military] departments and agencies”—which begs the question, “Doesn’t granting TPS to unauthorized Haitians currently in the U.S. count as a “top priority?”

Past administrations, however, have a history of denying Haitians protection. As reported in the L.A. Times, DHS deported 30,000 Haitians in February 2008, as first ordered by the Bush administration, which left 600 Haitians languishing in detention centers after the Haitian government stopped issuing travel documents. To say nothing of the fact that the U.S. has generously offered TPS to other nations in need following national disasters—namely to “82,000 Hondurans and 5,000 Nicaraguans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and to 260,000 Salvadorans after an earthquake in 2001,” according to Think Progress’s Wonk Room.

Meanwhile, both Republican and Democratic leaders continue to urge the Administration to grant TPS to Haitians in the U.S. According the L.A. Times:

Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen wrote a letter to Obama arguing that “the combined destruction from today’s catastrophic earthquake and the previous storms clearly makes forced repatriation of Haitians hazardous to their safety at this time…We strongly believe that it is for such a situation that Congress created TPS.” Even Broward Democrat Alcee Hastings added his name to the effort, calling it “not only immoral, but irresponsible” to send the illegal Haitians back home.”

The problem, however, is that a TPS designation takes time. Both the State Department and DHS have lengthy review procedures that analyze and calculate a range of requirements, followed by even more analysis within the White House itself. And the longer the Administration waits to consider whether or not to grant TPS, the more likely it is that desperate Haitians will make their way to the country anyway, simply hoping that this time the U.S. will treat them well. Instead, a quick decision to grant TPS, coupled with relief measures designed to help people rebuild their lives in Haiti, is a much better prescription for managing the flow of desperate human souls who emerge from the rubble of Port au Prince.

On a side note if you want to make a quick donation to the relief effort, text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate to the Red Cross or if you are looking for a particularly good organization to donate too- donate to Paul Farmer's organization: Partners in Health.

More Refugees Fleeing to Israel from Egypt

Via The National:

Many once fled no farther than Egypt, but the increasingly dismal situation for refugees there has sent many running for the border.

Previously abundant resettlement programmes in Egypt have been slashed, asylum-seekers are detained and often denied access to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or even deported.

At the same time, rumours of high wages and a sense of security in Israel have spread as far as the highlands of Eritrea and the villages of Darfur.

Last year, Israel adopted a policy of ‘hot returns’ – quickly sending illegal border crossers back to Egypt without processing refugees’ claims. The policy is now being challenged in Israel’s Supreme Court, but this year alone over 200 new arrivals were promptly deported to Egypt – a policy human rights groups and the UNHCR says is illegal under international law. Others have been held in detention centres for months.

For those that do manage to make it to Tel Aviv, work and residence permits are being restricted and earlier this year the government cracked down on illegal migrants with mass arrests.

Changing realities will not, however, necessarily dissuade people from making the journey.

“People talk. It doesn’t take long for a message to get passed back,” said Mr Kagan of Cairo’s Center for Migration and Refugee Studies. “There is a ‘the-streets-are-paved-with-gold’ phenomenon in terms of what people back home learn about destination countries. They might not learn about all the hardships.

Isreal is searching to find solutions, but has not had the best record for their treatment of refugees.

Detaining 'Unadjusted Refugees'

Great Analysis of the DHS's policy on detaining "unadjusted refugees" via Immigration Impact:

Despite [President Obama's] commitment to helping refugees resettle in the U.S. permanently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its sub-agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have adopted a policy of incarcerating refugees who have not adjusted to permanent resident status after one year of residency in the U.S. (“unadjusted refugees”). Often ICE comes in contact with unadjusted refugees who have had some contact with local law enforcement; however ICE also has detained refugees who have no criminal charges pending against them. In recent months, advocates have alerted DHS and ICE about such detained refugees in regions including Minneapolis, MN; Florence, AZ; Eloy, AZ; York, PA; Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA.

ICE defends this detention policy by citing section 209(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) which states that refugees who have not acquired permanent resident status after one year “shall return or be returned to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security for inspection and examination for admission.” ICE says “return to custody” means that refugees who have not applied for permanent resident status after one year may be detained and held while they complete their adjustment application and while ICE’s sister organization, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), adjudicates it. This interpretation is particularly unfair since the law prohibits refugees from applying for permanent residence until one year after they have been admitted to the U.S. as refugees. In essence, ICE detains refugees for not doing what the law bars them from doing.

ICE’s interpretation of the law has particularly harsh consequences for refugees. First, the refugee is not in removal proceedings, so he or she cannot request bond before an Immigration Judge. Without an opportunity to be released, the refugee must complete the adjustment application process in detention—for example, he or she must appear for the required USCIS interview and obtain vaccinations while detained. In some cases, the process can take over a year.

Second, even if USCIS denies the refugee’s application for adjustment and he or she is placed in removal proceedings, ICE has charged the refugee as an “arriving alien.” Under the relevant law, “arriving aliens” may not ask an Immigration Judge for a bond hearing and are entirely dependant on ICE—the prosecutor in the case—for release from detention. The interpretation of refugees as “arriving aliens” is incorrect because refugees have already been admitted to the U.S. as a refugee. Despite this, when the agency charges them as “arriving aliens,” refugees are unable to seek release from detention from a neutral decision-maker—neither during the pendency of the adjustment application, nor during removal proceedings.

Europe Moves to Open Its Doors to More Refugees

Via Time Magazine:

In an effort to help spread the load across Europe, the European Commission unveiled new plans on Wednesday for resettling refugees, arguing that the European Union should "take on a greater share of the burden of meeting resettlement needs worldwide." The scheme could save lives as it aims to discourage people, mainly Africans, from trying to reach Europe illegally, crowded onto rickety boats or hidden in trucks. The Amsterdam-based NGO United Against Racism estimates that, since 1993, over 13,250 hopeful refugees have died while trying to reach Europe.

The proposal is also about helping the E.U. meet its political and moral obligations towards refugees who cannot return to their home countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that for 2010 alone, out of about 10 million refugees worldwide, 203,000 need permanent resettlement. Yet last year, only 6.7% of the refugees resettled globally were accepted by the E.U. - a total of just 4,375. By comparison, over 60,000 refugees were resettled to the United States. The Commission says these low numbers harm the E.U.'s international standing and give the impression of a "Fortress Europe" when it comes to refugees.

Only 10 of the E.U.'s 27 member states regularly accept resettled refugees, while some of the others resettle on an ad-hoc basis. The rates for granting refugee status also differ widely across Europe: Sweden has given asylum to 80% of Iraqi refugees who have applied, while the U.K. and Germany have each only accepted about 10% of applicants from Iraq. Greece has stopped taking Iraqi asylum applications altogether.

Senator Ted Kennedy's Legacy on Immigration Reform

Senator Ted Kennedy was a friend to immigrants and immigration advocates. Tirelessly championing for immigration reform, he has an impressive record for fighting for the rights of undocumented workers, refugees, and all other immigrants. Here is an interview with him about immigration reform and some highlights of his career:

• The 1965 overhaul was first proposed by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and it was the first piece of legislation that Kennedy managed on the floor of the Senate.
• In 1965, his party’s leaders gave him the job of pushing a bill to eliminate the quota system that had made it virtually impossible for anyone from anywhere but western Europe to immigrate to the USA. After winning that legislative battle, Kennedy “remained the Senate’s most impassioned advocate for widening opportunities for America’s newcomers.”
• Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees during the Vietnam war, which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees.
• Kennedy helped bring a close to the exploitive Bracero program, which supplied the U.S. cheap and temporary labor during World War II in the form of Mexican farm laborers who did not have proper protections or rights
• He was the architect of the Refuge Act of 1980, a piece of legislation that, since its passage, has fostered a new life for hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylees, sheltering them from persecution in their home countries.
• He helped shape the 1986 bill that granted amnesty to an estimated 2.7 million people living undocumented in the USA and established penalties against employers who hired undocumented immigrants.
• He helped shape the 1990 bill that revised the legal immigration system to allow for more immigrants and more high-skilled workers.
• "He fashioned the modern-day legal system of immigration. He created humane refugee and asylum policies. And he has set the stage for a 21st century solution to the problem of illegal immigration," said Frank Sharry, an immigrant rights advocate who worked with Kennedy on legislation.
• Senator Kennedy also helped author the AgJobs bill of 2003, which gave undocumented farmers residency so they could continue working in the U.S.
• By creating an unlikely partnership with John McCain, Kennedy set the tone for a bipartisan approach to immigration reform, resulting in passage of immigration reform in the Senate in 2006. While that legislation ultimately failed, he came back with renewed vigor in 2007 to start the process again.
• Senator Kennedy was the chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, & Border Security. Senator Kennedy, always the supreme negotiator, sat down with Members from both sides of the aisle, Secretary Chertoff, and Secretary Gutierrez to hammer out a deal. That deal, S. 1348, met with lukewarm support from many immigration advocates and was pilloried by those on the far right, who turned the Senate’s efforts to find a way out of our immigration mess into a personal vendetta against immigrants.
• Senator Kennedy persisted, tirelessly working to “bring the twelve million out of the shadows.” This was his mantra and his assessment that our last, best chance to reform immigration could be at this moment. Twice in 2007, the Senator gave very moving speeches.
• In the last two years, he was worked tirelessly to expand resettlement opportunities for Iraqi refugees, particularly those who worked for the United States and had to flee the country to escape threats against their lives.
  
• The history of his involvement with leaders like Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez can be seen at the website of the United Farmworkers.

Popular Destination for Refugees: North Dakota

It’s always difficult to be an immigrant or refugee coming to a new country. It can be even tougher during times of recession. But what’s it like to be in the refugee placement business these days? In some states, businesses here lean heavily on refugee workers. The World’s Jason Margolis reports from North Dakota.

New Curriculum for High School Students about Refugees

Mary Ann Zehr of Education Week reports:

Resource: Curriculum on Refugee and Migration Issues

Jesuit Refugee Services/USA has designed a free curriculum to teach high school students about refugee and migration issues. The lessons are intended to help students explore issues such as why people are forcibly displaced from their homes and how the United States and the world as a whole have responded, or haven't responded, to refugees.

Frankly, this is the first curriculum on refugee and migration issues that's ever come across my desk. The recommended books and reports accompanying the curriculum could provide opportunities for both teachers and students to learn more about displaced people, many of whom are in our schools here in the United States.

(HT: ImmigrationProf Blog)

Israel and Refugees

Israel has in the past berated other countries for historically failing to help Jewish refugees . It is now cracking down on asylum seekers and refugees seeking protection within their borders. The Guardian reports:

Israel – the "state of the refugees" whose culture has been shaped, for better and worse, by migration – is now turning on the migrants and refugees who seek a safe haven within its borders.

The Knesset decided to resume work on a bill, tellingly titled the Infiltrators Law (pdf), which aims to reorganise Israel's confused and haphazard dealings with the refugees from Darfur, South Sudan, Congo and Eritrea who manage to reach its Egyptian border. It brands all those who cross this border other than through designated terminals as "infiltrators", and instructs soldiers who find them to quickly determine if they can be handed back immediately to the Egyptian troops.

In the case of asylum seekers (who cannot be summarily returned), the bill proceeds to set forth their punishments, since "we believe that anyone crossing illegally into a country does so with ill intent". Anyone who is a citizen of an enemy state or territory (such as Sudan and Gaza) can be sentenced to seven years in prison; anyone carrying a weapon, which "includes knives" (ever tried walking across 120 miles of desert without a knife?), or anyone accompanying a person carrying a weapon (such as a family guided by an armed smuggler), can get up to 20 years. The bill passed its first reading in March last year and the latest decision means it can pass the rest of Israel's legislative process within weeks.

Bur the draft law goes further. The 17,000 asylum seekers who did manage to enter Israel in the last nine years are supported by a network of selfless Israelis. From the Workers Hotline that tries to provide them with jobs, through Assaf, which provides them with legal aid and caters to their basic needs, all the way to inspired individuals who assist the refugees on the ground, there is work here reminiscent of the slave-trade era's Underground Railroad. And there is a corresponding memento in clause five of the bill:

He who assists one who transgresses against this law, by easing the act of infiltration or by easing the infiltrator's illegal stay in the state, shall be punished exactly as the perpetrator of the actual offence.

Neither the draft nor its accompanying notes elaborate as to what "assistance" means. The vague and generic phrasing of this clause makes it possible to prosecute the NGOs and volunteers that assist refugees, employers who engage them and volunteer physicians who treat them. In fact, anyone offering a parched refugee a drink of water or a ride can get up to 20 years.

The draft also expands the authority of police, granting new arrest powers to regular soldiers "if they have reasonable grounds to suspect a person had recently infiltrated Israel", and granting soldiers and police the powers "to enter at any reasonable time to any locality, excepting living quarters, if they suspect a person defined as infiltrator is to be found within said locality, and carry out inspections".

In other words, any policeman or soldier could enter, without a warrant, almost any place, if they believed that an "infiltrator" is to be found there. The exclusion of living quarters still leaves schools, clinics, hospitals, and, importantly, NGO offices, vulnerable to such searches, and another clause notes the searchers may use "reasonable force against persons or property" if resisted.

The latest legislative feat of Israel, which never misses an opportunity to remind western countries of how they failed to take in Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, is repugnant. But this bill is only one of a series of measures Israel is taking against its non-Jewish residents.

In August, Israel plans to force a mass exodus of most of the 250,000 migrant workers, and to replace them with fresh labour. Israel is operating by the twin codes of pragmatic xenophobia and practical double standards. Foreigners are allowed to work at the lowest end of the market, but not to strike roots, raise families and integrate; the Jewish refugees of 70 years ago are a great stick to beat the west with, but heaven forbid we show compassion to present-day, non-Jewish refugees, lest our precious demographic balance is disrupted.

World Refugee Day

Today is Refugee Day! The official theme for the day is "Real People, Real Needs." Here is what some other organizations are doing:

• AlertNet, "Refugee Day: Full Coverage Page"
• Amnesty International, "World Refugee Day: Lives in danger as governments deny refugees protection in Europe"
• BADIL, "Palestinian Refugees: A Wound to the Conscience of Humanity that Gets Deeper With Every Year"CARE, "Widespread Trauma Among Displaced Pakistanis: Children especially need psychosocial support"European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), World Refugee Day 2009- Provides links to member organizations.
• Forum Réfugiés, "Journée mondiale du réfugié - 20 juin 2009"
• France Terre d'Asile, "Journée mondiale du réfugié"
• Human Rights First, "World Refugee Day Must Spark Renewed Commitment to U.S. Protection of Refugees"
• International Rescue Committee, "World Refugee Day Quiz"
• IntLawGrrls Blog, "Remembering Refugees"
• Jesuit Refugee Service, "Welcoming refugees safeguards international protection"
• Refugees International Blog, "Guest Blogger: HM Queen Noor Honors World Refugee Day"
• Towards Recognition Blog, "June 20th is World Refugee Day"
• UNHCR, World Refugee Day Live- Live streaming video from "Iraq, Pakistan, a refugee camp in Africa and a settlement for the displaced in Colombia."
• Women's Refugee Commission, "World Refugee Day 2009: Real People, Real Needs"

(HT: Refugee Migration Current Awareness Blog)

A round up of some news:

• AP: 'Clinton urges countries to combat refugee crisis'
• ABC News: A Window into the World's Refugee Crises'
• BBC Highlights Refugees in the Balkans
• U.S. Representative Pelosi's statement on refugees
• Voice of America "World Refugee Day Focuses on Plight of 42 Million Uprooted People"
• Huffington Post focuses on the conditions of refugees in the U.S.
  

Also watch Angelina Jolie's PSA:

Easterly on Iraqi Refugees

Bill Easterly is asking 'Why is the US resettling Iraqi refugees into poverty?

More on Somali Youth Disappearing

Previously, I blogged about Somali youth disappearing from Minneapolis, NPR has a follow up story:

The Somali communities in Boston, Cleveland, San Diego and Seattle are also missing young Somalis. But nowhere have the numbers been as high as they have been in the Twin Cities — where up to 27 young men have vanished. And that, of course, raises the question: Why here?

The FBI has looked for some answers at a local school: Theodore Roosevelt High School. It's a two-story brick building in the suburbs of Minneapolis nestled in a neighborhood of bungalows on a narrow strip of road.

Inside, the hallways echo with foreign languages, some smatterings of Spanish and French and Somali.

At one point in the late 1990s, Roosevelt had the largest concentration of Somali students in America. One of them was a skinny 15-year-old named Shirwa Ahmed. He left Minneapolis for Somalia in 2007. He blew himself up in a suicide bombing last year. His remains are in an unmarked grave on the outskirts of town.

New Somalis are arriving in Minneapolis all the time, and many begin their high school careers in what is essentially a Somali phonics class. A lot of the new Somali students are illiterate. So they basically sound out Somali words on the board — as first-graders might do in this country. As a result, in many ways, they have become isolated even in their own high school.

And in Minneapolis, that small percentage was convinced to go to Somalia and join the fight there. Parents in the Somali community, for their part, are soul-searching. They wish they had kept a better eye on their kids and, instead of trying to get them to forget about Somalia, warned them about how dangerous it is there. Most of all, they are anxious for the FBI to tell them who is taking their children.

More on Autism among the Somali Population in Minneapolis

Confirming the fears of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Health Department agreed that young Somali children there appeared to have higher-than-usual rates of autism. The New York Times reports:

Though health officials emphasized that their report was based on very limited data, they concluded that young Somali children appeared to be two to seven times as likely as other children to be in classes for autistic pupils.

Dr. Sanne Magnan, the state health commissioner, said the finding was “consistent with the observations by parents,” who have been saying for more than a year that alarming numbers of Somali children born in this country have severe autism.

Dr. Magnan said possible next steps included extending the study to Minneapolis suburbs or other cities with Somali populations or doing a study based on medical diagnoses that would try to determine autism rates statewide.

There have been anecdotal reports of higher autism rates among Somalis in some American cities, and no formal studies. A small study in Sweden reported high rates among Somali schoolchildren in Stockholm.

Responding to the Health Needs of Refugees: Minneapolis, MN

Another part in the 'Remade America' series by the New York Times describes the difficulties of treating the health problems of refugees and immigrants, using Minneapolis, MN as an example city:

Many arrive with health problems seldom seen in this country — vitamin deficiencies, intestinal parasites and infectious diseases like tuberculosis, for instance — and unusually high levels of emotional trauma and stress. Over time, as they pick up Western habits, some develop Western ailments, too, like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, and yet they often question the unfamiliar lifelong treatments these chronic diseases need.

Some also resist conventional medical wisdom or practices, forcing change on the hospital. The objections of Somali women to having babies delivered by male doctors has led Hennepin, gradually, to develop an obstetrical staff made up almost entirely of women.

Doctors here say that for many of these newcomers, the most common health problems, and the hardest to treat, lie at the blurry line between body and mind, where emotional scars from troubled pasts may surface as physical illness, pain and depression.

If they were not treated here, where would they be treated?

Obama Extends Liberian Stay

President Obama signed an executive order allowing approximately 3,600 Liberians living in the United States to remain in the country for an additional 12 months. An 18-month extension issued by President George W. Bush was set to expire March 31. The Liberians are staying in the U.S. under deferred enforced departure status.

More than 250,000 Liberians live in the United States, with large enclaves in the Carolinas, Georgia, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.

Temporary protected status is an immigration status given to nationals of countries or parts of countries that are deemed by the U.S. government to be too unsafe for nationals to return. That status can be granted for reasons like an armed conflict or environmental disaster.

Autism among the Somali Population in Minneapolis

Autism is terrifying the community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, and some pediatricians and educators have joined parents in raising the alarm. But public health experts say it is hard to tell whether the apparent surge of cases is an actual outbreak, with a cause that can be addressed, or just a statistical fluke. The New York Times reports:

In an effort to find out, the Minnesota Department of Health is conducting an epidemiological survey in consultation with the federal Center for Disease control and Prevention. This kind of conundrum, experts say, arises whenever there is a cluster of noncontagious illnesses. Since the cause of autism is unknown, the authorities in Minnesota say it is hard to know even what to investigate.

A small recent study of refugees in schools in Stockholm found that Somalis were in classes for autistic children at three times the normal rate.

Calls to representatives of Somali groups in Seattle and San Diego found that they were aware of the fear in Minneapolis but unsure about their own rates. Doctors familiar with the Somali communities in Boston and Lewiston, Me., had heard of no surges there.

Speculation is rampant about possible causes: living conditions in Somalia or in refugee camps in Kenya; traditional medicines; intermarriage; genetic predisposition; vitamin D deficiencies due to a lack of sunlight; and, of course, vaccines. But each theory has weaknesses.

Somalis began arriving in Minneapolis in 1993, driven out by civil war; now their population in Minnesota is estimated at 30,000 to 60,000. The city is welcoming and social benefits are generous, but many live a life apart as conservative Muslims, the women in head scarves and long dresses. Many Somali men have jobs as taxi drivers or security guards; others are accountants or run shops in the mini-malls catering to Somalis.

One question I would have is what is the rate of Autism in Somalia? When I worked with the Somali community in Birmingham, England, many of the women talked about Autism, but talked about it a way where they would say that their children "caught the disease here." Autism is a Western diagnosis and it is possible that many people in Somalia have it, but do not know what it is. Although this would not determine the cause, it would at least be able to lead to an understanding about whether this is a problem in immigrant communities or a problem among Somalis.

Comments about my Post About 'Deporting Liberians'

"Human beings are not like cattle that can be moved to a different gracing field when one field dries up. I am a Liberian poet who came here and was given that same status, but due to my level of education, I could afford to get all the members of my family removed from the temporary status, and because my husband and I could afford jobs that allowed us to. Others not so educated could not or were fooled by bad lawyers. I have a blog at poetryforpeace.wordpress.com where I also did a blog. I am campaigning to whoever will listen, but apparently, not many people care about the plight of thousands of struggling war victims."

A Poem by Patricia:

On the side walk, patches of people
linger late.

In the day, they are like rice grains
along the roadways,

and at night,
they wallpaper lame bodies
in the draft darkness
of the broken city.

Crowds of war returnees,
waiting for nothing,
day after day,

waiting for nothing
after refugee camp,
after their former cities
of refuge

spewed them out like dirt,
after wandering the globe.
After death’s passing,
they have returned

looking like returnees
from the dead.

The city is hot, burning like steel
with hunger.

The air used to belong to us here
one woman said,
there used to be a road
to take us back home.

Today, the road homeward is now lost
The road to Cape Palmas, filled
with dry bones.

But on the street,
a motorcade is coming.
Someone is living.
Someone is living on these bones.

Missing Somalis in Minneapolis

Approximately two dozen Somali boys (mostly teenagers) have gone missing in Minneapolis. It has been confirmed that they were recruited by terrorist groups. All of the men were from families with single mom's and are told that they must prove their dedication to Somalia and Islam. Once they get to the camps, they are threatened about being forced into Guantanamo by Americans. It is unclear how they are recruited. Somalis have had a difficult time assimilating into the United States. From Talk of the Nation:

The FBI believes the young men were radicalized and recruited here in the U.S., then sent to Somalia. There's concern they'll return to the U.S. to carry out attacks. It started about two years ago. Somali-American youth in Minneapolis would suddenly go missing, telling their parents they were going out with friends or just off to do some laundry — only to board planes to Africa. About 20 young men have disappeared so far, and they are believed to have traveled to Somalia to join a terrorist group.

American counterterrorism officials' worst fears are personified by a young Somali-American named Shirwa Ahmed. He left Minneapolis about 18 months ago to join an Islamic militia in Somalia called al-Shabab. Then, last October, he drove a car full of explosives into a crowd in Somaliland, killing 27 people.

The disappearance of these Midwestern Somali-Americans comes at a time when counterterrorism officials are watching the growing alliance between al-Shabab and al-Qaida. One of the questions at Wednesday's hearing was whether the young men were actually being recruited by the Somali terror group.

A security risk because the young men coming from the States arrive in the middle of Somalia's civil war armed with little more than their faith and a desire to help.

Using the 'Bali Process' for Rohingyas

Southeast Asian leaders (ASEAN) have agreed to use the regional mechanism, known as the "Bali process", to try to solve the problem of the minority Muslim Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar.

The Bali process, established in 2002, involves more than 50 countries committed to practical measures to help combat people-smuggling and trafficking, and related transnational crimes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

"It is primarily a process and framework for information-sharing and training of officials, in law enforcement and drafting legislation, in connection with the smuggling and trafficking of people and other crimes," said Chris Lom, regional spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in Bangkok. IOM and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are part of the secretariat and help facilitate meetings.

UNHCR says there are some 28,000 recognised Rohingya refugees in two UNHCR camps in Bangladesh and 200,000 unregistered Rohingya outside the camps.