Thursday, September 24, 2020
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Friday, September 18, 2020
Message to Senator Mark Warner on Sep 17, 2020 on Town Hall
Why Security and Justice for Tigreans in Ethiopia (SJTE) is lobbying your offices?
We are concerned about the unacceptable human rights
violations in Ethiopia as a whole and the plight of Tigreans in particular, as
a special target group. The current administration of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) has targeted Tigreans because it came to office on
a wave of anti-Tigrean sentiments. It would not be an exaggeration to say
Tigrigna speakers are in the crosshairs by reason of their ethnic identity
alone. In fact, yesterday’s detainment of an international election observer
Kjetil Tronvoll and the uprising in Oromia after the assassination of the
iconic protest singer Hachalu Hundesa in June, validate the warnings that SJTE
has delivered to the White House, Congress, and the State Department, regarding
the increase in persecution against Tigreans.
Migrant Crisis: There are over 40 thousand Ethiopian
economic migrants stranded between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The majority are
male in their 20s, women of childbearing age and so there are children born en
route and/ or in difficult circumstances. The pandemic has exasperated already
intolerable conditions. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his ruling party are
aware that the majority are Tigrai-Born, and as part of his hostility to
Tigreans he has publicly, in parliament commented that if he brings repatriates
them, they will only be part of the political opposition. In so stating he has
confirmed he is using young Ethiopians whose remittances (FDI) would have
supported families back home and further worsening the economic crisis that set
these migrants on this perilous journey.
In desperation, and as the last State Government in the Ethiopian
Federation to still have a functioning administration, the President of the
Tigrai State was forced to send a letter to the King of Saudi Arabia.
- https://www.france24.com/en/20200911-living-hell-ethiopians-detained-in-saudi-call-for-help?ref=tw
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/investigation-african-migrants-left-die-saudi-arabias-hellish/
Immigration
On Asylees and Immigration services
·
The current immigration process
notwithstanding the pandemic is burdening the Ethiopian-American community
negatively.
·
For a naturalized citizen to reunite with
his/her family use to take 1 year is taking up to 3 years.
·
Our community is also being impacted by
the Asylum Granting Process which?
·
The Resident program (Green Card)
applications are similarly being delayed by up to 2 years.
Virgina and the greater DMV area, the largest hub for Ethiopian-Americans, will feel the effects of these changes, impacting local government administrations severely. Social services will be overburdened because as a community we depend on a tightly knit family and social safety nets. This will encumber the system further.
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