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Helping hand for asylum seekers
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ImmigrantR-@afsc.org
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Feb 12, 2008 09:43 PST
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http://www.northjersey.com/business/15535667.html
Helping hand for asylum seekers
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Last Updated Tuesday February 12, 2008, EST 7:20 AM
BY ROBERT BIESELIN
Joseph Chuman thinks America has an obligation to do better by political
refugees.
"If you're fleeing a war zone or political persecution by your
government and you come to the United States, you're supposed to have an
internationally recognized right to political asylum," said Chuman, the
president of Bergen County Sanctuary Committee, who also heads the
Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County in Teaneck. "But if you get off
a plane at Newark Airport and say to an immigration officer, 'I want
political asylum,' you're treated very badly."
The committee is holding a dinner Feb. 24 at Central Unitarian Church in
Paramus to raise funds to help people who come to the U.S. seeking to
escape persecution.
"Our group is primarily concerned with providing humanitarian services
as well as advocacy for political asylum seekers," said Chuman, who
noted that since the passage of the 1996 Immigration Act -- and the
attacks on Sept. 11 -- obtaining political asylum has been increasingly
difficult in the U.S.
The organization works primarily with people who have avoided
incarceration, usually because they have visas, and want to stay in the
country as political refugees. Members also visit asylum seekers being
held in detention at the Elizabeth Detention Facility.
Chuman said all the people the committee serves in the community are in
the process of legally applying for asylum, and that none are illegal
aliens subject to immediate deportation.
"We've organized six houses of worship in Bergen County and we find
members of those congregations who are willing to put up a political
asylum seeker in their home," he said.
"We provide hospitality for periods of up to year or more. While the
people are being housed there, we provide free medical services, we
support education, help with job searches, transportation and give them
stipends to help them be as independent as possible while they're here."
Since its founding 2 1/2 years ago, the committee, which is recognized
by the federal government as a charity, has housed seven political
asylum seekers, and it is currently helping three from the Republic of
Congo, Cameroon and Sudan.
The Feb. 24 benefit will help fund the group's work, with all money
donated going to the committee. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Allen
Keller, founder of Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture. The
Bellevue/NYU Program provides medical, legal and other ser-vices.
The evening also will feature music by the bluegrass band Triple Play
and a firsthand account of torture and the pursuit of asylum from a
medical doctor from the Darfur region of Sudan.
"What people don't recognize is that these beleaguered individuals
fleeing death are no criminals. They've committed no crime and yet
they're kept under very harsh, very spartan conditions," said Chuman.
"All we're trying to do is offer them the help America promised."
E-mail: bies-@northjersey.com
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