Archive for the ‘sexual abuse’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on November 13, 2011
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the largest refugee resettlement contractor in the U.S., has adopted a more combative style after failing to get their way on various government social services contracts. After refusing to recognize a new civil union law in Illinois, state government officials stopped working with Catholic Charities on adoptions and foster-care placements. Then, when the USCCB continued to refuse to simply refer human traffic victims – who are often raped and forced into prostitution by their captors – to the full legal range of permissible gynecological and obstetric care, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided not to renew the group’s human trafficking grant. The Bishops have decided to ignore critical social justice issues, such as the increasing poverty rate during these hard economic times, while pursuing a so-called religious liberty under attack agenda. They still don’t seem to get the fact that most non-Catholics – and no doubt many Catholics as well – no longer trust them after years of bruising revelations that many dioceses moved clergy involved in sexual abuse of children among parishes without alerting parents or police. An Associated Press article has more:
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets Monday in Baltimore for its national meeting feeling under siege…
Many Catholic academics, activists and parishioners say the bishops are overreacting. John Gehring of Faith in Public Life, an advocacy network for more liberal religious voters, has argued that in a pluralistic society, government officials can choose policies that
differ from church teaching without prejudice being a factor.
“Some perspective is needed here,” Gehring, a Catholic, wrote on his organization’s blog…
…The Health and Human Services Department [HHS] recently decided not to renew a contract held since 2006 by the bishops’ refugee services office to help victims of human trafficking…the women are often raped and forced into prostitution by their captors.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the bishops, has called the decision discriminatory and a case of “ABC,” meaning anyone but Catholics. [HHS agency] officials vehemently deny any bias and say the sole criteria for evaluating potential grantees was which group could best serve the victims. Administration officials note that the vast network of Catholic social service nonprofits, including the bishops’ conference, receives hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding in amounts that have increased in the last couple of years…
…Scott Appleby, a prominent religious historian at the University of Notre Dame, says many church leaders have recently adopted “a more pugnacious style, much more of a kind of culture-wars attitude.” At the same time, the bishops’ have been stung by their loss of public influence from the sex abuse crisis and the years of bruising revelations that many dioceses moved guilty clergy among parishes without alerting parents or police.
“The church no longer receives deference or the hands-off attitude that it once had for many years. That’s gone,” Appleby said…
Critics of the bishops view the closer focus on religious liberty as another sign that church leaders are turning inward and away from promoting the church’s teaching on social justice.
Steven Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats, pointed to the agenda released ahead of this week’s meeting, which included no public discussion of poverty despite the state of the economy. In the 1980s, the bishops issued an influential pastoral letter on Catholic principles and the economy, which church leaders reaffirmed in statements and education programs over the next decade.
“I think this certainly will represent to a vast majority of Catholics a tone-deafness on the part of many, many bishops,” Krueger said… Read more here
Posted in Catholic, churches, faith-based, health, HHS, human trafficking, Illinois, sexual abuse, USCCB | Tagged: Catholic Bishops, catholic church, Catholic social service, government contractor, Health and Human Services, HHS, Human trafficking, Scott Appleby, sexual abuse, USCCB | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 3, 2011
The case involving repeated sexual assaults of an 8-year-old refugee boy at a Catholic Charities Galveston-Houston shelter – and the agency’s subsequent cover-up of the case – continues to unfold. The agency won’t answer further questions on the cover-up, including whether the 8-year-old was separated from the two older boys after the assault, how many other children reported witnessing the abuse, what kind of treatment was provided for them and when. Its also seems that government oversight agencies have only been able to slowly dredge out details of the case from Catholic Charities, and that the faith-based agency continues to withhold many key details. It’s also now clear that a Texas state oversight agency did not have a mere “technical glitch” causing closure of the case without investigation, but had a series of failures – putting children at great ongoing risk. Another article in the Houston Chronicle reveals more details of the case.
…In the hours and days after a staff member interrupted the July 1 assault in the upstairs room, the senior management of the Catholic Charities’ program failed to get the boy medical treatment, doctored incident reports and tried to minimize what had occurred in order to “protect the program,” according to a federal report.
But it was not just the boy’s caretakers who stumbled, state and local law enforcement records show. A worker for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services intake system for reports of potential abuse and neglect also made a mistake, accidentally delaying an outside investigation into what happened for nearly two weeks.
After the federal government brought that error to the state’s attention, the case was referred to the wrong agency, leaving it in limbo until it landed with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in August.
In the end, children’s advocates say there is blame to go around, calling for accountability for the shelter program management, who are now part of a criminal investigation. They also called for a review of the state’s intake system to ensure that technical problems with law enforcement notification are quickly fixed.
“Certainly some fault has to go to St. Michael’s for what happened, but if … this reporting went awry and was misdirected in some sort of way, just imagine the hurt that might have been caused to a number of these kids by something not happening soon enough,” said Bob Sanborn, president and CEO of the Houston-based nonprofit Children at Risk.
“When it comes to kids, we need to take immediate action.”…
…The shelter management did not call the sheriff’s office, but they did call the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) Statewide Intake Division roughly six hours after the incident, at 6:34 p.m……any report to that state hotline reporting potential abuse or neglect should have triggered a chain of events, including notification of the licensing division for DFPS and a fax or email notification to local law enforcement, said Patrick Crimmins, a DFPS spokesman.
But the worker at the state intake center was confused and couldn’t immediately find a state license for St. Michael’s, Crimmins said. The intake report was “mistakenly closed” without notifying the licensing division or law enforcement about any incident at St. Michael’s, he said…
…On July 13, ORR called the state to check on the status of its investigation, but state licensing officials still had no idea what happened at the shelter.
They re-opened the initial July 1 report and sent out a state monitor to investigate within 72 hours. But the automatic notification system again failed, this time referring the report to the wrong agency, the Houston Police Department. The shelter sits near the city-county line but is within the jurisdiction of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office…
…By mid-August, ORR was suspicious enough about what happened at the shelter that day to send a team of monitors to Houston. They issued a scathing report that documented a reporting delay, failure to seek medical care and the doctoring of incident reports, notifying Catholic Charities on Sept. 8 that they would remove all children from their care, at least temporarily…
…Catholic Charities still refuses to answer several key questions about the incident, including whether the 8-year-old was separated from the two older boys after the assault, how many other children reported witnessing the abuse and what kind of treatment was provided for them and when… Read more here
Catholic Charities Galveston-Houston is the agency which was the subject of complaints from gay Iraqi refugees in 2010, and allegations that one of its workers sexually assaulted an 11-year-old refugee boy in 2007.
Posted in Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, child protective services, faith-based, Houston, ORR, police, sexual abuse | Tagged: catholic charities, Department of Family and Protective Services, DFPS, houston, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, police, protective services, refugees, resettlement, sexual abuse, sexual assault, St. Michael's | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 28, 2011
It turns out that not only did Catholic Charities Galveston-Houston not report an incident involving the sexual assault of a refugee boy to the ORR until July 5 (four days after it occurred on July 1) — and did not mention the sexual assault part – but law enforcement was not notified until over a month later, on August 5. The Texas protective services, which claims that Catholic Charities notified it within 24 hours of the assault as required, claims to have closed its investigation due to a “technical glitch”, but reopened the case when Catholic Charities inquired about the investigation on July 13. The protective services investigation then found that the shelter left children unsupervised and children were acting out inappropriately. Records also showed a worker supervising children when that worker was actually off the clock. A report at Houston’s KPRC Channel-2 details what happened:
HOUSTON — An 8-year-old boy said he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by two boys at a home for children.
The boy said a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old boy assaulted him at the St. Michael’s Home for Children, which is run by Catholic Charities. The home cares for children who are refugees from foreign countries.
Harris County sheriff’s deputies said a worker at the home caught a 10-year-old molesting an 8-year-old in July. The 8-year-old later claimed he was also molested by an 11-year-old.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which licenses the home, launched an investigation and found children unsupervised and children acting out inappropriately. Records show a worker supervising children when that worker was actually off the clock.
The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement also launched an investigation. It removed all but five children staying in the home. They were working on new living arrangements for those children.
Investigators said Catholic Charities immediately notified the state of the claims. The state closed its investigation after a technical glitch, but when Catholic Charities inquired about the investigation on July 13, the case was reopened.
Deputies said they were not notified of the alleged incidents until Aug. 5… Read more here
An updated version of the Houston Chronicle article from Monday adds further details.
Posted in Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, child protective services, children, faith-based, Houston, ORR, sexual abuse | Tagged: catholic charities, houston, law enforcement, protective services, refugees, resettlement, St. Michael's Home for Children, technical glitch, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 27, 2011
An incident at a Catholic Charities shelter in Houston that media outlets previously reported as “sexual activity” between three children is now being reported as a sexual assault. An investigation by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) found that Catholic Charities did not report the July 1 sexual assault of a boy until four days later, nor did they seek medical treatment for the child. Catholic Charities management also did a cover-up, including doctoring of first reports. An article at UPI reports on the ORR investigation:
HOUSTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) — Federal officials were removing children and teens from three Houston shelters after learning the sexual assault of a child at one facility was covered up.
As of Friday, only five of 72 children and teens, mostly refugees, remained in the three Catholic Charities shelters, the Houston Chronicle reported.
An investigation by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement found that Catholic Charities did not report the July 1 sexual assault of a young boy at a St. Michael’s shelter until July 5 and also failed to get the boy medical attention until the latter date.
“CCGH staff had knowledge that a [child] had been anally penetrated as the result of a sexual assault … and did not seek medical treatment,” a report by the office states. “Program staff should have observed that a sexual assault of a child is grounds for immediate medical attention.”
Federal investigators conducted an unannounced visit to the site of the sexual assault in August and found that initial reports of the attack had been doctored.
“The ORR monitors found significant concerns, including the fact that management had full knowledge of the extent of the assault and submitted erroneous … reports to this office, which deliberately misled ORR,” the agency’s director wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to the president of Catholic Charities… Read more here
An article in the Houston Chronicle reports that Catholic Charities management also pressured staffers to withhold details from investigators.
Posted in Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, child protective services, children, faith-based, health, Houston, medical care, ORR, sexual abuse | Tagged: catholic charities, chilren, cover-up, doctored documents, houston, Office of Refugee Resettlement, ORR, refugees, sexual abuse, sexual assault | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on August 25, 2011
Catholic Charities of Houston, the agency which was the subject of complaints from gay Iraqi refugees in 2010, is now attempting to defend itself from allegations that a worker sexually assaulted an 11-year-old refugee boy in 2007. ABC 13 KTRK-TV tells us more:
HOUSTON (KTRK) — A former Catholic Charities worker is accused of indecency with a child, and the boy involved says the worker threatened not to give financial help to his family if he told anyone.
The man in question worked at Catholic Charities until 2009. He is currently working for another county agency, but is not yet under arrest, so we went looking for the man wanted by authorities.
In 2007 while working at Catholic Charities, prosecutors say Carlos Valera sexually assaulted an 11-year-old Cuban refugee whose family was receiving help from the charity.
“The defendant would call the victim to his office and ask if he wanted some candy,” said assistant district attorney Tolu Omodele. “The victim would go into his office, and the defendant would grab his hand.”…
…we contacted his former employer. In a statement Catholic Charities says it was made aware of a potential problem two years ago.
- “Catholic Charities is aware of criminal allegations made today in Houston against a former employee of this organization. Two years ago Catholic Charities acted quickly to investigate concerns about the employee. After engaging an outside firm to independently investigate, we terminated the employee in November 2009 for violating our agency’s Ethical and Personal Conduct Policy. We remain committed to safety and wellbeing of our 90,000 clients in the Greater Houston area and fully support the independent and law enforcement investigations of this matter.”…
…”He threatened the victim,” Omodele said. “He told him not to say anything. He told him that if he did tell anyone, that his family would no longer be assisted by the organization.”… Read more here
What I’d like Catholic Charities of Houston to respond to is what the agency’s role was in the delay in the allegations coming forward, which it claims to have known about for two-years.
Posted in Catholic, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, children, Cuban, faith-based, Houston, sexual abuse | Tagged: Carlos Valera, Catholic Charities of Houston, child abuse, Cuban, refugees, resettlement, sexual assault | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on April 22, 2011
A US contractor in Iraq sexually harassed and retaliated against SIV-elligible female Iraq interpreters according to an article in the Washington Post. The man was an Army counterintelligence specialist who had taken leave from his California National Guard to work for a US contractor in charge of security badges and clearances on a base inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. One of the women interpreters, known as “Linda”, has faced repeated death threats in Iraq for working for US combat forces for six years while many of her interpreter friends were burned to death by IED explosions. The US embassy in Iraq then denied her an SIV (Special Immigrant Visa).
The Iraqi women all took nicknames — Linda, Susan, Kathy, Mary, Angel — to make it easier for the American soldiers to remember them. They had college educations and spoke English well enough to work as interpreters with U.S. combat units, jobs that came with a high mortality rate even off the battlefield: Insurgents targeted them for assassination as collaborators.
Because of the lingering dangers for Iraqis who allied themselves with the Americans, the State Department created a special visa to allow interpreters and other workers into the United States. For most of the women, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) became a lifeline.
But applying for the visa meant winning the approval of Christopher J. Kirchmeier, a contractor in charge of security badges and clearances on a base inside Baghdad’s Green Zone. An Army counterintelligence specialist who was fluent in Arabic, Kirchmeier had taken leave from his California National Guard unit in 2009 to work for Government Services, a Chantilly-based subsidiary of L-3 Communications.
Kirchmeier, then 26, sexually harassed at least two of the women he was charged with vetting, according to several former co-workers and the women. His alleged conduct was a violation of L-3’s ethics code, which says “physical conduct of a sexual nature is inappropriate in the work place and may be unlawful.” He also punished those who rebuffed his advances or who complained about his behavior by seizing their security badges and sabotaging their visa applications, according to the former co-workers and interpreters who recounted their experiences in a series of interviews…
…The women’s supporters…are trying to persuade the State Department to reverse its decision barring one of the women from the United States…
…‘He dug up . . . dirt’
Josh Phipps, a fellow L-3 counter-intelligence specialist who was Kirchmeier’s roommate at Forward Operating Base Prosperity, the facility in the Green Zone where they worked, says his erstwhile friend abused his authority by seeking retribution against interpreters who resisted his advances.
“He dug up as much dirt on people as he could and got them fired,” Phipps said.
Kirchmeier’s unit “had immense power,” said Underwood, the Army major who informed Odierno about the case, “because it did background checks [on Iraqis] for everyone” in the Green Zone, including the U.S. Embassy.
Although Kirchmeier’s relations with several Iraqi women drew notice, it was his treatment of an interpreter known as Linda, who had worked with U.S. combat units for nearly six years, that provoked particular anger…
…She “was the best interpreter I ever worked with,” Underwood, who served two combat tours in Iraq, wrote…according to copies of the e-mails Underwood provided to The Washington Post. “She was honest, loyal, and courageous. In the five years I have known her she has always been loyal to the U.S., and has a long list of former bosses who think she is an incredible person.”
After she resisted Kirchmeier’s “advances,” Underwood wrote, the contractor “had her fired and kicked off” the forward operating base…
…Denied visa lifeline
Underwood did not know Kirchmeier personally but had heard complaints about him from one of the interpreters and an American co-worker. Even after Kirchmeier was removed from his post, Underwood said, he felt compelled to press embassy officials repeatedly to explain their decision not to give Linda a visa.
Nomi Seltzer, the U.S. Embassy’s Immigrant Visa Unit chief, told him in a May 2010 e-mail that there was “a plethora of information regarding [Linda] to which you are not privy.”
Underwood remains unconvinced by those assertions. “Why isn’t she in prison? Why wasn’t she detained for whatever it was that was so bad?” he asked in recent interview with The Washington Post.
Another interpreter under Kirchmeier’s purview, a former PhD candidate in economics at Baghdad University, said in an e-mail to The Post that he “had relationships with many girls, brought many girls to his room” and “propositioned another girl for job.”
“If he didn’t like a girl,” the woman said, “he fired them without reason.”
After a November 2009 run-in with one of Kirchmeier’s subordinates, the interpreter’s security badge was confiscated, and she was immediately escorted to the gate.
“It was seven o’clock at night,” she said in a telephone interview from Iraq. “The situation outside the Green Zone was very bad. They didn’t care about me or what happened. I asked for 24 hours, but they would not allow it.”
She said she escaped to a hotel, then hid in a hospital for three days before making her way home.
She remains mainly in hiding, she says, out of fear that her work for the Americans, who no longer protect her, will get her killed… Read more here
Posted in sexual abuse, SIV (Special Immigrant Visa) immigrants, State Department, women | Tagged: abuse of power, Arabic, Army counterintelligence, background checks, Baghdad, Christopher J. Kirchmeier, Christopher Kirchmeier, clearances, Government Services, Green Zone, human rights, IED, Immigrant Visa Unit, interpreter, Iraq, L-3, L-3 Communications, National Guard, retaliation, retribution, security badges, SIV, Special Immigrant Visa, State Department, US contractor, US embassy in Iraq, visa application | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 21, 2010
A Burundian refugee working as an interpreter was charged with sexually assaulting female African refugees in Abilene, Texas. An Abilene Reporter-News article gives more details.
Aloys Nzeyimana, the city of Abilene employee arrested and charged with sexual assault on Thursday, has been placed on paid administrative leave by the city…
…Nzeyimana, a native of Africa, provided interpretation services along with his other duties as a health administration specialist, Kidd said…
…Neither Nzeyimana nor the other employees of the health department work strictly as interpreters, Johnson said. Often, clients who visit the district for a variety of health-related services don’t speak English, and employees who are able to translate step into the role of interpreter.
Abilene police said they believe Nzeyimana sexually assaulted female African refugees and that he used his position as a translator to hide his offenses and intimidate his victims into staying quiet. He was charged with two counts of sexual assault on Thursday relating to an alleged incident with a relative…
…The health department contracts with the Texas Department of State Health Services to perform health screenings for refugees who are relocated to Abilene through the International Rescue Committee…
…Johnson said the health district is prepared to interpret for about seven or eight different languages, and that the district provides services for more than 200 refugees a year…
..A story in Reporter-News archives published in May 2006 said Nzeyimana grew up in Burundi and studied in France and Russia. He was an engineer by trade and eventually moved to the United States. Read more here
Jan. 14, 2011 **UPDATE** here and here
Posted in Abilene, Burundian, IRC, language, sexual abuse | Tagged: Abilene, african refugees, Aloys Nzeyimana, Burundian refugee, International Rescue Committee, interpreter, IRC, rape, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, sexual assault | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 17, 2010
This is a story from March that we just found out about.
In Moline, Illinois (Quad-Cities) a man abducted and raped two refugee women. The women’s relatives report that their refugee resettlement agency, World Relief, did almost nothing to aid them after the crime.
A man in a van offered the women a ride to the bus stop, and after asking to borrow their cell phone he pulled a gun on them. He then drove them to an isolated section of Big Island and made them walk to an abandoned cabin where he tied them to a desk and repeatedly raped them. After the man left and said he would return for them the women were able to get out of their restraints and flee.
Police say the Woodhull, Illinois man accused of kidnapping and raping two women at gunpoint lured them into his car with the offer of a ride at a bus stop on the Rock Island-Milan border.
Instead, investigators say Jason Kugler victimized them in a day of terror on Big Island.
”It was essentially a ruse, and once he got them into the van, he asked for one of the victim’s cell phones, and once he received the cell phone, he pulled a gun on them”, said Sgt. Steve Ven Huizen, the lead investigator for the Rock Island County Sheriffs Department, who said the women didn’t know Kugler.
The victims, both in their 20′s were then driven the short distance to a remote section of Big Island.
”He ordered them out of the vehicle, and marched them to an abandoned building”, said Rock Island County lead investigator Sgt. Steve Ven Huizen.
The empty, garbage filled yellow cabin sits on the river, inside, a bunk bed, with a desk, which police believe the women were tied to and assaulted.
”They were sexually assaulted, they were bound inside the building, he was telling the victims he was going to return later on”, said the detective.
.
But once he left, they managed to un-tie themselves and escape, running through the woods, about a mile towards an embankment that lead to Route 92, where they flagged down a passerby for help…here
Relatives of the victims said that World Relief stopped by only once after the rapes, and that the victims went once or so for counseling and then it stopped.
The relatives also said that they were not happy with World Relief services and how the agency was handling their situation in Moline. The refugees said that World Relief employs heavy control of them, but not real help.
Posted in abuse, dangerous neighborhoods, evangelical, faith-based, Illinois, police, Quad-Cities, safety, sexual abuse, World Relief | Tagged: Illinois, kidnapped, Moline, Quad-Cities, rape, refugees, resettlement, Rock Island, World Relief | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 12, 2010
According to the requirements of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, agencies receiving federal funds need to make sure that limited English clients have access to adequate qualified interpreters. As is seen with the refugee resettlement program, however, that is more of a friendly “partner-like” suggestion than a real requirement.
In Chattanooga, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services (a Church World Service and EMM affiliate) apparently placed refugees in public housing and then let them fend for themselves. Only recently has Chattanooga Housing Authority gotten around to trying to accommodate non-English-speaking residents.
Chattanooga Housing Authority officials are establishing a list of CHA employees who are bilingual and will volunteer to assist non-English-speaking residents.
“We have an emerging Latino population and an emerging Burundian speaking population in Chattanooga, so we wanted to make sure that we could accommodate their needs,” said Betsy McCright, CHA’s executive director.
So far the authority has identified staff who speak Arabic, French, Hindi, Burundi, Russian, Spanish and Swahili.
Establishing a language access plan is part of an overall goal to better accommodate non-English-speaking residents, said Ms. McCright, who also speaks French.
CHA board members approved a policy to establish the so-called language bank at their monthly board meeting last week.
…Bridge Refugee Services, a resettlement organization in Chattanooga, said it has placed about 100 residents in public housing sites or in CHA’s Housing Choice Voucher Program since 2007. The residents are from the Ukraine, Burundi, Cuba, Liberia, Sudan and the Congo. here
But all of this comes a little late to help a non-English-speaking Burundian refugee woman who was raped in May 2009 at Chattanooga Housing Authority’s Boynton Terrace housing development, and couldn’t find anyone to whom she could explain what happened to her.
The policy comes a little more than one year after a Burundian woman was raped twice in her public housing apartment. The man arrested for the crime lived next door to her and wasn’t taken into custody until five days after he allegedly committed the act because there was no translator to interpret for the woman. It was CHA residents who started to demand then that more services be in place to assist the refugees.
The language bank is a good program, but it took the housing agency a long time to do it, said Joe Clark, president of Boynton Terrace Apartments.
“It was the language barrier that was the problem a year ago when the lady got raped,” he said. “The housing authority didn’t have anybody to interpret for her, nor did the police department.”
The language barrier may make non-English-speaking residents easy prey for criminals, said CHA board Chairman Eddie Holmes, but the language bank should help.
In adition, as of January 2010 Burundian refugees continued to be harassed in Chattanooga Housing Authority homes.
…Councilwoman Sally Robinson pointed to recent harassment of Burundi refugees living in Chattanooga Housing Authority homes.
…In May 2009, a Burundi refugee living at the Boynton Terrace housing development was raped, which sparked calls for increased support to the refugees, a particularly vulnerable population. here
So where was Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services when the rapes and the ongoing harassment was occurring? No staff member who could speak the Burundian refugees’ languages (Kirundi and Kiswahili)? Well, it’s not like they have much to worry about. The federal government oversight agencies don’t have any penalties for refugee services contractors who violate federal law, i.e.Title VI. According to the reining partner-like relationship philosophy espoused by the State Department, if, on one of their rare inspections of a resettlement agency, the State Department inspectors find that the agency does not have adequate staff whom are able to speak the refugees’ languages, they simple politely ask that the agency think about trying to hire someone who can interpret. That’s that. A woman was raped twice and unable to communicate what had happened to her? Oh well, that’s unfortunate.
An earlier posting on Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services is here.
Posted in Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Burundian, Chattanooga, Cuban, CWS, EMM, faith-based, former Soviet republics, language, language interpretation/translation, lack of, Liberian, public/private partnership, safety, sexual abuse, State Department, Sudanese, Tennessee | Tagged: Boynton Terrace, Bridge Refugee and Sponsorship Services, Burundian, Chattanooga, Church World Service, Civil Rights Act 1964, CWS, EMM, Episcopal Migration Ministries, refugees, resettlement, State Department, Tennessee, Title VI | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 30, 2010
The Miami Herald is now reporting that the Vatican and the Archdiocese of Miami — for decades — were aware of the troubled past in Cuba of Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio (here).
“The Archdiocese of Miami, along with top Vatican authorities, knew as far back as 1968 that the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio, a priest later defrocked amid child sex-abuse allegations, had a troubled past in Cuba before transferring to South Florida…”
The Miami Herald previously reported in a serious of stories that the Rev. Ernesto Garcia-Rubio had sexually abused a number of male teenage Nicaraguan and Salvadoran refugees.
“The complaints against Garcia-Rubio — first lodged at the Sweetwater church — eventually surfaced in The Herald story, which highlighted four sex-abuse allegations by teenage Nicaraguan and Salvadoran refugees from 1983 to 1988.”
I suppose that the USCCB, the Catholic Church and VOLAG, thinks that we aren’t going to hold them accountable for this because the crimes happened several decades ago. Nothing could be further from the truth. The accountability has simply been successfully DELAYED.
Posted in Archdiocese of Miami, Catholic, Florida, Nicaraguan, safety, Salvadoran, sexual abuse, USCCB | Tagged: accountability, Archdiocese of Miami, catholic, catholic church, child, children, crimes, Ernesto Garcia-Rubio, Florida, Miami, Nicaraguan, refugee, refugees, resettlement agency, Salvadoran, sex-abuse, sexual abuse, teenagers, tenage, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Vatican, volag | Leave a Comment »
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