Archive for the ‘Arizona’ Category
Posted by Christopher Coen on May 6, 2012
Last summer three Eritrean refugees were arrested after they tried to board an airplane, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport going to Des Moines, with a carry-on bag that contained a broken cellphone taped to a tin of helva (a sesame-paste-based food flavored with vanilla). The charges? Having a “hoax device” and “conspiracy” to obtain a hoax device. The three tried to explain that they were just trying to take candy and the old phone to friends. Authorities claimed, however – via questionable reasoning – that the three were attempting to do a trial run to see if they could get a “real bomb” through security, since this was assuredly not a real bomb (helva is not explosive, nor were there any fake wires or a fake detonation device attached). The authorities also deemed suspicious the three traveling in the month of August, being so close to the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, you see – and besides, everyone knows that cell phones are used to detonate bombs. Surely the refugees must have carried aboard a broken cell phone during this “dry run” to fool authorities into thinking that it could not be used to trigger a detonator. But what about that tin of helva, that was suspicious wasn’t it? Well, helva it turns out is an Eritrean ethnic food. Maybe they were trying to trick authorities into thinking the helva was not suspicious since Eritreans are known to eat helva. Plus, some might say it would be nitpicking to point out that federal agents, in first contacts with the Eritrean refugees, used an interpreter that did not speak their Kunama language, thus leading to faulty linguistic interpretations.
Now the three are trying to overcome the false “terrorist” label affixed to them in public opinion. This smear is now an obstacle to employment, nine months later, and months after all charges were suddenly dropped. An article in The Arizona Republic looks at the aftermath of the false charges:
Civil war drove Shullu Gorado from his home in Eritrea, a small country on the Horn of Africa, and landed him — like most Kunama — in a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia.
Ethiopia was no kinder to the refugees than their war-torn homeland, but the United States welcomed the Kunama people, promising safety and the opportunity for a new life to the former farmers and shepherds. In four years,Gorado rose steadily through the ranks at a local supermarket, stashing away savings and taking general-education and English-language classes as he worked toward a new future in a new country.
But after being arrested on suspicion of plotting to sneak a hoax explosive device through airport security, serving two months in a federal detention facility, then having the charges against him dropped in December, Gorado and Asa Shani are branded as terrorists in the eyes of many. Among those viewing them with suspicion, they say, are prospective employers who need only perform a perfunctory Internet search to find coverage of their arrests… Read more here
Posted in Eritrean, FBI, Phoenix, police, security/terrorism | Tagged: bomb, Eritrean, false charges, FBI, helva, Phoenix, refugees, resettlement, terrorism | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on March 30, 2012
All charges have been dropped against three Eritrean refugees who were accused of putting two mundane items — a cell phone taped to container of a paste-like food similar to tahini (reported elsewhere as halva) — through security at Phoenix’s airport last August. The items were apparently a gift from one refugee to another. In a case of apparent racial and ethnic profiling paired with trumped-up assumptions, sketchy logic, and a language barrier, authorities accused the three of deliberately transporting the food and cell phone to make it appear as an explosive device — albeit, strangely, without any wires, detonation-like device or any other suspicious component. An Assistant U.S. Attorney said that further prosecution would not be “in the interest of justice” — apparently a nice way of saying they put these people through hell based on false charges. And no, no compensation will be offered. The AP has the story:
All charges have been dropped against three African refugees who were accused of putting a fake bomb through security at Phoenix’s airport in a possible “dry run” for a terror attack.
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake dropped the charges against Luwiza Daman, Asa Shani and Shullu Gorado on March 13 at the request of a federal prosecutor who cited new information in the case, according to court documents obtained Thursday.
“Based on the new information, further prosecution is not in the interest of justice,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Koehler in his motion to dismiss the charges…
…Daman’s attorney, Philip Seplow, told the AP that he thinks the government simply realized the refugees were not guilty and the whole thing was a big misunderstanding, partially because of a significant language barrier.
Daman, Shani and Gorado are from war-torn Eritrea on the Red Sea in the Horn of Africa and spent years in refugee camps before getting asylum in the U.S. Gorado speaks some English, while Daman and Shani speak only their native language, a dialect known as Kunama.
“I had a pretty sympathetic and for most part factually innocent client,” Seplow said…
…Daman, Shani and Gorado had been charged with a felony count of causing what appeared to be an explosive device to go through a security checkpoint at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport on Aug. 5.
Authorities had said that Daman had a suspicious item in her bag as she went through airport security intending to board a plane to Des Moines, Iowa. They said Shani had taped the items together and gave the package to Gorado, who gave it to Daman to take on the flight.
The package turned out to be a container of a paste-like food similar to tahini, with a cell phone taped to it. But authorities say it looked just like an improvised explosive device when it went through an X-ray machine, and pointed out that cell phones can be used to trigger bombs… Read more here
Posted in Des Moines, Eritrean, Phoenix, security/terrorism | Tagged: airport security, berbere, cell phone, Eritrean, Phoenix, refugees, resettlement, U.S. District Court | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on February 15, 2012
Refugee workers at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport have worked in poor conditions while an airport contractor — GCA Services Group — allegedly used discrimination, threats and mistreatment to dissuade them in their efforts to join a union to bargain for basic benefits, such as health insurance and sick leave. Workers say that the City has ignored their poor work conditions. An article in The Arizona Republic has more:
Isabell Marquez said she tried for months to find another job after she was fired a year ago from her work as a janitor for a contractor at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport…
Marquez, in her 50s, was one of four workers who claimed the company, GCA Services Group, fired them when supervisors learned they were trying to unionize.
Now, Marquez and her co-workers are celebrating her reinstatement — and a check for $8,462 in back pay…
Several of the GCA’s 200 workers at the airport allege they have faced discrimination, threats and mistreatment for their efforts to join a union that would fight for a contract with basic benefits such as health insurance and sick leave. Their claims recently were backed by the National Labor Relations Board.
The board issued a consent order in December that required GCA to re-hire and pay a total of $24,040 in lost wages to Marquez and her co-workers, Hamid Amiri, Yadu Rijal and Geoffrey Kachiolwa.
In addition, the board required GCA to promote another worker, Narayan Timsina, to a job he was initially denied and to give him $1,861 in back pay.
The board outlined the steps GCA must take to calm hostile relations with its workers, which include an end to policies that deter workers from unionizing and an end to threats for workers involved with a union…
… So far, GCA has not recognized workers who carry union cards, said workers’ advocates at Central Arizona for a Sustainable Economy, or CASE…
…CASE staff said GCA has exploited a vulnerable group in society: refugees who have few job options when they arrive in Phoenix. Many of them hail from politically unstable countries such as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia, CASE staff said.
CASE said many of Sky Harbor’s service contractors tend to pay refugee workers low wages with few or no benefits while the city seems to ignore their poor work conditions.
Last week, CASE staff and 18 GCA workers brought a scroll filled with complaints about their working conditions to the Phoenix Aviation Department.
Department officials sidestepped the complaints… Read more here
Posted in employment abuses, employment/jobs for refugees, Phoenix | Tagged: GCA Services Group, health insurance, Phoenix, Poor Work Conditions, refugees, resettlement, sick leave, Sky Harbor International Airport, union | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 6, 2011
A refugee student, now in college in Tucson, is excelling in school after making the honor roll and graduating from high school with a GPA above 3.5. Hussein Magale said that his refugee resettlement agency did not enroll him in school right away, so he had to enroll in school by himself. He took 10 courses, including advanced placement classes, in his first and only semester of high school in the US. An Arizona Daily Wildcat article tells his story:
…Hussein Magale, who fled Somalia with his family in 1992 because of the country’s civil war, lived in the city’s camp for most of his life. The biochemistry sophomore, who speaks three languages, began translating for Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian organization helping his camp, when he was a teenager…
…Magale said he always excelled in class and valued education because it was the only way out of the camp…
…To receive the Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education, or KCPE, Magale said he had to place in the top 100 out of more than 600 students in his group taking the high school entrance exam…He was number 23.
Magale said he continued to excel in high school until he arrived in Tucson in November 2009 through a United Nations resettlement program…
…Dualeh said the agency that brought him here did not enroll him in school right away. So Magale took the initiative, called around and filled out the paperwork. A few months after he left Kenya’s refugee camps, he was already taking classes at Catalina High School.
He took 10 courses, including advanced placement classes, in his first and only semester of high school in the U.S. He made the honor roll and graduated with
a GPA above 3.5…
…Magale’s GPA is still well above a 3.5, he’s part of the Arizona Assurance Scholars Club, captain of a soccer team… Read more here
Posted in Arizona, failure to enroll refugee children in school, school for refugee children, schools, Somali, teenagers, Tucson | Tagged: Catalina High School, Doctors Without Borders, refugees, resettlement, school | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 10, 2011
An article in the Arizona Republic features the Phoenix, Arizona refugee assistance group, Welcome to America Project, which got its start after the 9/11 tragedy:
…the Welcome to America Project [is] an organization born out of the 9/11 rubble.
The group donates furniture and other goods to refugees resettling in the Phoenix area. It was started by Phil and Carolyn Manning as a way to honor Phil’s brother Terence, who lost his life in the attack on the World Trade Center.
A month after the towers fell, the Mannings read of the struggles faced by an Afghan family attempting a fresh start in Phoenix.
Struck by the similarities – here was a family striving for the things every American wanted, a safe home and a happy life – the Mannings collected furniture, clothing and household goods for the family, hoping to find meaning in Terence’s death.
When O’Connor heard about the Mannings’ charity, she felt compelled to help. What better way to honor those who lost their lives, or those who continue in service to America, than to share the country’s strengths with those who need it most?
“This has been really important work for me,” O’Connor said. “I’ve been inspired by the people I’ve met.”
O’Connor sees the spirit of 9/11 in those assisted by the Welcome to America Project, including Alexis Niragira, who spent 13 years in an African refugee camp before arriving in the U.S.
Niragira arrived in Arizona knowing little about 9/11 or the role it was going to play in his life as Welcome to America volunteers dropped by his apartment in 2008 with a truckload of donations, including furniture.
But he has come to understand the role 9/11 has played in his life.
“We had no furniture, not even blinds,” Niragira said. “But when they came, they bring us furniture and put it in our apartment and tell us, ‘Welcome to America.’ We were very comforted. It reminded me of the unity I had with my family back home.”
Months later, Niragira would become a Welcome to America volunteer, and he has since joined the group as a driver… Read more here
Posted in Afghan, Phoenix, security/terrorism | Tagged: 9/11, Phoenix, refugees, resettlement, Welcome to America Project | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on December 9, 2010
An article in Cronkite News explains the ongoing problem that refugees with professional credentials have when they resettle to the US. Resettlement agencies are often less than entirely helpful, sometimes they don’t even help refugees look for jobs.
…Saad Ahmed fled Iraq with his wife and his grown children, two sons and a daughter, after receiving death threats for renting his Baghdad home to an American company. He left behind the appliance store that he owned and has yet to find work since arriving in Phoenix in 2009.
His sons, one a medical student and the other a computer engineer in Iraq, have worked at gas stations. His daughter, a medical school graduate, has sold shoes.
“The truth is,” Ahmed said, “it’s been hell.”…
…The urgency of establishing an income means skilled refugees often must compete with other refugees and unskilled workers for low-wage jobs at convenience stores, retailers and restaurants.
Ahmed’s resettlement was through the International Rescue Committee’s Phoenix office, but he said didn’t get any employment help from his caseworker.
“We went there the first week, and after that we had no correspondence from them. That was it,” Ahmed said. “So my sons and I went to the laptop and figured out what we needed to do.”
Representatives of the International Rescue Committee didn’t respond to several phone calls seeking comment about Ahmed’s case…
…Craig Thoreson, director of refugee and immigration services at the Phoenix office of Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, said…he doesn’t know of an organization in Arizona that specifically assists the skilled-refugee population with job placement and recertification…
…Unlike her father, Shihab, 26, is pursuing recertification of her degree. She had just finished medical school when her family left Iraq. She worked in a hospital in Syria but has only been able to find one job here: selling shoes at Scottsdale Fashion Square.
She later was able to get a volunteer position in a hospital’s surgery waiting room but had to quit both positions when her family moved to Peoria. These days she keeps busy studying for her recertification exams.
Shihab said she received no guidance from the resettlement agency about recertification but rather learned about it through word-of-mouth and through a short-lived Facebook group of Iraqi doctors seeking recertification… Read more here
Refugees also say that resettlement workers often treat them as if they should know how to do things American-style, instead of teaching them.
…Often what seems obvious to Americans can be completely foreign to Iraqis. For example, Ahmed recalled the confusion he experienced as employees at DES and the resettlement agency set him up to access benefits through debit-card technology.
“They kept saying, ‘You need to select a PIN number. You need to select a PIN number,’” Ahmed said. “And I kept saying, ‘What does this mean? What’s a PIN number?’ They don’t explain.
“We don’t have plastic cards in Iraq. I had no idea what this meant.”
Alkledar said although agencies have useful information about low-income housing, health and social services and job hunting it’s often not provided to the refugees, and when it is, it’s not comprehensive.
Another obstacle, according to Alkledar, is that some caseworkers who are themselves refugees aren’t intimately familiar with the American process of job hunting and interviewing, making them not ideally qualified to advise others on it.
“How can he do that?” he said of refugee caseworkers. “Himself, he needs help”…
Five states have established gubernatorial executive orders to help skilled immigrants re-establish their careers. Other state agencies and refugee coordinators seem to be completely oblivious about how to help refugees with professional credentials.
…According to Jennifer Perez-Brennan, who monitors state policy initiatives for Upwardly Global, five states have gubernatorial executive orders to help skilled immigrants re-establish their careers: Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington. Illinois at one point committed $1.3 million to its initiative, and Maryland has a staffer dedicated to working with highly skilled immigrants on credentialing..
…Kevan Kaighn, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, said DES wasn’t aware of Upwardly Global but would review its services…
Posted in Arizona, employment services, employment/jobs for refugees, Iraqi, IRC, Phoenix, professionals | Tagged: International Rescue Committee, IRC, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, Phoenix, refugee res, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugees, refugees with professional credentials, Upwardly Global | 1 Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on October 8, 2010
A New York Times article discusses Arizona’s reputation as being hard on illegal immigrants while at the same time being a haven for new refugees. The examples the article refers to of the state helping refugees, however, don’t seem to be different that what we know is happening in other states — housing assistance, furniture donations, a few micro-enterprize loans.
…the scorched expanse of the Phoenix valley can seem like a giant resettlement lab. Bosnians trim the watered lawns of the Arizona Biltmore, and Karenni speakers have their own prenatal class at St. Joseph’s hospital. A Sudanese goat farmer is thriving in a desert slaughterhouse built with a micro-enterprise loan. (He is glad to demonstrate his skill in turning goats to goat meat.)
Hai Doo, a laundry worker from Myanmar, got large grants to buy his first home. Yasoda Bhattarai, a new mother from Bhutan, credits 10 weeks of free hospital care for saving her daughter, who was born with tuberculosis. “Whenever people ask me about Phoenix, I tell them it is the best place,” she said.
Only three states accepted more refugees on a per capita basis over the past six years. Arizona took nearly twice as many refugees per capita as its liberal neighbor, California, and more than twice as many per capita as New York, New Jersey and Connecticut…
…Arizona took in about 4,700 refugees last year, but is thought to have about 375,000 illegal immigrants…
…Arizona first drew refugees because the cost of living is low, and until the recession the state had lots of entry-level jobs open to non-English speakers, like housekeeping and lawn care. Early success, with Bosnians and Kosovars in the late 1990s and later with war orphans from Sudan, helped build local support…. Read more here
If you read through our State Department monitoring reports for the state of Arizona, however, you discover that Phoenix, the main resettlement site, can be quite forbidding for newly arriving refugees. The city is known to have an extreme sprawl problem, and does not have particularly good mass transit. The IRC report says that most of the low-income housing is on the west side of the city, with most of the good jobs on the east side. This necessitates refugees taking buses with multiple connections and having to stand out in the oppressive 120 degree heat during the summer. The police have also brutalized law-abiding refugees just waiting to go into church, here.
The article also talks about Arizona’s state refugee coordinator, Charles Shipman. Mr. Shipman is the president of National Association of State Refugee Coordinators (SCORR).
Efforts intensified after the hiring in 2002 of a new state coordinator, Charles Shipman, who is married to a former Cambodian refugee and known for his skillful advocacy. In recent years, Arizona has taken more than three times as many refugees as it did when he arrived.
Mr. Shipman quickly spotted a shortage of interpreters for a population ever more ethnically diverse. He commissioned a study that found language barriers “quite troubling.” The rescue group then used it to win a private grant to start an interpreting service. It now operates in 14 languages, including Kirundi (Burundi), Tigrinya (Ethiopia) and Hakka (China).
As the recession took hold, Mr. Shipman led a charge to prevent homelessness among newly arrived refugees. In part at his prompting, the federal government let Arizona shift some federal money into rent relief and urged other states to follow.
These emergency housing funds for refugees apparently refers to some mysterious U.S. Dept. of HHS funds that Arizona was allowed to use for refugees instead. There was also emergency housing funds of $5 million in public funds which the State Department robbed Peter to pay Paul. The money was initially designated to go to Iraqi refugees overseas, but was then diverted to refugees in the U.S. I think I would have been more impressed with Mr. Shipman if he had announced an effort to raise $5 million in private funds in the U.S. to keeps refugees from becoming homeless during the recession.
Back in May the New York Review of Books reported that Mr. Shipman told the resettlement agencies to reduce the number of Iraqi refugees they were agreeing to resettle in Arizona, here. This turns out to be an inaccurate statement, as Mr. Shipman apparently told them to reduce the number of all refugees they were agreeing to resettle in Arizona (if we can believe Rheis Thibault in the comment section below).
Posted in Arizona, funding, IRC, Phoenix, SCORR, State Department | Tagged: Arizona, Charles Shipman, International Rescue Committee, IRC, Phoenix, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, State Department | 7 Comments »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 19, 2010
Authors Alisa Roth and Hugh Eakin write in They Fled from Our War that state refugee coordinators are requesting that the State Department not resettle Iraqis in their states. Charles Shipman, Arizona’s refugee coordinator, is the supposed source of this information.
…Robin Dunn Marcos, who heads the Phoenix office of the International Rescue Committee, said that the IRC has become something more akin to a welfare office. Without work the refugees “can’t survive. They can’t pay the rent or the utilities, never mind buy toothpaste and toilet paper.” Confronted with stories such as Bushra’s, Charles Shipman, Arizona’s refugee coordinator, has had to ask the refugee agencies to reduce the number of Iraqis they are agreeing to resettle in the state, despite the US’s pledge to take in another 17,000 in 2010. “And I know every other state is making the same request,” he said. “I’m not sure where those additional refugees will end up”… here
I don’t get it. Does that mean that the state refugee coordinators don’t want more Iraqi refugees, or don’t want more refugees of any nationality?
***UPDATE*** Mr. Shipman apparently told Arizona refugee resettlement agencies not to reduce the number of Iraqi refugees they were agreeing to resettle in Arizona, but to reduce the number of all refugees they were agreeing to resettle (if we can believe a Rheis Thibault in the comment section of the post “Arizona – a refugee haven?“)
Posted in Arizona, Iraqi, IRC, Phoenix | Tagged: Arizona, Charles Shipman, International Rescue Committee, Iraqi refugees, IRC, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugees, resettlement, They Fled from Our War | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on September 8, 2010
The Refugee Women’s Health Clinic in Phoenix is the subject of an article in The Arizona Republic. The clinic set up a system to guide refugee women through each step of the process to show them how the system works, so they can learn to navigate it on their own. Refugees seem to benefit greatly from a hands-on approach to refugee resettlement, rather than a tough love approach that leaves refugees lost – an important lesson for refugee resettlement agencies.
Volunteers…are the lifeblood of the Phoenix clinic, working hands-on to guide refugees through every step of their appointments. Many of them…are refugees themselves. They understand the fears and frustrations these women feel about navigating something totally alien: the American health-care system.
The clinic has served more than 400 patients since it was opened in October 2008 by the Maricopa Integrated Health System as part of its larger women’s clinic. The clinics are funded through the county health system.
Crista Johnson, the clinic’s medical director, said she recognized the need for more hands-on involvement when patients began wandering around MIHS for hours at a time, not knowing where to pick up prescriptions or get blood work done.
The clinic, which now has five volunteers and five translators, is an important resource for Arizona’s refugees, whose population is growing as its demographics shift. There are 3,260 refugees in the state, according to the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program. Somalis, Cubans and Sudanese historically have dominated Arizona’s refugee population, but since 2008, there has been a surge from Bhutan, Myanmar, Burundi, Iraq and Iran…
…For most refugees, scheduling an appointment is a foreign process – like everything else about their new lives here.
The ultimate goal is to empower patients to navigate the health-care process by themselves, Johnson said.
Until then, patients are guided every step, starting with a knock on the front door.
Employees at apartment complexes remind every patient of her appointment the day before and call for a taxi to pick her up on the day of the appointment.
Once the cab drops a patient off, hospital volunteers accompany her as she waits in the reception area. They help her fill out insurance paperwork and start friendly conversation.
A volunteer or an interpreter stays with every patient throughout the appointment, taking care of her other children while her temperature is taken or translating from behind a curtain in the exam room as she gets a pap smear.
Then, volunteers take every patient to pick up her prescriptions or get X-rays. Before patients leave the clinic, Nizigiyimana schedules follow-up appointments and calls for taxis to take them home.
Georgia Sepic owns and manages a Phoenix apartment complex in which 97 percent of residents are refugees. Sepic said she emphasizes the importance of routine health checkups to her residents…
…Refugee women are skeptical and fearful of authority, Nizigiyimana said, because many of them have experienced rape, torture or trauma. Volunteers like Abdalla try to minimize the patient-provider mentality by approaching the women as friends… here
I notice that at one apartment complex in Phoenix refugees make up 97 percent of the residents, which is interesting following on the heels of refugee housing segregation in Boise, in another article.
The mention that refugee women are often skeptical and fearful of authority is something that is central to refugee resettlement. Countless times I have witnessed resettlement agencies who play with refugees’ fears in order to intimidate refugees not to complain when the resettlement agencies neglect their contractual responsibilities. Another common practice is questioning refugees after they have spoken to community members who are critical of resettlement agencies. Resettlement workers will pepper refugees with questions about who they spoke to, why they spoke to that person, and what they said – sending a clear message that refugees are not to voice any of their concerns or complaints to members of the community. The refugee program should never tolerate any refugee resettlement agency that uses refugees’ fears to coerce them.
Posted in Arizona, Burma/Myanmar, Burundian, Cuban, health, intimidation of refugees, Iranian, Iraqi, Nepali Bhutanese, Phoenix, Somali, Somali Bantu, women | Tagged: Arizona, health-care system, Maricopa county, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Phoenix, rape, refugee health, refugee resettlement, refugee resettlement agencies, refugee resettlement program, refugee women, Refugee Women's Health Clinic, refugees, Somali bantu, torture, women's health | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Christopher Coen on July 15, 2010
Sudanese refugees accuse Phoenix police officers of brutalizing them at an Episcopal church in Phoenix. The refugee men were sitting in a car in front of the church waiting for a reverend to unlock the doors for a prayer service when the officers accosted them, aggressively pushed and shoved them outside the vehicle, and dragged one man around, bashing his face into the ground. The other man is a Sudanese leader from Tucson. The city has now agreed to pay the men $150,000 to settle the case.
Some parishioners saw the men being handcuffed by police. They wondered why one man was face-down on the street outside their church, blood dripping from his face.
The incident outside St. Paul the Apostle Sudanese Episcopal Church, in which Phoenix police officers were accused of falsely arresting and abusing two Sudanese refugees, led to a recent $150,000 settlement to avoid a lawsuit.
…[Aluk Bak Deng, 38, of Tucson, and Angok Atem, 28] who received the settlement were planning on attending a prayer service inside the church that day in July 2009 joining other refugees to discuss an international court’s ruling on a regional dispute in their war-torn homeland.
St. Paul the Apostle, which is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, caters to Sudanese refugees.
An internal police investigation cleared Officers Jason Hammernick and Corey Shibata of any wrongdoing. City officials said similar settlements are approved to avoid the added expense of defending officers in court. The notice of claim from the incident outlined how the officers “conspired to falsify” details of the case to justify their probable cause for booking the men on suspicion of resisting arrest and to “avoid being held accountable for their wrongful conduct.
“Hammernick and Shibata told supervisors that they targeted the men as part of a routine traffic stop after running a license plate on a rented Nissan Xterra revealing that the vehicle had been used in a drug case months earlier.
Arok said the incident “looked like a humiliation,” and that many parishioners believed that the escalation from the traffic stop resulted from racial profiling. He said the men were wearing ties and looked like church members, not anyone connected with illegal drug activity.
“We are not denying there are drugs in the area, but this was in front of the church,” Arok said.
[The two Sudanese men] claimed they were aggressively pushed and shoved outside the vehicle, though the officers said the men refused to comply with commands, which led to the physical escalation. here
An article from July 8th gives more information.
One of the men, Aluk Bak Deng, is the president of the Arizona chapter of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, a democratic organization in the war-ravaged African nation.
Bak Deng, 38, had traveled to the church from his home in Tucson to speak at a prayer service at St. Peter and Paul Church near Seventh Avenue and Buckeye Road.
…The men say they were aggressively pushed and shoved outside the vehicle; the officers reported that Bak Deng and Angok Atem, 28, refused to comply with commands, which led to the physical escalation.
The Rev. Anderia Arok, pastor at St. Peter and Paul Church, said he and other congregants saw one of the officers “dragging” Atem and “hitting his face on the ground” in the scuffle.
“It looked like a humiliation,” Arok said. “(The police) did not give us an explanation when we asked what was the matter. . . here
Of course, internal police investigations clearing officers means relatively little. Are we supposed to expect that the police can police themselves? The only thing that would be meaningful would be the conclusion drawn from an investigation by a neutral third-party.
Secondly, the City officials’ statement that they approve similar settlements simply to avoid the added cost of defending officers in court insults our intelligence. Cities never settle police brutality cases if they think they have a good chance of prevailing, and the plaintiffs have the burden of proof. Big cities like Phoenix have full-time attorneys who they have to pay whether they go to trial or sit in the office, and have no hesitation to go to trial when they think they can win.
Posted in abuse, Arizona, dangerous neighborhoods, Episcopal, Phoenix, police, South Sudanese | Tagged: Aluk Bak Deng, Bak Deng, church, Phoenix, police brutality, refugees, resettlement, SPLA, St. Peter and Paul Church, Sudan People's Liberation Movement, sudanese | Leave a Comment »
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