Security-minded Congress a hurdle for victim's kin
With the sixth anniversary of Amadou Diallo's shooting death just
around the corner, his father met with a local congressman yesterday,
hoping to hear good news about the family's immigration status. Saikou
Diallo and several family members have been in the United States on
humanitarian visas due to expire next August. Rep. Joseph Crowley
introduced a special bill in the last Congress - without success - to
take up the issue, and yesterday told Diallo he has reintroduced the
bill for the upcoming 109th Congress. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem)
may submit a separate bill, or co-sponsor Crowley's, and Sen. Hillary
Clinton's office has indicated it would support similar legislation in
the Senate, Crowley said. "Saikou Diallo has gone through enormous
hardship with the death of his son Amadou, and his tireless work for
the Amadou Diallo Foundation most certainly warrants an immigrant
visa," said Crowley (D-East Bronx/Queens). Crowley cautioned, however,
that he has concerns about the difficulty of pushing the bill through a
Republican-controlled congress that is in a national security mode and
has become "focused on even stopping legal immigration." Diallo said
that besides himself, eight family members, including Amadou's mother,
Kadiatou, and her new husband hope to have their visas extended, at the
very least until a lengthy process of civil suits against the city and
others involved in the fatal shooting plays out. Saikou Diallo's foundation, The Amadou Diallo Educational, Humanitarian
& Charity Foundation, has distributed college scholarships for
African and African-American students and is in the process of raising
funds to buy the house at 1157 Wheeler Ave., in Soudview, where his son
was killed in a hail of 41 bullets fired by four plainclothes police
officers on Feb. 4, 1999. [more]
