Wednesday
Mar092005
INS threatening Amadou Diallo family with deportation
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 at 10:39AM
Six years after West African immigrant
Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times by white police officers, the Diallo
family is still fighting for justice. This time, they want to remain in
the United States, amid threats by the Immigration Naturalization
Service (INS) to send them back to Guinea once their visas expire.
“This is our home. We want to stay,” said Kadiatou Diallo, who started
the Amadou Diallo Foundation to honor her son by providing scholarships
to students attending Bronx and Manhattan community colleges. The
foundation also works to eradicate police brutality. Rep. Charles
Rangel (D-Harlem) successfully petitioned the INS on the Diallos’
behalf, urging them to allow the family to temporarily stay longer in
the U.S. But legislation proposed by Rangel that would grant the family
permanent legal residence has failed to gain support in the House of
Representatives. “I challenge the Congress to truly show its compassion
toward this family by granting Amadou’s wish that they be allowed to
remain here to pursue the American Dream,” Rangel said. “It is not
enough to say that we care or to say that the family should be
satisfied because the City of New York has apologized for taking an
innocent life and paid damages for crimes committed by members of the
police department.” Even Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York), who
pledged to support the bill back in December, has been silent recently
on the issue; and Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) has said he has
a policy of not sponsoring private anti-deportation bills unless the
person could be killed if he or she is deported. Schumer has said that
he would consider setting up a meeting with Clinton to discuss what
measures could be taken to keep the Diallo family in the United States.
On Wednesday, March 2, City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) and
Charlie King, a candidate for Attorney General of New York organized a
rally at City Hall to train a spotlight on Rangel’s efforts. [more] and [more]
- Diallo's mom in bid to stay [more]
