English-only INS Instructions
DES MOINES, Iowa — Advocates say new procedures requiring immigrants to make appointments with federal officers by computer make it difficult, if not impossible, for many to schedule the appointments.
“Many of us don’t speak English; we don’t have a computer,” said Chinese immigrant Wu-Chiang Chi through an interpreter after he arrived at Des Moines’ Citizenship and Immigration Services office. “I’m used to just coming here and taking a number. Even if I had to wait a long time, I felt like I was in control; I knew someone would eventually see me.”
The nationwide Internet system, called InfoPass, is available in 12 languages. However written signs and brochures explaining the new system are printed only in English. The system requires immigrants to make an appointment online if they wish to meet with a CIS officer.
Sandra Sanchez of the American Friends Service Committee in Iowa said the InfoPass system is helpful for some, but access to the online program should not be required for making an appointment.
ACLU Rips Lingle Over ‘Abusive’ Youth Facility
HONOLULU — Vanessa Chong, executive director of the ACLU of Hawai‘i, charged that Republican Gov. Linda Lingle has failed to live up to promises to correct allegedly abusive conditions at the Hawai‘i Youth Correctional Facility.
In a report to the governor in August 2003, the ACLU alleged that inmates at the HYCF were abused, assaulted and harassed by guards and kept in severely overcrowded conditions. Later Lingle removed the facility’s top two administrators, and the attorney general’s office launched an investigation resulting in two criminal cases.
The state is currently in the process of relocating inmates in order to renovate some buildings at the Kailua lockup and provide additional training for staff members there.
ACLU staff members monitoring the situation say the governor’s actions have all been window dressing and cover up major problems. But Lingle countercharged that what the ACLU had done “up to this point has not been in the interest of the young people.”
“It is unfortunate that this administration has resorted to making misguided personal attacks rather than fixing conditions at the youth facility,” Chong said.
Hmong Charter School Operates in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE — A charter school has opened this fall with a special focus on Hmong culture and language.
The Hmong American Peace Academy has about 240 students in kindergarten through the fifth grade, about 30 of them part of a wave of refugees coming to Milwaukee this fall from camps in Thailand.
“At this school, we want to instill some values, some character into our community,” said Tuolee Vue, who has two sons attending the school and teaches a class devoted to Hmong language and traditions. “It’s like when you are planting a tree, you want a good base. We feel this school will give our children strong roots.”
Lo Neng Kiatoukaysy, the director of the Hmong American Friendship Association, praised William Andrekopoulos, superintendent of the Milkwaukee Public Schools, for reaching out to the Hmong community. “I think it opens a door for them,” he said.
Fewer APA Wolverine Freshmen
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The number of black students in the freshman class at the University of Michigan fell 14.6% compared to last year because of a decrease in the number of black applicants. This trend followed the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the school’s undergraduate affirmative action policy.
Asian American freshman enrollment also decreased slightly from 4,489 to 4,472 students, with APAs still making up 13.2% of the student body.
There was a decline of more than 25% in applications from African American students, who make up only 7.8% of the student body, down from 8.1% last year.
Latinos make up 5% and American Indians 0.9% of all students. The number of white students increased from 22,236 to 22,490, or 66.3% of total enrollment.
Blue Devils Open APA Institute
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke University launched an outreach workshop in connection with its Asian Pacific Studies Institute; the workshop is spearheaded by its Chinese-language faculty and funded by a Freeman grant and the U.S. Department of Education.
One focus is on first- and second-generation Chinese Americans and adopted Chinese children — those whom the Duke faculty has termed “Chinese-heritage-language students.”
“As one of the major universities in the area, we felt the need to reach out to the community and bring them to us,” said Carolyn Lee, associate professor of the practice of Chinese. “The workshop is … a medium to bridge the [cultural] gap. It raises awareness [and] causes people to respect differences and acknowledge similarities.”
Wang Shuhan, of the Delaware State Department of Education and a specialist in world languages and international education, was the workshop’s main speaker. “Culture and groups are not necessarily tied to a geographical location. Language and cultural education creates a community of purpose [and] helps build bridges between cultures,” Wang said.
Chiao to Vote in Space
On Nov. 2, Leroy Chiao, America’s newest astronaut aboard the International Space Station, will cast a cyberballot in the presidential election from 225 miles above the earth.
NASA is helping to ensure that Chiao gets a secure e-mail connection in order to cast his ballot for President Bush, Sen. John Kerry or Ralph Nader.
When Bush was governor of Texas, he signed a bill into law that gives U.S. astronauts, most of whom live around Houston, the right to vote from space.
“Definitely, I’ll be exercising my civic right and my civic duty,” Chiao said.
Chiao, who is fluent in Mandarin and Russian, arrived at the space station over the weekend via a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that also carried two cosmonauts.
Pastor Ministers to Kansas Immigrants
LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Rev. Joseph Tung Dang, pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Apostolic Church, plans to expand his small and primarily Vietnamese congregation in northeast Kansas to include the Douglas County area.
Dang, 29, emigrated from his native Vietnam in 1988, joining his mother’s family who had resettled in California’s Orange County.
Dang, an ordained priest in the U.S.-based Catholic Apostolic Church International (a denomination independent from the Roman Catholic Church), has worked with Asian and APA students at Kansas University for the past two years. He has launched a ministry that features a once-monthly, hour-long Vietnamese-language Mass.
With Victoria Li, president of the university’s Asian American Student Union, he also started Our Lady of Perpetual Help Asian Community Center. “I think he’s a great guy,” Li said. “He’s very motivated and determined to get this done, and I think that helps.”
Fil-Am Backs U.S. Law Denouncing North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said it would work with Washington to ensure that a new U.S. law about human rights in North Korea will not disrupt six-nation talks aimed at ending the communist country’s nuclear weapons program.
This week, President Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act. North Korea has condemned the law as reflecting what it calls Washington’s intention to topple its regime.
One of the big backers of the law is Filipino American Edward Logan, a human rights advocate for the Jubilee Campaign USA and a founding member of the North Korea Freedom Coalition.
“This law sends a hopeful message to the North Korean people that we deeply care about their suffering under the Kim Jong-Il totalitarian regime,” Logan said.
The law calls for up to $24 million in aid to North Korean refugees and for other humanitarian purposes.
POTUS Welcomes Cambodia’s New King
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — President Bush congratulated and pledged support for Cambodia’s new king, Norodom Sihamoni.
Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer, was chosen last week after his 81-year-old father, Norodom Sihanouk, announced his abdication earlier this month, citing his increasingly fragile health.
Sihamoni is currently in Beijing, where his father has been receiving medical treatment. While there Sihamoni made his first official appearance as Cambodia’s new king, meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Sihamoni and his parents are scheduled to return to Cambodia for his coronation on Oct. 29.