From: nobby@milton.u.washington.edu (Vitaly Shmatikov)
Subject: Re: Israel and the diaspora
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 11:57:17 GMT

In article <BxHqCx.KF5@cs.columbia.edu> ratner@cs.columbia.edu (Michael Ratner) writes:
>In article <1992Nov7.234200.8473@ennews.eas.asu.edu> makowsky@enuxha.eas.asu.edu (David Makowsky) writes:
>>In article <92312.0400382893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> andy <2893684@QUCDN.QueensU.CA> writes:
>>
>># In article <4428@bimacs.BITNET>, rothberg@bimacs.BITNET (Danny Rothenberg) says:
>>
>
>[ ..stuff deleted..]
>
>>	The US was (and still is) imposing quotas on ALL immigrants into
>>the US, and one of the criterion is whether or not the individual is
>>considered an economic or political refugee.  If Israel is offering
>>them a refuge, the US is not going to let them in as a political
>>refugee when they can let in someone else who is.
>>
>># As a result,
>># the number of Jews leaving Russia has dropped which puts them in great peril
>># should the anti-semites come to power. I remember seeing on the CBC a few years
>># ago reports of refugee camps in Italy full of Russian Jews who did not want to
>># go to Israel but would not be accepted by the US because of the quota.
>>
>>	You have no idea what you are talking about.  There are Soviet
>>emigree organizations in Italy practically begging these people to
>>come to the US.  They have been spotted with signs saying "The Jewish
>>G-d is in the US".  These things are all documented, and it is this
>>which caused the slow down of emigration.
>
>No, actually YOU have no idea what you are talking about.  I was in
>Italy in the fall of 1988, on my way from Russia to the US.  It was
>right after Israel and US "agreed" that Russian Jews should go to
>Israel.  Suddenly, in October, almost all applications for refugee
>status started to have been refused.  It was a terrible shock to the
>people; I remember going each evening to the "gathering place" where
>they announced who had gotten "the status" and seeing people literally
>sink in despair when they were refused the refugee status.  There were
>suicides, you know.  
>And do you know what the situation is now ?  After the Vienna-Rome
>route was closed, families' eligibility for the refugee status has
>been determined at the interview IN MOSCOW.  Can you imagine anything
>more hypocritical than giving people a "political refugee" status and
>forcing them to stay in the country for months after the decision had
>been made because "paperwork needs to be completed" ?   And BTW, you can 
>only get the refugee status if you have direct relatives in the US !  Can you
>tell me what the ... having relatives in the US has to do with
>awarding the status that is supposed to be given to people who flee
>the country because of the fear of persecution ?
>

Just a small correction. It's not true that only those with direct relatives 
in the U.S. can obtain refugee status. My family has no direct relatives here 
but we still got admitted. Sometimes I'm wondering what drives American 
immigration officials when they're considering applications of Soviet Jews.
The process is apparently informal but I have hard time trying to figure
out which factors count.
	
>							-- Mike Ratner
>

Nobby
nobby@u.washington.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish