Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Israele : Kids face graduation, then deportation

Kids face graduation, then deportation 
 
By Relly Sa'ar 
 
Sergei Ostroshko, 41, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, is
worried about the fate of his son Vadim. In another three months Vadim
will turn 18, at which point he will face deportation from Israel. 
Ostroshko is an Israeli citizen who came from Ukraine six years ago. He is
not eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return, and received his
status through his wife Lilia. Vadim, his son from a former marriage, is
not Jewish, but has lived in Netanya since he was 13 with his father,
stepmother and 6-year-old brother. 
Vadim, who is graduating high school next month and is currently studying
for the matriculation exams, has been an illegal resident since his father
invited him to come live with him. Vadim came on a tourist visa, which
expired after three months - when he was in seventh grade. Since then his
father has not managed to legalize his son's status. 
 
 
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"I want to live in Israel," Vadim says. "Contact with my biological mother
was cut off eight years ago, and now she lives in Italy. Here I have many
opportunities. After the army I can look for a good job. If they deport
me, I have no other country to go to. My old grandfather, with whom I
lived for two years after Dad immigrated to Israel, died." 
Sergei Ostroshko says he submitted all the paperwork to arrange Vadim's
status to the Interior Ministry bureau in Netanya. "The clerk there told
me that if I brought the original documents on my son, they would give him
a temporary identity number. I brought those documents last October, and
since then I've received no reply." 
Their story illustrates that sad plight of many child immigrants from the
former Soviet Union who are not eligible for citizenship under the Law of
Return. The state encouraged their parents to come, yet many of the
children are living here with no civic status and no access to medical
services and supplementary education services. Nor can they enlist in the
Israel Defense Forces, enroll in academic studies or land a decent job as
adults. 
This injustice is largely the bane of immigrants from the former Soviet
Union. Most families (some 60 percent) who have immigrated from there in
recent years are interfaith couples. When one spouse has a child from a
previous marriage, Israel has trouble granting the child civic status.
Many of these minors, like Vadim, entered on tourist visas that later
expired, and they are now illegal residents. 
These families turn to human rights organizations in an effort to solve
their problems. National Council for the Child director Dr. Yitzhak
Kadman; attorney Nicole Maor, head of the Israel Religious Action Center's
Legal Aid Centers for Olim; and attorney Irit Rosenblum, director of New
Family, told Haaretz that dozens of families each year apply to them for
help regarding their children's status. Sergei Ostroshko, for example,
turned to New Family for legal assistance. 
"They explained to me that they can only write a letter to the Interior
Ministry, but to handle my problem I need to hire a private lawyer and pay
him $1,500. I have no money. I drive a semitrailer, and my wages are just
enough to provide for the family," Ostroshko says. 
The previous Knesset rejected bills proposed by MK Yuri Stern (National
Union) and former interior minister Ophir Pines-Paz to grant citizenship
to immigrant children not eligible under the Law of Return. Stern said
yesterday that he resubmitted his bill as soon as the present Knesset term
began, in mid-April, but that his expectations are low. 
"I'm not pinning my hopes on the present Knesset or government taking care
of the plight of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union," Stern said. 
Kadman, of the National Council for the Child, sent a letter to Interior
Minister Roni Bar-On about a week ago requesting that he "advance a
painful subject - sorting out the status of thousands of immigrant
children bereft of citizenship or status of any sort." 
The letter coincided with Bar-On's announcement about easing
naturalization restrictions for the children of foreign workers. 
Kadman has experienced many failures in his struggle for the immigrant
children without rights. Similar letters were sent to the former interior
ministers - Avraham Poraz of Shinui and Pines-Paz of Labor - to no avail. 
 
da 
haaretz.com
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son's status.
Lo fa entrare illegalmente e non si preoccupa nemmeno di legalizzare il
suo stato.
Poi si lamentata pure?
-Stefano