By Brady Gervais, TwinCities.com
Negussie Bussa and Leyouwerk Tsegaye must decide: Leave their two youngest daughters behind to an uncertain future when they are deported, or take them to the couple’s native Ethiopia where they fear possible death.
The Roseville couple and their four daughters face the possibility of being split after federal courts rejected the parents’ asylum claims. The Bussas and their two oldest girls immigrated in the early 1990s and settled in the Twin Cities. The two younger girls, Biftu, 13, and Habi, 11, are U.S. citizens and can stay behind.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Negussie Bussa said recently as he sat in the Sherburne County jail waiting to be deported. “I don’t want them to be harmed, but I have no options for where to leave them.”
The father, a member and current supporter of the Oromo Liberation Front, says back in his home country he had been jailed, mistreated and tortured, according to a petition in federal court. But the family’s asylum request was rejected as implausible by immigration and federal judges, who ordered they be sent back to Ethiopia.
“There is no doubt in (Negussie’s) mind he will be picked up from the airport and put in jail, maybe killed,” said Israel Gobena, the family’s attorney.
It is unclear when the couple and their oldest daughters Hawi, 18, and Alko, 17, will be sent back to East Africa. The fate of Biftu and Habi remains uncertain.
The friends the family has made since living in the United States are trying
to help. Members of their church have taken in the three youngest girls since the rest of the family was jailed on Sept. 17. Others are seeking the help of Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman and Rep. Betty McCollum.
It is up to the Bussas whether to leave their U.S.-born daughters behind or to take them with them, Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in an e-mail.
“We understand that the arrest of an illegal alien may be disruptive to members of the violator’s family,” he wrote. Yet parenthood doesn’t make one immune from having to comply with the law, he added.
By all accounts, the Bussas were a hardworking family.
Negussie Bussa was attending Century College in White Bear Lake with his daughter Hawi. They were studying to become nurses. Leyouwerk Tsegaye worked at a hospital as a nutrition aide.
They were “perfect” neighbors, said Dick Flesher, who lived next door to the family several years.
When Flesher fell ill a few years ago, Negussie Bussa shoveled his driveway. Flesher and his wife, Loretta, said the Bussas keep their home in top condition.
“I just feel absolutely that it’s important for them to be together and stay here, particularly if there’s a possibility their lives are in danger (in Ethiopia),” Dick Flesher said.
Should the Bussas leave their children in Minnesota, they have few options.
The girls could enter the child welfare system, or stay with someone willing to take them in.
The Bussas “have to find an adult who is willing to act as a parent and has the legal authority to do so,” said Dianne Heins, pro bono counsel for the law firm Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis. Heins is not involved in the Bussas case.
A petition would be filed with the local family court seeking an order transferring custody to a responsible adult, she said. The parents wouldn’t be stripped of their rights. They could resume custody should they return.
But the Bussas say they have no one to care for their children long term, said Gobena, their attorney.
They don’t have much family in Minnesota, said Bula Atomssa, a cousin-in-law who recently visited the family in jail. It would be difficult and expensive to take in the two girls, he said.
They’re bright students and can be “assets” if their family can remain here, he said.
CLAIMS REJECTED
Negussie Bussa moved to the United States about 17 years ago on a student visa to earn his doctorate at Iowa State University, he said. His wife and two oldest daughters followed one year later as dependents.
In 1994, Negussie Bussa filed for political asylum for his family. He fears persecution should he return to Ethiopia because of his role in the Oromo Liberation Front, his continued support for the group and his family’s ethnic background. Although the Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, they do not play a dominant political role in the country, according to the U.S. State Department.
A federal immigration judge rejected their petition and ordered the family to leave the country in 2000 after noting:
# The family’s asylum application lacked details about Negussie Bussa’s claimed abduction and detention.
# Doubts about Negussie Bussa trying to flee the government while he was employed at a government university.
# Leyouwerk Tsegaye claimed her hearing loss was a result of government abuse, though she tried to conceal she had prior hearing problems.
The judge’s decision was appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Their case is still pending, though the court has denied repeated requests for a stay of deportation.
“I believe in the justice system of the United States,” said Negussie Bussa. “I don’t know why it didn’t work for me.”
There’s a disconnect between the court system and what is happening in Ethiopia, the family’s attorney said.
A 2007 State Department report on Ethiopia outlined several human rights abuses during the year. To name a few, abuses included: limiting citizens’ rights to change the government; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse and mistreatment of detainees and opposition by security forces; poor prison conditions; use of excessive force by security services in an internal conflict, according to the report.
FAITH IN GOD
A Minneapolis church has rallied around the family.
The three youngest daughters — Alko, Biftu and Habi — are being cared for by members of the Our Redeemer Oromo Evangelical Church, senior pastor Melkamu Negeri said.
The church has raised around $4,000 to offset the costs of caring for the children, pay for food for the family at the jail and cover phone calls from the jail to the children, Negeri said. The congregation has also backed a petition requesting one of the parents be released to care for the children. Members regularly pray for the family, as well.
“Of course, we will do whatever we can to support them,” Negeri said. “They really do not hesitate to support each other.”
The family could despair given their situation, but their faith keeps them hopeful, Gobena said.
“These people are Christians, and they are treating the incident as good Christians would,” he said. “They are not hopeless. They are still hopeful that God has a way to let them be freed.”
The family still holds out hope they can remain in the United States, and together.
Hawi Bussa said she trusts God will not separate her family. And if they ultimately go to Ethiopia, she said, they “will be OK, somehow, some way. God will make a way.”
Brady Gervais can be reached at 651-228-2171.
HOW TO HELP
What: Fundraiser for Bussa family
When: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: St. Paul Student Center, University of Minnesota, 2017 Buford Ave., St. Paul
What: Traditional Ethiopian and American food, open to the public
PRINCETON, NJ — Barack Obama holds a statistically significant lead over John McCain in both Gallup likely voter models, according to Oct. 27-29 Gallup Poll Daily tracking. In the traditional model, which defines likely voters based on current voting intention and past voting behavior, Obama holds a 50% to 45% lead. In the expanded model, in which only current voting intentions are considered, his lead is 51% to 44%.
As in any election, the final outcome, in large part, hinges on who turns out to vote and who does not. If all registered voters participated, Obama would probably win comfortably. He leads McCain by 50% to 42% in the latest estimate of registered voter preferences, and has averaged a nine percentage point lead since Oct. 1. (To view the complete trend since March 7, 2008, click here.)
Both likely voter models currently show a slightly closer race than is evident in the registered voter estimate. Obama has never trailed in either likely voter model since Gallup began tracking likely voter preferences in early October, averaging a four-point lead using the traditional model and an eight-point lead using the expanded model.
Just five days remain until Election Day, and McCain and the Republicans are campaigning hard in key states to try and change Obama’s lead. Late comebacks are rare, but have occurred, including Harry Truman in 1948 and Ronald Reagan in 1980. — Jeff Jones
(Click here to see how the race currently breaks down by demographic subgroup.)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dictator Meles Zenawi is begging the international community to save him from his Somalia debacle. Did the international community ask this chigaram Woyanne to invade Somalia in the first place? He cannot even feed his own people in Tigray, but he talks about failure of the Somalia puppet leaders.
(MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS) – Prime Minster dictator Meles Zenawi, called on the international community to contribute in the efforts to find solution to the conflict in Somalia.
PM Meles Zenawi the current chairperson of Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), made the call at the ongoing IGAD meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
Meles said Somali leaders should work together to reconstruct the country.
He said few African countries have been striving to maintain peace in Somalia, however the international community has not given due attention to that country.
He called for the international community on the occasion to provide humanitarian and technical assistance to Somalia.
Meles noted that the Somali leaders should reach consensus to find lasting solution to the problem. He also urged all parties to act as per the agreement reached in Djibouti.
IGAD member states have agreed to work with the international community to find lasting solution to the conflict in Somalia.
They have reached consensus to back the effort of deployment of peacekeeping forces in Somalia and to implement the agreement signed in Djibouti.
Leaders of IGAD member states, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi E. Frazer and Somali MPs took part in the extraordinary meeting convened to deliberate on the conflict in Somalia.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Obama campaign and supporters better not be complacent. Every body should be running scared in these last few days.
BY JIM ASH, FLORIDA TODAY
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist is taking heat from fellow Republicans for a last-minute decision to extend early voting in Florida, but any Democratic advantage might not be as overwhelming as conventional wisdom suggests.
Democrats are beaming that their party is outperforming the Republicans in early voting, releasing numbers Wednesday that show registrants of their party ahead 54 percent to 30 percent among the 1.4 million voters who have gone to the polls early.
“We’re thrilled at the record turnout so far,” said Democratic Party of Florida spokesman Eric Jotkoff. “It’s a clear indication that Democrats want to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up and down the ballot so that we can start creating good jobs, rebuilding our economy and getting our nation back on track.”
But party breakdowns for turnout aren’t the same as final tallies, and at least one poll offered a different view for the campaign of Republican John McCain.
A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll gave McCain a 49-45 lead over Democrat Barack Obama among Floridians who have already voted.
And Republicans continued to show a traditional strength, leading 50 percent to the Democrats’ 30 percent in the 1.2 million absentee ballots already returned.
Conducted Oct. 25-27, the Los Angeles Times poll gave Obama a 50-47 lead overall in Florida. Only a tiny fraction of the Florida respondents reported voting early, leaving McCain’s lead subject to a wide margin of error. A Quinnipiac University poll, released Wednesday, showed early voters favoring Obama 58-34, another small sample with a potentially wide margin of error.
Meanwhile, some Republicans grumbled that Crist’s dramatic change of heart to expand early voting hours, at the urging of Democratic members of the Florida congressional delegation and House Democratic Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach.
Republican operatives said McCain can make up for the apparent Obama surge in early voting through the robust absentee ballot program.
Polls seesaw, but representatives of both campaigns still expect a tight race.
Republican Party of Florida spokeswoman Erin VanSickle declined to comment about early returns.
“Clearly, Gov. Crist continues to put people ahead of politics in Florida, and we commend him for his leadership,” she said. “This type of bold action is why Gov. Crist maintains such high approval ratings among Floridians of all backgrounds.”
By Michael Duffy, TIME
With less than a week of campaigning left, Democrat Barack Obama is holding stable or growing leads over Republican John McCain in Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio, according to a new set of TIME/CNN battleground-state polls conducted by Opinion Research Corp.
Obama leads McCain among likely voters by 51% to 47% in Ohio, a 4-point margin that has not budged since last week’s TIME’s survey. But he now leads McCain by 52% to 45% in Nevada and by 52% to 46% in North Carolina, margins which are both slightly larger than those reported by TIME in its surveys a week earlier.
The new statewide surveys also show Obama leading McCain in Pennsylvania, the key blue state in which McCain is making a last-ditch, major push to score an upset, by a comfortable 12-point margin of 55% to 43%. But Obama still trails his Republican rival in McCain’s home state of Arizona by a 7-point margin of 46% to 53%.
Clinging to a narrow lead in Ohio, perhaps the most closely contested state in the nation, Obama continues to perform best with women of all races, who back him over McCain by a narrow but crucial 55% to 43% margin, a slight improvement from a week before.
But while Obama’s performance among women in Ohio was firming, his support among men was weakening. Men in Ohio now favor McCain and Sarah Palin over Obama and Joe Biden by a margin of 51% to 47%, compared to a gap of 49% to 47% a week before.
Among Ohio’s white males, meanwhile, Obama appears to be falling faster: they now favor McCain by a 14-point margin of 56% to 42%. Just a week earlier, Obama was 10 points behind with this group. Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher, who has come to represent something like a mascot or a rallying cry for the McCain campaign, hails from a suburb of Toledo, Ohio.
White men in Pennsylvania, by comparison, favor McCain too, but by a narrower 50%-46% margin, the TIME/CNN poll found. Women in Pennsylvania are more comfortable with the Democratic nominee than their counterparts in the Buckeye State to the west, though the difference is less dramatic. Keystone State women back Obama by a margin of 57% to 42%.
But the differences among key groups in Ohio and Pennsylvania are minor when compared with the demographic breakdowns in North Carolina. Though Obama leads in North Carolina by 6 points overall, McCain leads Obama among white women by an overwhelming margin of 62% to 32%, a ratio that is virtually identical to the margin reported by white men, who favor McCain 64% to 34%.
In Nevada, by contrast, Obama has seen his lead overall grow from a 4-point margin in late August to a 7-point margin in the latest TIME/CNN poll. Most of that growth, the data shows, comes from independents, white men and voters making less than $50,000 a year. McCain’s overall support in the state — 45% – is only 1 point higher than it was two months ago.
The polls were conducted over the phone from Oct. 23-28. In Arizona, 807 likely voters were surveyed; in Nevada, 684; in North Carolina, 667; in Ohio, 779; and in Pennsylvania, 768. Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, while Nevada and North Carolina had a margin of 4 percentage points.
