Nightmare at the U.S

Nightmare at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Abeba

Alemayehu Gebre Mariam
Ethiopian Review, August 1996

Amother goes to the U.S. Embassy to get a tourist visa to attend her daughter’s wedding. She is excited and a bit anxious. She has been standing at the Embassy gates since 5:00 a.m. Hours later she is still in line. The sun is relentless. She does not speak a word of English. She is confused. Uncertain. She is navigating her way to apply for a tourist visa.

Along the way she is greeted by a phalanx of predatory receptionists, file clerks, translators and other so-called “local staff.” She catches a glimpse of the American personnel. She prays. Will they say OK and give her a visa?

One of the local staff looks at her obliquely and quizzes her on her papers. She does not understand. She is told that it is going to be difficult but the situation can be helped. Can she come up with some money to facilitate the process? The price is too steep for her. But she offers the gold ring given to her by her late husband. It is not enough.

She is given an “interview,” a superficial one. The consular official mockingly asks her, “Are you going to America to mince kitfo?” The “interview” is over in minutes and the application is denied.
She is humiliated and angry. She is fatalistic. She cries and tells herself: “God did not will it!” There is no one to complain to. She admonishes her herself: “I better not say anything or they will put me on their list and I will never see my daughter.” She prays for the day but for now she will have to miss the most important event in her life—the wedding of her first born daughter.

An elderly grandfather applies for a visa at the Embassy to visit his Ethiopian-American son and attend the graduation of his grandson. He goes through the same process. He gets an “interview.” The consular official asks: “Are you going to America to become a parking lot attendant?” His application is denied. He feels dishonored. He reflects on his life and remembers the hope and anticipation he felt when he sent his son to America for higher education. But that was a long time ago.

An elderly mother applies for a tourist visa to visit her son whom she had not seen in 26 years. Her son had offered her years ago that he wanted to bring her to America and get her permanent residence. She had laughed at the idea: “Me? Come to America? For what? To sit in an empty house while you go to work and the children to school? Thanks, but no thanks!” She thought a short visit may be a good idea.

She goes through the routine. She is given the usual “interview.” Her application is denied. The sole reason: She is poor. She does not have enough money or property in Ethiopia to insure that she will return after her visit to the U.S.

Her son pleads with consular and Embassy officials. He offers all kinds of guarantees: substantial surety bond, personal guarantees and all that. He gets supporting letters from high level elected American officials. Result: VISA DENIED!

Well, if you want to know, that one was my mother. She was told that she was too poor to visit me in the land of milk and honey.
I was dismayed, to say the least. My children were disappointed. It was not easy telling them to pack up grandma’s presents. They have to wait.

But these are not isolated incidents. As I inquired further into the activities of the Embassy, I learned much to my surprise and disgust, that everyday Ethiopians who seek to get visas and other services at the Embassy are presented with an impossible mission: pay large bribes or forget about getting a visa. Ethiopians are mocked, derided and humiliated. They are treated with contempt and scorn.

The more I inquired, the more I learned about the widespread corruption and arrogance at the Embassy. I was distressed by diverse and troubling allegations. I decided to do something about it!

I wrote the United States Attorney General, Janet Reno, to investigate the following allegations.

1) Whether the Embassy’s American consular personnel and Ethiopian support staff acting in concert demand and accept bribes in the form of large sums of money and precious stones from Ethiopian visa applicants;

2) Whether the Embassy’s Ethiopian support staff, with knowledge and complicity of the American consular personnel, have engaged and continue to engage in large-scale extortion of visa applicants and others seeking official services by demanding bribes and illegal payments; and whether in the extortion scheme, Ethiopian visa applicants are threatened by the Ethiopian support staff with deliberate misplacement of application forms, mistranslation of information during interviews and misinformation of consular officials such that particular application will be denied;

3) Whether Ethiopian visa applicants and those seeking Embassy services, particularly consular services, are subjected to a pattern of humiliating treatment including but not limited to disparaging remarks about their reasons and motives for seeking visas and outright insults marked by racial and ethnic animus;

4) Whether consular and Embassy officials maintain a policy of discriminatory and arbitrary treatment against members of the Amhara ethnic group; and whether Amhara visa applicants are denied visas at a disproportionately higher rate than other applicants seeking the same services;

5) Whether consular officials at the Embassy maintain a policy of discrimination based on income and wealth; and whether consular officials abuse their discretion by imposing unreasonable and discriminatory visa criteria which allows only the wealthiest Ethiopians to qualify for visas to enter the United States.

6) Whether Embassy officials including consular personnel and the Ethiopian support staff have engaged and continue to engage in mistreatment of naturalized Ethiopian Americans who seek services at the Embassy; and whether Ethiopian Americans who seek services at the Embassy are treated with disrespect and scorn because they have chosen to become Americans.

7) Whether Embassy officials maintain a list of names of Ethiopians and Ethiopian Americans who oppose the present regime in Ethiopia; and whether this list is shared with the Ethiopian regime; and

8) Whether officials at the State Department and the leadership at the Embassy in Ethiopia have been aware of the aforementioned allegations and have failed to take effective remedial action; and whether a recent investigation by State Department at the Embassy has resulted in the removal of a high level consular official for misconduct related to the allegations made herein.

In this effort, I wish to enlist the support and cooperation of the Ethiopian public everywhere. I ask any person who has information on the above allegations to supply me with details regarding particular incidents. If you wish to respond, please give details as to the identity of the official(s) or other personnel with whom you have had dealings, the nature of your dealings, particular acts or omissions you believed were unlawful, the approximate date of the occurrence of such acts or omissions and any other relevant information. You need not reveal your identity if you feel that doing so would expose you to retaliation.

The information you provide will be used for fact-finding purpose and will be shared with the appropriate authorities. Send your correspondence to:

Alemayehu Gebre Mariam
Attorney at Law
PO Box 1083
San Bernardino, CA 92401-1083
U.S.A.

or send e-mail at:
[email protected]