Homeland insecurities

ON FEB. 27, nearly 300 citizens of Montserrat, who have been living legally and working here since 1997 under Temporary Protected Status, will become illegal in this country, subject to immediate deportation. Temporary Protected Status was granted in 1997 because of volcanic activity on the island, eruptions that killed people, burned and buried entire towns, showered the inhabitants with poisonous gases and ash that cause the lung disease silicosis, and rendered two thirds of the island uninhabitable.

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Of its 12,000 inhabitants, 8,000 have left, and those who have remained have relocated to the north of the island. Two hundred ninety-two found refuge in the United States, and have built their lives here for the last seven years -- working, going to school, raising families.

Why did Tom Ridge, outgoing director of Homeland Security, rescind Temporary Protected Status for Montserratians? Not, as one might imagine, because the volcano had stabilized, but rather, in an Orwellian twist of logic, for the exact opposite reason: The volcano remains active, with no end in sight to its eruptions and its emissions of noxious fumes and ash, and therefore ''temporary" protected status no longer applies. Two bills in Congress, to grant this small number of people permanent residence, are stalled in the House and the Senate, unlikely to be heard before Feb. 27.

In countless other ways, the Bush administration, Homeland Security, and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service have been found to persecute immigrants, visitors, and students who pose no threat to the security of this country.

Among these is my niece, who arrived here the summer of 2002 with an F-1 visa to attend Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. She did so for two years, achieving a grade point average of 3.5. Although she had a partial scholarship, a substantial tuition and housing bill remained, which her mother, an administrator with DHL in Nairobi, managed, with difficulty, to pay. In the summer of 2004, when she was obliged by the laws of the INS to return home and renew her visa, she had a zero balance at her college -- a claim that precious few Americans can make.

Yet, when she dutifully reported to the American embassy in Nairobi to renew her visa, she was told that her mother did not have sufficient funds in her bank account to cover the remaining cost of her education. But she had a job, it was pointed out, and had kept up with all of her payments, and did not owe the college any money. None of this mattered, and she was turned away.

When the fall semester began, she had no choice but to remain in Kenya, and over the next several months her mother accrued the necessary funds in her account. But when Yvonne went to the embassy to plead her case, she was again turned away and told that she had to make an appointment. In the meantime, the deadline for her return to Iona came and went. Desperate now, as well as exasperated and irate, her mother decided to enroll her in Kenyatta University in Nairobi. But what of the $22,000 she already spent attending, with the full intent to graduate, Iona College? What of the two-year investment and scholarship that Iona College had already made in Yvonne? And what, exactly, had she done wrong? Nothing: She has paid all her bills and is a model student of the kind that has been enriching the coffers of the university and the culture of this country for decades.   Continued...