Posted on 02/09/2011 9:24:40 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Guantanamo Bay detainees might have a new home in the United States: Berkeley.
The City Council is to vote Feb. 15 on a resolution to invite detainees who have been cleared of wrongdoing to resettle within Berkeley's sunny confines.
Of the 38 detainees who have been cleared, Berkeley would invite two: a Russian ballet dancer and an Algerian who was a top-rated Italian chef in Austria.
"Our hearts are with all those people who were never tried, held for years and in some cases tortured," said Wendy Kenin, chairwoman of the city's Peace and Justice Commission, which crafted the resolution. "As a municipality, this is one thing we can do to right some wrongs of our federal government."
The two would move to Berkeley and live with local families. Nonprofits would help them find work and generally integrate into life in the East Bay.
Berkeley would not spend any money from its general fund on the plan.
The plan, however, could hit a roadblock with the Department of Defense. The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, signed by President Obama on Jan. 7, prohibits the United States from funding the relocation of cleared detainees.
That leaves the detainees in limbo. They have no passports, no visas, no money and no jurisdiction that wants them - except for Berkeley and a few cities in Massachusetts that have passed similar resolutions. They can't return to their native countries for fear of harassment or torture.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Berkeley’s newest residents would include Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian chef who worked at an upscale Italian restaurant in Vienna. After his work visa was not renewed, he went to Canada but was not granted asylum.
..
The other favored detainee is Ravil Mingazov, a ballet dancer who converted to Islam while serving in the Russian Army. To escape harassment from the KGB, he moved to Afghanistan and then Pakistan, where he was arrested while staying in a house with other Muslim refugees.
Unfortunately this does not appear to be satire.
Jihadists and Berkeley? What could go wrong?
How long before they are offered a “professorship” at Bezerkley, with tenure, of course?
Islamic Radicals + Homosexuals = Tolerance??? Should be interesting to see the fireworks.
Well, isn't that just too bad? Give 'em a set of fake papers and dump them at their national border. They're no longer our problem.
“Islamic Radicals + Homosexuals = Tolerance?”
Well the one guy is a ballet dancer! Probably fit right in.
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