Afghan Girl Enslaved in U.S.
According to federal prosecutors, five Afghan immigrants in the United States enslaved a teenage girl, forcing her to do house chores and beating her if she behaved in a way they did not approve of. One of the Afghans even sexually assaulted the girl, a federal indictment unsealed this week says.
The girl comes from a poor, single-parent home in Afghanistan, and was adopted by another family that forced her to marry at the age of 13.
Mohammad Atahee, her husband, is a 37-year old lawyer. The U.S. government does not, and rightfully so, recognize the marriage.
‘Atahee and three of the family’s members were already living in the south Seattle suburbs when the girl’s adoptive mother, Nasima Yousuf, 70, brought her from Afghanistan in 2006, as part of what prosecutors say was a plot to enslave her. Yousuf’s husband, Mohammad, 84, had filed an immigration petition to bring the girl to the U.S., claiming his wife was her biological mother,’ CNN explained on Saturday.
One hopes that U.S. prosecutors will do everything in their power to punish those involved as harshly as possible. The behavior is, of course, utterly unacceptable. The only way for Western countries to prevent other immigrants from following the same course is by showing that such behavior will not be tolerated; accept American laws or be prepared to serve decades in jail.
Europe made the mistake to deal with these issues as ‘cultural differences,’ of no to little consequence. They are not; they are major cultural differences, moral differences and, more importantly, the law is the law. People may live differently in other parts of the world but when they come to the West, they should change. And rapidly so. If they do not, punish them more severely than they ever expected.
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Yousuf’s husband, Mohammad, 84, had filed an immigration petition to bring the girl to the U.S., claiming his wife was her biological mother,’ CNN explained on Saturday.
Ermmm, looking into how immigration officials didn’t question the legitimacy of a 70 year old woman having an underage girl as a biological daughter would also warrant some looking into. She was forced to marry at 13 and brought to the US at 14, and yet the INS didn’t think it was odd that a 70 year old woman had a 14 year old daughter?
Apparently her immigration papers are now invalid. Let’s hope that competence somehow flows into the department and she can be kept in the US based on human rights issues. She is, after all, an escaped slave.
“Ermmm, looking into how immigration officials didn’t question the legitimacy of a 70 year old woman having an underage girl as a biological daughter would also warrant some looking into. She was forced to marry at 13 and brought to the US at 14, and yet the INS didn’t think it was odd that a 70 year old woman had a 14 year old daughter?”
Ummm….. that would make the woman 54 years old at the alleged time of birth…. is that not reasonable?
“Apparently her immigration papers are now invalid. Let’s hope that competence somehow flows into the department and she can be kept in the US based on human rights issues. She is, after all, an escaped slave.”
Yup…. she is now a legal resident (if she so wishes) due to her victim status and circemstances. Competence has nothing to do with it… the decisions will be based on law. I’m sure, if the law said that DNA samples had to be collected to prove maternity, you would take issue with that as well.
Let’s focus on the criminals and assist the victim, shall we?