Report: Israelis seeking asylum in US
A new report by the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services revealed that over the past seven years 405 Israelis have
petitioned for asylum in the US, and 116 such requests were granted.
According to a Monday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the
petitioners claimed that they were persecuted by the authorities on religious,
political, racial or national grounds; or that their lives were in mortal
danger in Israel.
Over the past three years alone 40 petitions have been
granted. According to the report, there was a 46% drop in petitions in 2011
compared to 2010 – 26 petitions were filed and 13 were approved.
Foreign nationals can petition for asylum only once they
are on US soil. Should the US courts find merit to the petition it is approved
and authorities grant the petitioner refugee status.
Official USCIS records make no differentiation of asylum
seekers' ethnicity or their reasons for seeking asylum.
Immigration Law specialist Attorney Perry Novotny,
however, said that it is likely that most petitioners in these cases are
Israeli Arabs, former USSR immigrants and radical haredim, who claim
persecution.
In many cases of Israeli Arabs, the reason may be the threat
of "honor killings" or blood feuds.
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