Finnish Immigration Service Archives - Page 7 of 10

Iraqi asylum seeker gets asylum application turned down as his family members are attacked by the militia

Posted on November 20, 2016 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) is planning to reassess the security situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia after an initial assessment in May deemed these countries to be safe to return asylum seekers.

Migrant Tales reported recently a shooting and two deaths of asylum seekers who returned back to “safe” Iraq. That was followed by a story published in Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday.

In spite of assurances that countries like Iraq are “safe” to return asylum seekers, the latest pictures that we have received of violence in Iraq tell us a very different story.

Jihad Al Baghdadi* is an asylum seeker who arrived in Finland on September 19, 2015, and who got his asylum application turned down by Migri over a year later on November 3.

“Even if I was 80% certain that I’d get a negative decision [from Migri],” he said. “I was in shock for about a week. I have a two-year-old daughter who lives in Iraq and I want to bring her to Finland away from the violence there.”

Al Baghdadi used to work for a security company in Iraq that is linked to the US Army.

The Iraqi asylum seeker said that he left Iraq because he didn’t want to spy for the Jaish al Madhy militia group or have anything to do with the extortion and killing of people.

According to Al Baghdadi, the militia wants to find his daughter so they can force him to return to Iraq.

Jihad’s four-year-old nephew after he was run over by a driver belonging to the Jaish al Mahdy militia. The boy needed two operations and stitches on his face.

The militia stepped up its pressure on Jihad’s family from June. They questioned his father and asked about Jihad’s daughter. He was beaten up by them on the street and suffered rib injuries as a result.

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Is Somalia a “safe” country and do asylum seekers want to die in vain?

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Migrant Tales

In light of the assessment published by the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) in May, where it claims that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia are “safe” to return asylum seekers we strongly challenge such a claim. I challenge Migri’s assessment because it is political and has little to do with reality.

Migrant Tales has documented at least three cases of people who returned to Iraq and Afghanistan after Migri’s assessment.

Of the three Iraqi asylum seekers that returned to their home country, one ended up in a hospital after being shot six times and two others died in bomb explosions.

One naturalized Finn originally from Afghanistan was shot dead in September in the capital Kabul shortly after he was wed.

All of these four people returned to “safe” Iraq and Afghanistan and got killed or ended up in the hospital shot.

What about Somalia, a country that has been absorbed in a civil war since 1991?

Is it a “safe” country as Migri alleges?

This Kenyan woman tells about her ordeal when she was kidnapped for two years in Somalia. Source: Amisom.

European Country of Origin Information Network (ecoi.net), the Austrian Red Cross information system, is one of many sources that warn about the security situation in Somalia. Apart from problems with Al-Shabaab, there is also bloodshed between different clans.

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SUPO, the Finnish Immigration Service and the police service reveal that we are today a country that even fears its own shadow

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Migrant Tales

One of the matters that surprised me a lot when I visited my grandparents in Finland when I lived in Southern California was how he related to black people. The way my grandfather saw black people over forty years ago was so negative and shocking to me that I still remember his reaction.

It must have been in 1968 because my sister and I showed him a picture of starving black children in Biafra, an eastern state of Nigeria that declared independence and plunged the country into a bloody civil war. His reaction was so strong that we made fun of his reaction and taped a picture of a starving black child by his bed, which he immediately took away.

I don’t remember exactly the picture that I showed my grandfather of starving Biafran children, but it was something like the picture above. Source: Modern Ghana.

The way my grandfather related to blacks in the 1960s reveals a lot about how some Finns continue to see diversity as a threat that must be contained at all costs by denying it oxygen and living space.

You don’t have to be a star journalist to understand that the Finnish Intelligence Security Service (SUPO), the Finnish Immigration Service and the police service spread fear about asylum seekers and our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

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A naturalized Finn who returned to a “safe” country like Afghanistan and was killed last month

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Migrant Tales

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced in May that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia are “safe” to return refugees who get their asylum applications rejected. Migrant Tales documented two deaths and one shooting of Iraqi asylum seekers that returned recently to Iraq.

When asked about such cases, Migri tweets the following: “Good morning Marianne. Without confirmation we cannot comment on the fate of those [asylum seekers] that have been refused to stay [in Finland].”

We would like to introduce Reza Hasani, a naturalized Finn originally from Afghanistan, who got shot and killed on September 19, or seven days after he got married in the capital Kabul.

Continue reading “A naturalized Finn who returned to a “safe” country like Afghanistan and was killed last month”

Two Iraqi asylum seekers who returned to “safe” Iraq and were killed

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Migrant Tales

In May and much to the surprise of many, especially asylum seekers and concerned citizens, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced that countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia were safe to return asylum seekers.

Migrant Tales reported in September about Mohammed Khulbus Idnan’s return to “safe” Iraq after waiting for a year for his residence permit without luck. He returned to Baghdad to be at his mother’s side since she was going to die. He returned and was lucky: He got shot six times and survived.

Two other persons weren’t as lucky as Khulbus Idnan when they returned in summer to “safe” Iraq. Both of them were killed by bombs.

Hussein Ali Shawi Al-Frajas was twenty-nine years old when a bomb planted in his car detonated and ripped him in half from the waist down. We have pictures that show him inside the car that we won’t publish because they are so shocking.

Al-Frajas had been in Baghdad only three days before he was killed.

He left Finland after Migri had turned down his asylum application. He was a father of two.

Hussein Ali Shawi Al-Frajas died in summer three days after his return to Baghdad from Oulu, Finland.

The second young man to die in summer is Ahmed Kadhim Ali Alsultani, who returned back to Baghdad because he missed his two children and wife. He had come to Finland in September and waited for months without luck for a decision from Migri.

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The Finnish Immigration Service, with the blessings of the government, aims to separate migrant parents from their children

Posted on October 30, 2016 by Migrant Tales

In August, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) is reported to have given asylum reception center instructions that only their children can stay at the reception center if the parents have their asylum application turned down and won’t leave the country, according to MTV.

The Red Cross has already said that it won’t comply with Migri’s instructions because they breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Finland has ratified, and the association’s values to treat asylum seekers in a humane manner.

“We don’t want to worsen with our actions their vulnerability,” Red Cross legal advisor Jani Leino was quoted as saying.

Migrant Tales confirms that the Red Cross told asylum seekers at some camps that they won’t be abandoned by the association. “You will not be neglected or kicked out of the reception center,” an asylum seeker told us over the phone. “We are here to support you.”

While the Red Cross will not comply to Migri’s instructions, it would be interesting to see if private companies like Luona and Mehiläinen feel the same way about offering support and not abandoning those that they now serve.

Read the full story here.

Finland’s government, which is one of the most hostile and anti-immigration seen in a long time, believes that the only way to deal with asylum seekers and migrants in Finland is to prohibit and pass inhumane laws like the tightening of family reunification guidelines.

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UPDATE: How can a rape of an adolescent visitor happen at the Villa Meri asylum reception center?

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales published Thursday a story about a list of complaints by an asylum seeker of the Villa Meri reception center of Rauma, located 91 kilometers north of the southwestern city of Turku. The reception the story got was quite a surprise considering that present and former volunteers of Villa Meri accused me of racism, hating and using all asylum seekers, hating all reception center workers, and of having an agenda.

UPDATE: Migrant Tales will have news on the case Saturday.

One of these volunteers even threatened to sue me.

For what? For publishing what an asylum seeker’s list of complaints?

Doesn’t the Villa Meri asylum reception center have any rules about who can speak on behalf of the reception center? If not, it shows that there is either mismanagement or no management at the center.

The same complaints that were given to Migrant Tales in March from asylum seekers at Villa Meri hadn’t changed in November with the horrific exception that a rape of an adolescent was committed.

Migrant Tales was heatedly criticized on Facebook’s Rasmus by former and present volunteers of Vill Meri for asking a sensible question: How is it possible that an adolescent visitor gets raped at the center?

To that question, we heard some of the most incredible excuses like it’s not the job of the staff to watch over asylum seekers and visitors like children. The staff isn’t responsible for what happened hto the adolescent, was echoed by another visitor.

While the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) doesn’t give recommendations to asylum centers on how to improve security, it’s the security guards job at the center to ensure the staff’s and asylum seekers’ safety.

I’d be very surprised if an exhaustive investigation isn’t being conducted now to find out why an adolescent was raped at the center. Even if some claim that the staff and management aren’t responsible for what happened, they are if negligence can be proven.

Some asylum centers in Finland take precautions. One such center in southern Finland does the following:

1) visitors are watched by the staff; (2) corridors are watched by camera; (3) empty rooms are locked (the rape at Villa Meri took place in an empty unlocked room); (4) there are areas of the camp that are off limits to visitors and asylum seekers.

Will such measures prevent a rape? It will make it harder for someone who has rape on his mind.

On top of possible negligence, there’s another factor that incriminates the staff and management. The asylum seekers allegedly warned them that something bad could happen to the adolescent that was raped. They alleged the adolescent had a “bad reputation” (sic!) because she hung around men and boys, which is taboo for single adolescents and women in some Middle East regions.

Why weren’t the warnings of the asylum seekers taken on board and acted upon?

If the asylum seekers are to be believed, relations with the manager of the camp, Päivi Nikkola, are poor as with the staff. Moreover, the camp manager is never around and impossible for the asylum seekers to meet and talk with her.

It may well be that some heads may roll at Villa Meri for what happened.

But the most important matter that we can learn from what happened is to not commit the same mistakes committed at the reception center in Rauma.

The Villa Meri center is run by Hoivapalvelu Metsätähti, a private company owned by Mehiläinen.

Family reunification in Finland can easily cost a migrant thousands of euros

Posted on October 23, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Affluent Nordic countries like Finland are making it legally near-difficult never mind costly to reunite families of migrants thanks to the tightening of family reunification guidelines that came into force in July. How much would it cost for an asylum seeker who got a residence permit before July and applied to get his wife and three children aged 9, 7 and 4 to Finland?

Is your answer 1,000 euros or over 10,000 euros?

The Finnish government places a price tag on migrant families. No money, no family. Source: Arab News.

If the figure is a four-digit number, where are these people, who are former asylum seekers, going to raise thousands of euros if many have lost everything to come to Europe?

Why would a country like Finland, which claims to abide by Nordic values such as social equality and respect for family life, want to separate families indefinitely?

Zygmunt Bauman is one of the best-known social thinkers of our time. He believes that asylum seekers who come to Europe instill fear in some of us for a very basic reason.

“[They are] people who yesterday were proud of their homes, were proud of their position in society, were very often very well educated, very well-off and so on,” Bauman is quoted as saying in Al-Jazeera. “But they are refugees now…Refugees, ’embody all our fears’ of losing everything. Yesterday they were very powerful back in their country, like we are here [in Europe] today.”

In order to answer voters’ uncertainty and their fear of losing everything, populist anti-immigration politicians tell us a big lie: Vote for me and I will give you security. We will take these refugees and hide them from your sight. We won’t allow their families to come here so they cannot reporduce here and upset our white society. If we don’t see these people, they won’t remind us – as Bauman stated – that we may be one day in the same boat as they.

Without going into a deep discussion about the fear of losing our standing in society, the Finnish government tightened family reunification guidelines in June. The new guidelines came into force in July.

If you are lucky to have received your residence permit before July, you won’t have to make 2,600 euros after taxes in order to bring your spouse and two children to Finland.

But let’s go back to the original question: How much would it cost a former asylum seeker who got a residence permit to bring his wife and three children to Finland?

According to the Iraqi who got a residence permit before July, the total cost to bring his family would be over 10,000 euros. There is no guarantee as well that the Finnish Immigration Service will grant his family a visa to live in Finland even if he raises such a sum of cash.

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UPDATED: Iraqi asylum seeker takes his life after getting a negative decision from the Finnish Immigration Service

Posted on September 19, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has heard that a nineteen-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker took his life on Sunday after the Finnish Immigration Service turned down his request for asylum. The death of the young man, which was posted in Facebook, shows how unbearable the situation has become for some asylum seekers.

His name is Mohammed M. A. and he has lived in Finland for a year. He got a negative decision and his appeal was also turned down. He appears to have been a resident at the Ruskeasuo reception center run by the Red Cross.*

Mohammed in semi-better times. Source: Facebook.

Migrant Tales published earlier this month a story about a young Iraqi asylum seeker who attempted to take his life spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Obviously, there’s a big difference between the situation now and the situation [in Finland] 7 months ago,” he said. “In the past, we heard that applications for asylum were never rejected. But now, out of a hundred people… only two to four get asylum. We are not told why.”

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Single mother Iraqi asylum seeker with two children plead for help to not be deported from Finland

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales got a phone call Thursday from an Iraqi woman* who spoke a few words of English. “Do you speak German?” she asked.

An Arabic-speaker called later the forty-year-old woman, who is one of the thousands of unlucky asylum seekers facing deportation after Finland decided to tighten its immigration policy.

The woman’s woes do not only hinge on deportation but to the fact that she is a single mother of two: her son is seven and her daughter, who suffers from mental problems and requires psychiatric help, is eight years old.

Considering the harsh lives that these asylum seekers have endured in their home countries, their misery doesn’t end in Europe but is exacerbated in some cases.

The woman, who claims to be suffering from cancer, is feeling desperate for her children and for herself.

Some pictures of when her children on the left are sleeping at the railway station, where they were picked up by the police and taken to a hospital. The Italian police collected money between themselves to buy refugees food, according to her. The single mother has lost contact with her husband.

If there is a silver lining in this family’s story, it’s that they won’t be deported back to Iraq but to Italy.

Continue reading “Single mother Iraqi asylum seeker with two children plead for help to not be deported from Finland”