A place of refuge

I've been reading about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the striking Somali born Dutch politician who is now resigning from her post in Parliament due to pressure about lies on her asylum application and is also being kicked out of her residence because neighbors complained she's a threat to their safety (Muslim extremists have been making threats to her life for the past few years) so she's taking up a new gig in D.C. Well, this woman is not only beautiful, but also intelligent and articulate in several languages. She lived in Kenya before moving to Europe. She has a lot of guts to say things are they are, and offended fundamental Muslims. There's been a lot of controversy surrounding her situation.

Asylum and immigration are hot button topics on this side of the Atlantic too. Dubya and the Senate are working on getting a bill passed while millions hold their breath. But not for long...life must go on. No matter where you are in the world, you've got to wake up, shower, get dressed, and work so that at the end of the day you can have a hot meal and a safe place to rest your fatigued body. Some people are getting very militant on this issue, "we need more laws!" No. I disagree, there are already numerous laws in place but they haven't always been enforced. Or rather, the wrong group is being subjected to new restrictions monthly. Why exactly do students have to be hassled so much?

I've heard about a crooked lawyer who has swindled a lot of our friends from south of the border. People trying to get makaratasi were told about this guy, so they paid a hefty deposit for services after being told they could get asylum. The lawyer would take cases that he knew were hopeless. Even when there's hope, the avg processing time is in yrs--there's a serious backlog of cases. You want a dependable pro handling your case. No matter the outcome, you're going to pay. You walk into the office and the lawyer says "Good morning" and you've already been billed. You'd better get straight to the point and have all documents on hand coz by the time you're being told "Goodbye" you may have spent your next paycheck! At the end of the day, we are all searching for asylum aka "a place of refuge and protection."