Potato i Jedinstvo

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bosnian - Idahoan: "I came from war"

Here's an interesting angle on this country's current furore over immigration: Cassidy Friedman, a reporter from the Twin Falls, Idaho Times-News, spent some time in the local caffe-bar and asked some immigrants from the former Yugoslavia what they thought:

Skepticism and cigarettes - Immigration rights is hot topic at Euro Store

Chain-smoking, laughing caustically and twitching from espresso, the Euro Store regulars talk with mixed emotions about expanding the rights of illegal immigrants.

The issue draws from them both sympathy and bitterness.

Bitterness, because what principle justifies making them and other refugees wait in line, while granting unconditional amnesty to illegal aliens?

And sympathy, because they too would seize the opportunity to enter the U.S. illegally if it meant greater opportunity for their family.

"I would do it, too, for survival," said Narcis Kurbegović, formerly a Bosnian refugee who now owns Euro Store, an eastern European cafe bar on Hansen Street East. Others nodded in agreement.

"If you see a bigger opportunity for your family, of course it makes sense," he said, about people who work illegally in the U.S. But whether it should be legal is another question.

Mirzo Ramović, a custodian at Twin Falls High School, legally obtained refuge in the U.S. after the war.

"This is a big problem," he said. "I'm 50-50. Build a wall. We need more security" on one hand, but "if they don't have a home in Mexico, (they) need a license to stay and work."

The room stirs when Kurbegović contrasts the illegal Mexican immigrant's plight with that of the political refugee. "The difference between those guys and me," said Kurbegović. "I came from war. They came from a free country."

"I would never have come here if I didn't have war in my country," he said.

But the economy in Bosnia before the war offered more opportunity than in Mexico.

"Every guy here," he said to the room. "His paycheck was bigger before the war in my country than it is now."

At present, 600 Bosnian refugees live in Twin Falls; there are at least 150 (Meskhetian) Turks; some Cambodians and some Laotians, according to the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center...
Posted by: Skelly / 12:46 PM
Comments:
This is a really good article! thanks for having it in your blog!
# posted by Blogger Katja R. : 7:28 AM
 
off topic but you need to hear this they had music from the Bosnians in Boise on here! If you aren't there it's cool!
http://www.rajaradio.com/
# posted by Blogger Katja R. : 9:45 PM
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Locations of visitors to this page