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in Taiwan Home PageThe paragraphs below explain the basis upon which the Vietnamese are entering the United States. They are being "paroled" in, and once in, most if not all will reportedly apply for a T-visa.
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft yesterday announced that the
federal government is stepping up its efforts to create rules for T-visa
applications and help for Victims of Human Trafficking The excerpted text
from the website follows:
"Minimum stay is 90 days (length of parolee visa) but this can be extended.
Maximum is permanent, if they are approved for T-visa (see below).
"We are seeking hosts who would not only provide a place to stay, but who will actively allow these people to develop language skills, education, training and employment according to their capacity and interest.
"Parole into the United States is a temporary type of visa. These workers are considered witnesses and are being allowed into the United States to facilitate the necessary investigations and prosecutions. They agree to testify if and when needed.
"Most of the workers believe that by witnessing they will be regarded critically by their government and safe return to Vietnam would be impossible.
"Because of the situation which brought them into Samoa was by what appears to be fraud, and while here they were subjected to working conditions which violated their rights they are considered 'Victims of Human Trafficking'.
"A T-Visa is a means of providing permanent residence in the US for the victim, spouse, and children, and is granted to those victims who are at risk should they be repatriated. We believe the Vietnamese workers will qualify for T-Visa should they apply, however the regulations and process for application have yet to be developed on this new type of visa. The application process should be developed in the next few months...
"The Federal agents here (in American Samoa) are now willing to
consider processing parole beyond the March 25 2001 deadline previously
stated. There is still urgency in getting everyone matched and out of Samoa."
(Samoa News March 27, 2001) - Governor Tauese Sunia is asking Congressman Faleomavaega Eni to seek clarification from the appropriate federal government agencies on what is happening with the relocation of Vietnamese workers to the U.S.
In addition, the governor is also suggesting to Vietnam's Ambassador to the U.S., Le Van Bang, that he also contact the same agencies for information.
This message was outlined in a March 23rd 2001 letter from Tauese, which was in response to a March 20 2001 letter from Ambassador Bang.
The Ambassador was concerned about the news that the federal government was sending Vietnamese workers to Honolulu instead of allowing the Vietnamese to send them back to Vietnam, as Tauese and the Ambassador had agreed when they met in Washington, D.C. recently.
Tauese told reporters on Friday that he plans to file an official protest with Washington over the federal agencies' secretly relocating workers to Hawaii.
Later that same day, Kil Soo Lee was arrested by FBI agents in Nuuuli and taken to Honolulu where he is awaiting his first court appearance on criminal charges of subjecting the Vietnamese to conditions of "involuntary servitude."
"Not only was the governor unaware of the workers being sent to the U.S., but he was also unaware that Mr. Lee was arrested in the territory by the FBI and taken to Honolulu," said the governor's press officer, Birdsall Alailima yesterday.
Congressman Faleomavaega Eni told the Samoa News yesterday that he was briefed late last week by officials of the U.S. Department of Justice that the FBI has an ongoing investigation into labor practices of Daewoosa Samoa.
He was also officially told that some of the workers will be relocated to the U.S. as witnesses for the FBI investigation.
Faleomavaega said there was also discussion of the possibility that the women would seek to obtain T visas to remain in the United States. Such visas are theoretically available to victims of "human trafficking" perpetrated by their own government.
Most of that information had been officially released to the Samoa News by the FBI several weeks ago, and whatever was not officially released had been reliably confirmed.
The recent correspondence between the Vietnamese Ambassador and Governor Tauese follows.
March 20, 2001
Dear Governor:
At the outset, I would like to express my deep impression on and thanks for your presentation on the situation concerning the Vietnamese workers in the Territory of American Samoa.
I highly appreciate your commitment to humanitarian assistance and determination to help them reunite with their families soonest.
Now that, Mr. Governor, I have been informed of recent developments affecting the planned return of all Vietnamese workers in American Samoa, I would like to seek your help to fulfill the agreement we reached in our meeting at Congressman Faleomavaega's office the other day. We further agreed that we should not let the situation be politicized because it will exacerbate the sufferings of the workers and will be bad for the image of both American Samoa and the Vietnamese companies. We also agreed that we try to fly all of them back home by end of March. It has been reported that an INS and Department of Justice's 'team' was sent to the territory. The members of the team advised the workers to stay and go to Hawaii to testify before the court in the Daewoosa related case. Last week, 20 workers already left and more are said to be leaving for Hawaii.
Mr. Governor, I believe that because the Court is to hear about the Daewoosa-Tourism 12/IMS case both sides can be represented by their respective companies representatives. While the legitimate benefits of the workers need to be taken care of, the [prolongment] of their stay certainly does not serve their own interests or our endeavor. I therefore, would like to call upon you for your support and assistance to early bring an end to their misery, help them reunite with their families.
Please accept, Mr. Governor, my sincere thanks for your personal commitment and with best wishes.
Sincerely,
Le Van Bang
March 23, 2001
Dear Mr. Ambassador:
I extend my warmest greetings from the U.S. Territory of American Samoa. I am in receipt of your letter dated March 20th, 2001 expressing your concerns over the status of the Vietnamese workers in American Samoa who have been spirited to the United States by a federal team of Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents.
I understand your concerns in light of assurances both Congressman Faleomavaega and gave to work with you to reunite these workers with their families in Vietnam. I am also very disturbed and embarrassed that these same federal agencies did not follow protocol by informing local government of their activities in the territory as a matter of courtesy.
I have taken the liberty of attaching a recent article concerning the plight of Vietnamese workers, which seems to indicate that 33 workers have left American Samoa for Hawaii and another 60 are scheduled to leave shortly. The article states that these Vietnamese workers are being relocated throughout the United States and that they are being offered the opportunity to apply for T-Visas (specifically offered to victims of human trafficking perpetrated by their government) in Hawaii. This leads me to conclude that in addition to testifying in a possible civil rights case involving Daewoosa, Tourism 12 and IMS, the workers will have to testify before a federal grand jury that they are victims of human trafficking. I can only assume that in order for workers to secure T-Visas granting their asylum and legal resident status in the United States, they must be prepared to testify that the Vietnamese foreign labor program is a form of human trafficking that violates the fundamental civil rights of individuals.
Your observation that their respective companies representatives can represent both sides, is correct provided the objective of this federal exercise is to settle a labor dispute.
I share your concern over the negative image this present situation may cast over both American Samoa and Vietnam. Obviously, certain activist elements in both the government and private sector seem bent on pursuing agendas and opportunities at the expense of the Samoan people and the Vietnamese government. The conduct of federal investigators (some of them ethnic Vietnamese) representing agencies such as the Department of Labor is also very questionable. The fact that US federal agencies are not transparent in their dealing with local constituted authorities in this case leads me to wonder as to whose rights are being abused in their effort to dispense justice. I can only suggest at this time that you contact the appropriate federal agencies involved in this matter to seek clarification on the issue of "parole" offered to the Vietnamese workers by the United States government. By copy of this letter, I am requesting Congressman Faleomavaega's assistance in seeking clarification from the appropriate federal agencies involved.
I apologize if I am unable to respond directly to your concerns at this time and I trust we will be able to continue to work together to reunite these Vietnamese workers with their families. Please accept my warmest regards.
Most Sincerely,
Tauese P.F. Sunia
(March 28, 2001) - An attorney for Daewoosa Samoa and owner Mr. Kil-Soo Lee, Marie Alailima Lafaele, said she is confident that the federal system of justice will "ferret out fact from fiction". Lafaele (who is not involved in the defense of Mr. Lee against federal criminal charges) was responding to several Samoa News inquiries over the arrest of Mr. Lee last Friday on federal criminal charges of forced labor and servitude (see separate story).
The federal complaint filed in Honolulu last Friday, the same day Lee was arrested here, claims that Mr. Lee "defrauded [workers]; failed to pay [workers] and at times deprived [them] of food; [and] beat and physically restrained these workers to force them to work".
"I am confident that our federal system of justice will ferret out fact from fiction," said Lafaele responding to the charges against Mr. Lee. "There is much incentive on the part of the workers to make such allegations against Mr. Lee, Daewoosa Samoa and the Vietnamese government. "Such allegations if accepted as fact can pave the way for approval of a T-visa application and help qualify these workers for permanent U.S. residency status," she added, noting that this is precisely the agenda these workers are being encouraged to pursue by their attorneys and certain federal persons.
"It is unfortunate that the agenda has resulted in telling untruths about the way Mr. Lee, the Samoan management and the Samoan security guards managed the workers and the factory," said Lafaele.
The Vietnamese workers have accused Samoan assistant production manager Nuuuli Ioane and the company's security guards of slapping and beating them. Ioane and other Samoan workers have denied to the Samoa News they beat any of the Vietnamese workers.
Lafaele said allegations of involuntary servitude and forced labor is a course that is being pursed wantonly and without caution as to the evidence and concern for the truth.
She said investigators knew full well that most workers just wanted to be paid their back wages and to continue working at Daewoosa until their return home. She also noted that there were attempts to provide that opportunity under new management.
"Unfortunately 'off-island vigilantism' in generating adverse publicity made pursuing such a course impossible," she points out. "It is curious that the off-island vigilantees, the lawyers for the Vietnamese workers, and one very determined lawyer on the Human Rights sub-committee staff seem to be the ones who can safely dictate what is good for others and retreat back to a comfortable office job knowing that it wasn't their factory that was shut down or their job that was lost."
Lafaele is presumably referring to Grover Joseph Rees, a lawyer for the U.S. House of Representatives Human Rights sub-committee, and a former Chief Justice in the local High Court. Of the Daewoosa situation, Lafaele said, "let's not forget, there were Samoans, Chinese, Vietnamese as well as Korean workers who had their safety nets taken away. It is arrogant to be engaged in the practice of trading one's pearls of wisdom for another man's food.
"Lets not allow other people's obsessions with shutting down garment factories and vigilantism cloud the fact that people need to eat. The impact of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 needs to studied carefully," she added.
Lafaele was retained to defend the company in the civil action lawsuit brought against Daewoosa by former employees.
Lafaele said she has not been retained for any new matters pertaining
to Lee or Daewoosa, including the federal criminal charges.
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