1987_02 The Daily Collegian February 1987

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Wednesday, Feb. 25,1987
California State University, Fresno
:
Salvadorans
tell story of
oppression
By Brian Bianchini
StaffWrite,
A group of 20 Salvadoran refugees touring the state as part of the
Second National Caravan of Salvadorans for Peace and Justice in
Central America arrived in Fresno Tuesday.
The stop is just one in a speaking tour which is intended to bring
attention to the plight of Salvadoran citizens and to protest U.S.
military aid and involvement in El Salvador and elsewhere in Central
America, according to Junko Kunitake, chairperson of the Campus
Latin American Support Committee which was part of an organized
welcome for the caravan's arrival and is supporting the stop in Fresno.
The group will present a rally on campus at noon Wednesday in the
Free Speech Area and is supporting a national referendum for the with¬
drawal of U.S. military aid and personnel from El Salvador, said
Kunitake.
According to Edgar Lopez, who is a member of the caravan and
~Who left El Salvador in 1982, there is still repression against students
•ind the labor force. He said about 700.000 Salvadorans have been
/displaced from their homes as a result of the civil war and the
earthquake centered there last year.
Many were displaced as a result of military operations and
bombings, he said. "Instead of sending military aid to El Salvador,
send us beans, rice — food that we can use.
"We don't need more intervention from the United States right
now, we need charity. We would like to choose our own destiny."
Lopez said he escaped to this country from El Salvador by
hitchhiking and riding on buses. Since then he has been granted asy¬
lum and has lived in San Francisco.
Heber Hernandez, 26. also a member of the caravan, left El Salva¬
dor in April 1984 while a college student at the National School of
Business.
"I was afraid I was going to be killed by the national police death
squad," he said through a translator. He was afraid of any retaliation
from the government because he was a member of the Associated
Students at his school. He said. They killed eighc member-- of the
student body at my school between June and July of 1983. "
Hernandez said his brother was killed along with 20 other civilians
in April 1981. "So I left because I had my brother dead, and because I
was kind of a threat for being a student leader."
H*. has eight brothers and sisters. "My elder sister disappeared in
1979,'that was another reason why I had to leave." '
Hernandez said from 1930 to 1980 there has been a significant
. amount of U.S. involvement in El Salvador.
"From 1980 to date, there has been a change in this intervention
and it's been more damaging! The United States sends military
advisers to the Duarte regime (and) economic aid; since 1980 it has
increased excessively."
With this aid to El Salvador. President Jose Napoleon Duarte's
government has had a hand in 60,000 de-uhs and 6.000 missing
GhnnUoora/Tha Daly O.
Fleeing his home in El Salvador in 1984, Heber Hernandez left fearing for his life. His brother
and other students had been killed for their political views, hesaid.
"Only last year, due to the increased bombing and repression of the
countryside, 25,000 people fied their homelands. So. the Reagan
administration is destroying the social fabric of the country too.
See REFUGEE, page 4
rtation a dilemma
International
Students
Last of a three-part series
By Tim Heine
StaffWriter
Many foreign students come to the
United States hoping to establish res¬
idency, yet some face possible depor¬
tation.
A 1986 CSUF graduate faces that pos¬
sibility next month.
She started saving money for education
in the United Stales when she was 13
years old. She asked for money instead of
presents on birthdays and holidays. She
worked part time v and turned down an
opportunity to study in Spain for a year
because it would have been too costly.
"In this country I have become an
individual person, free from social pres¬
sures, expectations and^lmutations. Prob¬
lems here are openly confronted *> *ey
can be defeated. The United States is more
open and accepting of individual differ¬
ences." she said.
Living in this country has been her
lifetime dream, and even though she may
be deported because her visa is near
e*qnration. her vienf has not changed. Tm
willing to work so hard and do my best.
Why can't I stay?
"I don't want to go home. I meet people
here that excite .me, they have dreams,
they inspire me. Ill be better here. life
isn't one-dimensional like at home."
Zahir Ahmed, an international student
counselor who also works in conjunction
with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, said, "Only 8 percent of all
international  students  who come to study
in the United States do not return home
immediately after graduation, and only 2
to 3 percent for the long tenn.
The statutory presumption of the INS
is that any person who comes to the
United States is really coming to im¬
migrate," he said
A law passed by the federal legislature
last November changed many conditions
for foreigners in obtaining legal residence.
Ahmed said those who decide to stay in
the United States after graduation have two
options. Their first option is to apply for
permanent residence. Unless they have' a
specific reason to stay, or have a relative
who is a U.S. citizen, they will be pot on
a national quota list. In most cases this
means returning to their home countries to
wait Their second option is a six-month
extension on the studeftt visa for practical
training, he said
The student may apply for the practical
experience extension if the job experience
is not readily available at home," Ahmed
said. "After the first six months, if the
student gets • letter from his employer
proving actual experience, he can apply
for an additional six months."
The employer can apply to sponsor the
foreigner, but must- prove to the INS and
the Labor Department that the job being
held by the alien cannot be filled by an
U.S. citizen, he said.
But one foreign student who applied for
.permission to get practical training during
the summer to fulfill a class requirement
was told to go to his home country to get
the training.
"It's impossible to Work with
immigration. They don't care. It makes me
angry that someone **ho sneaks in ille¬
gally to take advantage is allowed to stay,
and someone else who comes to better
themselves and work through the system
is hurt," said the graduate who faces
deportation.
Most of the foreign students that spoke
to The Daily Collegian said they will not
stay in the United States illegally. They
said they understand the government's
desire to ensure that foreigners do not fill
job positions at the exclusion of U.S.
citizens and refuse to break U.S. laws on
ethical grounds.
One student said be refused to break the
law because "if Tm caught as an illegal and
Sec STUDENTS, page 3
v