We have been following the story of Rifqa Bari, the teenage Sri Lankan girl who converted to Christianity and fled her family in Ohio for fear of her life. Tomorrow she will turn 18, and a judge has ruled that she does not have to be reunited with her family.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/08/05/rifqa-bary-immigration-decision.html
This is welcome news. Rifqa has been in the custody of child services authorities in Ohio pending a legal ruling on her parents' efforts to regain custody. The Bary family are in the country illegally-including Rifqa, who can fight to remain here on her own. She is also fighting uterine cancer. Her medical care has been provided free by American volunteer doctors, while her legal services were provided pro bono by lawyers Angela Lloyd and Kort Gatterdam. On the other side, lurking in the background was the Council on American Islamic Relations(CAIR), who were backing the family in their efforts to get Rifqa back.
We are praying that Rifqa will recover from her illness and find a peaceful life here in America. In this case, the system worked.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I would say that the system stumbled about uncertain of what to do, until the girl turned 18, at which point, there is no legal basis whatsoever for her family to regain custody. She's a legal adult. She can vote, serve in the military, and be executed for capital crimes, among other rights and liabilities we all share.
On its face, I'm not sure her family didn't have a bona fide legal right to regain custody. I'm quite open to the possibility that her "Christian" mentors were also captors and manipulators. However, I'm generally in favor of children being carefully listened to in custody decisions, instead of being treated as marital property to be squabble over. If she was afraid to go home, good enough, don't send her home. Now its a moot point.
Post a Comment