PROMOTING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ANTI-REGIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000146

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR CA/EX, CA/VO/F/P, CA/VO/L/A

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2019
TAGS: CVIS CMGT PREL PGOV SOCI PREF ER
SUBJECT: PROMOTING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ANTI-REGIME
ERITREAN YOUTH

REF: A. ASMARA 142

B. DYBDAHL-HACK EMAILS 20APR09 AND SUBSEQUENT

Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In Eritrea, only the elderly and pro-regime
individuals are allowed passports and exit visas to travel
abroad. The regime closed the University of Asmara in 2005
and conscripts almost all young adults into open-ended
national service, which borders on indefinite forced labor.
Perhaps 215,000 young Eritreans have fled the country and
molder in refugee camps in Sudan, Ethiopia, and elsewhere.
Posts plans to restart visa services (completely suspended in
2007) for student visa applicants; we intend to give
opportunities to study in the United States to those who
oppose the regime, as well as others. Thus, Post requests
that CA seek to establish a limited category-specific
exemption to the passport requirement for Eritreans found
eligible for student visas. Embassy Asmara employees
eligible for Special Immigrant Visas should also be included
in this narrow category. End Summary.


2. (SBU) FLEEING IN DROVES, BUT THEN STUCK
--------------

Many young Eritreans long to study in the United States (ref
A),apply to American universities, get accepted, and even
get scholarships, but can't leave Eritrea legally unless they
are relatives of regime insiders. For tens of thousands of
young Eritreans, hope for a better future has been
extinguished. Thousands cross illegally into Sudan; even
those who acquire official refugee status find there is
almost no chance for resettlement. Many spend years in
hardscrabble refugee camps in eastern Sudan, subject to
abuse, exploitation, and despair. Yet, tens of thousands
find that preferable to living under one of the world's
harshest dictatorships.


3. (C) HOW THIS WOULD WORK
--------------

Post intends to begin adjudicating student visa applications,
regardless of whether the regime is willing to issue the
applicant an Eritrean passport and exit visa. If an
applicant is otherwise found eligible for a student visa,
Post will issue it in a Form DS-232. If the visa recipient
can later convince the authorities in Asmara to issue a
passport and exit visa, fine. Other visa recipients will
undoubtedly make their way to Khartoum, where the Eritrean
embassy is widely known to sell Eritrean passports to nearly
all comers; with an Eritrean passport and an F1 visa in a
Form DS-232, the lucky young person is off to America. For
those visa recipients who manage to leave the country and
receive UNHCR refugee status, a UN-authorized travel document
might allow the young person to travel to America with his or
her F1 in the DS-232.


4. (C) SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISAS
--------------

As Eritrea became independent only in 1993, many of our
initial batch of FSNs are becoming eligible for 15-year
Special Immigrant Visas (SIV). Normally SIVs require 20
years of USG employment, but Embassy Asmara's SIV applicants
are frequently found eligible after 15 years due to the
dangerous conditions in which they work. For example, since
2001 the regime has arrested and imprisoned 43 of our local
employees; others have fled illegally to escape persecution.
Several have returned to work after having been arrested,
tortured, and eventually released. One was held in an
underground cell for an entire year. Another lost 80% of his
hearing after repeated beatings. Once they apply for and are
found eligible for SIVs, our FSNs still must get Eritrean
passports and exit permits. Currently four SIV-eligible FSNs
are waiting to be issued Eritrean passports; they may never
get them. Post has not stopped adjudicating SIVs, but we may
start issuing them in DS-232s as events warrant.


5. (C) REQUEST: LIMITED CATEGORY-SPECIFIC EXEMPTION
-------------- --------------

Thanks to helpful background information from CA/VO (ref B)
and other research, Post is familiar with INA 212 (d)(4)(A)

regarding waiver procedures for travelers without passports.
While we don't expect a massive number of Eritreans without
passports to receive student visas or Special Immigrant
Visas, processing these cases individually would be quite
costly in terms of time and USG human resources.

--Thus, Post requests that CA work with DHS to establish a
limited category-specific exemption as per 22 CFR 41.3(g)
that would encompass Eritreans who fully qualify for a
student (F1) visa or SIV, except for the passport
requirement. Please advise. Embassy point of contact is
Consul Pam Hack. Post plans to begin accepting student visa
applications from those with and without passports soon.


6. (C) COMMENT
--------------

Due to the Isaias regime's ongoing restrictions on Embassy
Asmara, Post does not contemplate a resumption of full visa
services in the near future. However, giving young Eritreans
hope, the chance for an education, and the skills with which
to rebuild their impoverished country in the post-Isaias
period is one of the strongest signals we can send to the
Eritrean people that the United States has not abandoned
them. Were we to begin processing student visa applications
and require a regime-issued passport, we would be seen as
strengthening the dictatorship's hand. Thus, the limited
category-specific exemption outlined above is key.

MCMULLEN