Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SOFIA116
2009-03-18 10:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Sofia
Cable title:
Want to be a Phony Roma? Just Google Bulgarian coyotes!
how-toTim W Hayes 03/19/2009 11:12:56 AM From DB/Inbox: Tim W Hayes Cable Text: UNCLAS SOFIA 00116 CXsofia: ACTION: CONS INFO: AMB DOJ DCM RSO POLEC DISSEMINATION: CONX CHARGE: PROG APPROVED: CONS: DPERRONE DRAFTED: CONS: SSTEWART CLEARED: NONE VZCZCSFI651 PP RUEHC RUEHPNH RUEAHLC RUEAHLA RUEHVI RUCNEEC DE RUEHSF #0116/01 0771045 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 181045Z MAR 09 FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5845 RUEHPNH/NVC PORTSMOUTH PRIORITY 0841 RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEAHLA/HQ CIS IAO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA PRIORITY 1210 INFO RUCNEEC/EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000116
STATE FOR CA/VO/F/P AND DRL/CRA
DHS AND CIS FOR ASYLUM OFFICE
VIENNA CIS FOR P. NARENSKY AND M. BELVEDERE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS KFRD ASEC BU
SUBJECT: Want to be a Phony Roma? Just Google Bulgarian coyotes!
REF: 2008 Sofia 0630 and previous
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000116
STATE FOR CA/VO/F/P AND DRL/CRA
DHS AND CIS FOR ASYLUM OFFICE
VIENNA CIS FOR P. NARENSKY AND M. BELVEDERE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS KFRD ASEC BU
SUBJECT: Want to be a Phony Roma? Just Google Bulgarian coyotes!
REF: 2008 Sofia 0630 and previous
1. Summary: We continue to process fraudulent asylum cases (follow-to-join) in which we have no choice but to issue the visas. We have yet to come across an asylum case based on Roma ("gypsy") ethnicity -- and virtually all cases are based on Roma ethnicity -- in which the claimant is actually Roma. To repeat, every case we have seen appears patently bogus. We urge in the strongest terms that all future Bulgarian asylum claims be referred to immigration judges, and that some systematic effort be undertaken to provide judges with at least some background on the phony Roma scam. Following are details on three recent cases.
RADEV
2. Perhaps the most brazen aspect of Krasimir Radev's (A# 999 63 611) case is that he used a well known Bulgarian coyote as his translator. A simple Google search for Rumen Kocankov, who is clearly listed as Radev's translator on the I-589 form, shows he was prosecuted in Arizona for conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens. A Phoenix newspaper article refers to him as a Bulgarian coyote known for helping Eastern Europeans with fraudulent asylum claims. Even if Radev hadn't used Kocankov, his story would still send up fraud flags.
3. Radev was granted asylum in the United States February 1, 2007, and he then filed three I-730 petitions for his wife, Anastasia Tsvetanova Radeva, and his sons, Martin Krasimirov Radev and Tsvetan Krasimirov Radev. He made the standard vague claims about being harassed his entire life by Bulgarian society and the police. The one specific example he gave was that the police barged into his home and destroyed his cassette player while celebrating Roma New Year. He said he was then interrogated and held by the police until the holiday was over. His wife, on the other hand, said the only problem they had ever had with the police was a noise complaint, which didn't lead to any violence or broken appliances. She said Radev never spent any time in jail or underwent any interrogations.
4. Radev claimed he was forced to change his name from Nikolov to Radev in an attempt to integrate into Bulgarian society. This is nonsensical, since Nikolov is a very common Bulgarian name, just as common if not more so than Radev. In fact only Bulgarian Muslims came under pressure -- over twenty years ago -- to change their names, and many did. But that phenomenon never had anything to do with Roma.
5. Part of Radev's tale was that he was so fearful of the police that he decided to sell his house and move with his family to another city. However the family stated quite clearly they have never left Sliven, where they've their entire lives. Radev's wife knew nothing of problems with the police. His two teenage sons both study at prestigious high schools and stated they have friends and are happy at school and have never had any problems of note. Hardly the constant, onerous harassment the father said they suffered. Besides, they're not Roma to begin with.
ANDREEV
6. Angel Panteleev Andreev (A# 981 52 536) also won a (fraudulent) asylum claim in 2004 and we now had to issue a visa to his daughter, Maria Angelova Andreeva. Andreev went to the United States on a student visa to study English -- in fact the interview notes say the officer believed the applicant's professional firm would pay the tuition. In the course of the interview with his daughter, who was accompanied by his former wife Nelly Yordanova Racheva, we were unsurprised to discover glaring discrepancies between Mr. Andreev's statement and the story told by his ex-wife.
7. Andreev, of course, says he's Roma and that he was abused and threatened his entire life. In his half-page page affidavit, though, he comes up with only one incident, a rather bizarre one at that. He tells that he was a low level worker at a lumber mill and one occasion was cheated out of some his wages. When he asked for his full compensation, he says, the boss set his dogs on him supposedly because he was Roma. He claims he suffered numerous injuries and filed a police report and then, the night after, he was attacked by several people as retaliation and was "savagely beaten" in front of his wife and child and had to spend 15 days in the hospital.
8. Well, apparently none of that stuck in his wife's memory. When Ms. Raycheva was interviewed she said her husband had been the sales manager for a large company. She said there had been an attack at the company and several people were beaten, but her husband wasn't among them and the incident had nothing to do with ethnicity. She wasn't sure whether the attackers were shady businessmen targeting the owner or if the owner had sent the attackers but in either case it had nothing to do with being Roma, and her husband hadn't been touched. Neither Ms. Raycheva nor her daughter had ever witnessed any attack whatsoever against Andreev, and both said he had never spent any time in the hospital.
9. Mr. Andreev continued his story of persecution by claiming his wife and child were constantly threatened and that the family had to hide from his former employer. According to Mr. Andreev he "escaped" to the United States and his former employer "went berserk" and made his wife and child leave their apartment. In the affidavit he claims his wife and child tried to go to her parents' house but her parents would not allow a "child from a gypsy" in their home. When asked if she and her daughter had ever had any sort of problems with Bulgarian society, relatives, the police and so on, Ms. Raycheva's answer was a resounding no. In fact they live and have always lived at her parents' home. So the folks who were supposed to hate the child of a Roma not only lived with their granddaughter her whole life, they also paid for Mr. Andreev's English classes in the U.S. And by the way, Mr. Andreev isn't Roma.
RASHKOV
10. Deyan Penchev Rashkov DOB 12 FEB 1971 (A#099-360-177) completes our most recent trio of fraudulent asylees. We issued visas to his wife, Ana Yordanova Rashkova, and her two children. Rashkov received a tourist visa in 2006 to visit his sister and never came back. He provided DHS with articles and information on the Roma situation in Bulgaria that were at least seven years out of date to support his case. This is especially significant considering Bulgaria has now been a member of the European Union for two years. As in the Radev case, Rashkov contends he was forced to change his family name from a "gypsy" name like Geshev to a more Slavic name like Rashkov. Again, as in the Radev case, there is everything Bulgarian about both names, and nothing "gypsy" about either.
11. According to Rashkov's statement he is Roma and was discriminated against by the Bulgarian government, its school system and military, skinheads, and fellow church members. The interviewing officer noticed that many facts and phrases sounded like they were taken verbatim from other such statements we've seen. In this case, in fact, the affidavit was so sloppy that names and dates were simply crossed out and others penciled in.
12. In 2004, according to Rashkov's affidavit, "my son Pencho came home visibly bruised, swollen, and in agony . . . several Slavic students and one teacher poured hate and violence over him." When asked, Pencho said he had never been beaten or even called names by anyone at school. Mr. Rashkov also insisted he's suffered numerous incidents of police brutality and skinhead attacks including being beaten with clubs while living in Bulgaria. Mrs. Rasheva knew he was once stopped by a police officer for a document check which is routine in Bulgaria but had no knowledge or recollection of any fights or violence of any kind.
13. Rashkov's affidavit also spun a bitter tale about his family's experience with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He claimed that during Easter 2005 the whole family went to church to light a candle but a crowd of Bulgarian churchgoers blocked the entrance and didn't allow them to enter, shouting "abomination," "demons," and other epithets. "No longer were we able to find peace in the Church," swore Rashkov. "At home mom improvised an altar with christened icons and we worshipped there." Mrs. Rashkova was incredulous when asked if the family might ever have encountered a problem in church. In short, the answer was of course not -- not now, not ever.
14. Rashkov also trotted out the old lines about difficulties with his in-laws because of a mixed marriage. He claims his wife's parents disowned her because of her decision to marry a gypsy, and that his own parents were grievously appalled and wanted nothing to do with his wife. Obviously not true, we discovered, since she lives with them. Oh, and she visits her own parents every week. But hey, there are no gypsies in this picture anyway.
Karagiannis
STATE FOR CA/VO/F/P AND DRL/CRA
DHS AND CIS FOR ASYLUM OFFICE
VIENNA CIS FOR P. NARENSKY AND M. BELVEDERE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS KFRD ASEC BU
SUBJECT: Want to be a Phony Roma? Just Google Bulgarian coyotes!
REF: 2008 Sofia 0630 and previous
1. Summary: We continue to process fraudulent asylum cases (follow-to-join) in which we have no choice but to issue the visas. We have yet to come across an asylum case based on Roma ("gypsy") ethnicity -- and virtually all cases are based on Roma ethnicity -- in which the claimant is actually Roma. To repeat, every case we have seen appears patently bogus. We urge in the strongest terms that all future Bulgarian asylum claims be referred to immigration judges, and that some systematic effort be undertaken to provide judges with at least some background on the phony Roma scam. Following are details on three recent cases.
RADEV
2. Perhaps the most brazen aspect of Krasimir Radev's (A# 999 63 611) case is that he used a well known Bulgarian coyote as his translator. A simple Google search for Rumen Kocankov, who is clearly listed as Radev's translator on the I-589 form, shows he was prosecuted in Arizona for conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens. A Phoenix newspaper article refers to him as a Bulgarian coyote known for helping Eastern Europeans with fraudulent asylum claims. Even if Radev hadn't used Kocankov, his story would still send up fraud flags.
3. Radev was granted asylum in the United States February 1, 2007, and he then filed three I-730 petitions for his wife, Anastasia Tsvetanova Radeva, and his sons, Martin Krasimirov Radev and Tsvetan Krasimirov Radev. He made the standard vague claims about being harassed his entire life by Bulgarian society and the police. The one specific example he gave was that the police barged into his home and destroyed his cassette player while celebrating Roma New Year. He said he was then interrogated and held by the police until the holiday was over. His wife, on the other hand, said the only problem they had ever had with the police was a noise complaint, which didn't lead to any violence or broken appliances. She said Radev never spent any time in jail or underwent any interrogations.
4. Radev claimed he was forced to change his name from Nikolov to Radev in an attempt to integrate into Bulgarian society. This is nonsensical, since Nikolov is a very common Bulgarian name, just as common if not more so than Radev. In fact only Bulgarian Muslims came under pressure -- over twenty years ago -- to change their names, and many did. But that phenomenon never had anything to do with Roma.
5. Part of Radev's tale was that he was so fearful of the police that he decided to sell his house and move with his family to another city. However the family stated quite clearly they have never left Sliven, where they've their entire lives. Radev's wife knew nothing of problems with the police. His two teenage sons both study at prestigious high schools and stated they have friends and are happy at school and have never had any problems of note. Hardly the constant, onerous harassment the father said they suffered. Besides, they're not Roma to begin with.
ANDREEV
6. Angel Panteleev Andreev (A# 981 52 536) also won a (fraudulent) asylum claim in 2004 and we now had to issue a visa to his daughter, Maria Angelova Andreeva. Andreev went to the United States on a student visa to study English -- in fact the interview notes say the officer believed the applicant's professional firm would pay the tuition. In the course of the interview with his daughter, who was accompanied by his former wife Nelly Yordanova Racheva, we were unsurprised to discover glaring discrepancies between Mr. Andreev's statement and the story told by his ex-wife.
7. Andreev, of course, says he's Roma and that he was abused and threatened his entire life. In his half-page page affidavit, though, he comes up with only one incident, a rather bizarre one at that. He tells that he was a low level worker at a lumber mill and one occasion was cheated out of some his wages. When he asked for his full compensation, he says, the boss set his dogs on him supposedly because he was Roma. He claims he suffered numerous injuries and filed a police report and then, the night after, he was attacked by several people as retaliation and was "savagely beaten" in front of his wife and child and had to spend 15 days in the hospital.
8. Well, apparently none of that stuck in his wife's memory. When Ms. Raycheva was interviewed she said her husband had been the sales manager for a large company. She said there had been an attack at the company and several people were beaten, but her husband wasn't among them and the incident had nothing to do with ethnicity. She wasn't sure whether the attackers were shady businessmen targeting the owner or if the owner had sent the attackers but in either case it had nothing to do with being Roma, and her husband hadn't been touched. Neither Ms. Raycheva nor her daughter had ever witnessed any attack whatsoever against Andreev, and both said he had never spent any time in the hospital.
9. Mr. Andreev continued his story of persecution by claiming his wife and child were constantly threatened and that the family had to hide from his former employer. According to Mr. Andreev he "escaped" to the United States and his former employer "went berserk" and made his wife and child leave their apartment. In the affidavit he claims his wife and child tried to go to her parents' house but her parents would not allow a "child from a gypsy" in their home. When asked if she and her daughter had ever had any sort of problems with Bulgarian society, relatives, the police and so on, Ms. Raycheva's answer was a resounding no. In fact they live and have always lived at her parents' home. So the folks who were supposed to hate the child of a Roma not only lived with their granddaughter her whole life, they also paid for Mr. Andreev's English classes in the U.S. And by the way, Mr. Andreev isn't Roma.
RASHKOV
10. Deyan Penchev Rashkov DOB 12 FEB 1971 (A#099-360-177) completes our most recent trio of fraudulent asylees. We issued visas to his wife, Ana Yordanova Rashkova, and her two children. Rashkov received a tourist visa in 2006 to visit his sister and never came back. He provided DHS with articles and information on the Roma situation in Bulgaria that were at least seven years out of date to support his case. This is especially significant considering Bulgaria has now been a member of the European Union for two years. As in the Radev case, Rashkov contends he was forced to change his family name from a "gypsy" name like Geshev to a more Slavic name like Rashkov. Again, as in the Radev case, there is everything Bulgarian about both names, and nothing "gypsy" about either.
11. According to Rashkov's statement he is Roma and was discriminated against by the Bulgarian government, its school system and military, skinheads, and fellow church members. The interviewing officer noticed that many facts and phrases sounded like they were taken verbatim from other such statements we've seen. In this case, in fact, the affidavit was so sloppy that names and dates were simply crossed out and others penciled in.
12. In 2004, according to Rashkov's affidavit, "my son Pencho came home visibly bruised, swollen, and in agony . . . several Slavic students and one teacher poured hate and violence over him." When asked, Pencho said he had never been beaten or even called names by anyone at school. Mr. Rashkov also insisted he's suffered numerous incidents of police brutality and skinhead attacks including being beaten with clubs while living in Bulgaria. Mrs. Rasheva knew he was once stopped by a police officer for a document check which is routine in Bulgaria but had no knowledge or recollection of any fights or violence of any kind.
13. Rashkov's affidavit also spun a bitter tale about his family's experience with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He claimed that during Easter 2005 the whole family went to church to light a candle but a crowd of Bulgarian churchgoers blocked the entrance and didn't allow them to enter, shouting "abomination," "demons," and other epithets. "No longer were we able to find peace in the Church," swore Rashkov. "At home mom improvised an altar with christened icons and we worshipped there." Mrs. Rashkova was incredulous when asked if the family might ever have encountered a problem in church. In short, the answer was of course not -- not now, not ever.
14. Rashkov also trotted out the old lines about difficulties with his in-laws because of a mixed marriage. He claims his wife's parents disowned her because of her decision to marry a gypsy, and that his own parents were grievously appalled and wanted nothing to do with his wife. Obviously not true, we discovered, since she lives with them. Oh, and she visits her own parents every week. But hey, there are no gypsies in this picture anyway.
Karagiannis