[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 93 (Thursday, June 8, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  TRIBUTE TO FIVE MINNESOTA IMMIGRANTS

                                 ______


                          HON. BRUCE F. VENTO

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 1995
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, in light of the antiimmigrant sentiment 
currently prevalent in much of U.S. society, I wanted to submit the 
following article which appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press 
newspaper in my district in St. Paul, MN. This article tells a 
different story from those often heard about immigrants. Immigrants to 
the United States, like the five people being honored in Minnesota, 
work hard to make important contributions to our society.
  As we consider changes to immigration law in Congress, I hope that we 
will keep in mind that these five people are a true representation of 
what immigration means to the United States.
 Five Minnesota Immigrants Honored for Achievement--Rights Group Award 
                          is for Contribution

                             (By Ann Baker)

       The last time Rocky Ralebipi went home to Pietersburg, 
     South Africa, it was 1992, two years after Nelson Mandela 
     walked out of prison.
       Seeing tank-like army vehicles called ``hippos'' patrolling 
     her family's segregated black neighborhood, she couldn't 
     shake off the memory of a 1977 police raid on the university 
     where she was a student. Classmates suspected of conspiring 
     against the apartheid government were beaten to death and 
     flung out of 10th-story windows.
       It's a memory the College of St. Catherine librarian will 
     never forget.
       Tonight, Ralebipi and four other immigrants who live in the 
     state will be honored at the Minneapolis Hilton by Minnesota 
     Advocates for Human Rights for their outstanding 
     contributions to Minnesota's economy and community life.
       Nazie Eftekhari, Jose Lamas, George Meredith and Viet Ngo, 
     who with Ralebipi are immigrants from four different 
     continents, teach, invent, create and manage businesses and 
     operate communication networks. All but Meredith came to 
     Minnesota as students.
       ``These individuals are not unique,'' said Nancy Arnison, 
     deputy director of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. 
     ``They represent what immigrants bring to this country.''
       Arnison points to local surveys showing that Minnesotans 
     tend to believe immigrants brought more harm than good, even 
     before California's Proposition 187 barred undocumented 
     immigrants' families from free school and vaccinations.
       In the meantime, anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise 
     nationally, with welfare reform bills in the U.S. House and 
     Senate proposing to deny numerous federal services to legal 
     immigrants who are waiting to become naturalized.
       Eftekhari, who is from Iran, founded and directs one of the 
     first managed-care health corporations in the United States, 
     called the Araz Group. Recipient of the 1995 Bloomington 
     Small Business Person of the Year award, she has 115 
     employees.
       ``It's the strength of this country that people can come 
     here and accomplish their dreams,'' she says.
       Lamas left Mexico for California by himself six years ago 
     at age 14, supporting himself with restaurant jobs. He 
     graduated from Worthington Senior High School on Monday, and 
     has published three editions of a six-page Spanish language 
     newspaper, supported by advertisements, for the Worthington 
     area.
       In the fall he plans to enroll at Gustavus Adolphus College 
     in St. Peter to study pre-law. He also
      likes to tinker with inventions, especially auto safety 
     devices. He has legal immigration papers now and hopes to 
     become a citizen in three years.
       Meredith, a 28-year veteran of 3M, came here on a job 
     transfer from South Wales eight years ago. He is an executive 
     vice president in charge of the company's life sciences 
     division, which produces medical, pharmaceutical and dental 
     products.
       Now a U.S. citizen, Meredith lives in Grant township, which 
     he calls ``a satisfying place to live from a community 
     standpoint.'' He enjoys the outdoors, fishing, skiing and 
     sailing on the St. Croix.
       Ngo, an engineer and sculptor who came from Vietnam in 
     1970, founded and operates a sewage treatment company, Lemna 
     Corp. of Mendota Heights. He creates parks out of ponds with 
     floating duckweed, packed into wire mesh to cleanse the 
     effluent. His method is praised as cheap, natural and 
     esthetic.
       ``And I'm as American as chow mein,'' he says.
       ``We're trying to dispel the myths that immigrants are 
     flooding our shores, taking American jobs, draining the 
     welfare system and failing to assimilate,'' said Arnison.
       In fact, she said, immigrants, who have been entering at 
     the ``hardly a flood'' rate of 1 million a year, make up 8 
     percent of the population, compared with 15 percent in the 
     early 1900s. Together, they earn $240 billion a year and pay 
     back $90 billion in taxes. Only 9 percent of immigrant 
     households are on welfare.
       Next week, Ralebipi, who now directs the College of St. 
     Catherine's health sciences library, will return to South 
     Africa, this time to teach library technology for a year to 
     students at her alma mater, the University of the North.
       This time she is excited, not scared. She is confident that 
     in South Africa freedom has become ``really real'' and she is 
     eager to help build the newly integrated society.
     

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