[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 78 (Thursday, May 27, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6440-S6441]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WELCOME TO EDRINA AND LISELA DUSHAJ

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I 
rise today to tell the story of the Dushaj family. Several years ago 
Pranvera and Zenun Dushaj left their native Albania and were granted 
political asylum in the United States. They settled in the Bronx, New 
York where they found a place to live and both found jobs. 
Unfortunately, at the time they left Albania they could not bring their 
two young daughters, Edrina and Lisela, with them. They had to stay 
behind with their grandmother.
  As soon as they were eligible, the Dushaj family applied for 
permission to bring their children to the United States. The family 
came to my office last year seeking assistance in getting the I-730 
petitions approved. Last fall, the Immigration and Naturalization 
Service granted the petitions for both daughters.
  All was set. The Dushaj children could now join their parents in this 
country. All they needed were immigrant visas, but therein lay the 
problem. Because of recent fighting and the threat of terrorist 
activity, consular services at our Embassy in Albania were all but shut 
down, providing only emergency services to American citizens. The 
embassy was no longer able to process the needed visas.
  I note that this was occurring this March just as the conflict with 
Serbia was coming to a head. The Dushaj children were stuck in Albania 
and their

[[Page S6441]]

parents were quite concerned. To make matters worse, they lived in 
Bijram-Curri, a city in the Tropoja region which is less than half an 
hour from the Kosovo border.
  Albanians were being instructed to contact the American Embassy in 
Italy or Greece to obtain visas. This presented a problem for the 
Dushaj family. With the start of the NATO bombing campaign, it became 
nearly impossible to get from Albania to Italy, either by sea or air, 
and anti-American demonstrations outside our embassy in Athens made the 
Dushaj family reluctant to send their four and six year old daughters 
to Greece.
  Fortunately, Zenun Dushaj has a cousin in Turkey and my office was 
able to work with the Dushaj family to have our embassy in Ankara 
accept jurisdiction in this matter. In April, Edrina and Lisela left 
Albania. Soon thereafter, they arrived at our embassy in Ankara where 
they applied for immigrant visas. They filled out the proper forms, 
underwent the necessary medical exams, provided the necessary 
documentation, and shortly thereafter their visa applications were 
processed.
  I am very happy to report that on May 21, the Dushaj children landed 
in New York and were reunited with their parents. Pranvera and Zenun 
could not be more thrilled as their family starts a new life together 
in America. I am also proud that like so many immigrants before them, 
they will start that life in New York.
  Many thanks are owed to Marisa Lino, our Ambassador in Albania, who I 
know is working under very trying conditions, and especially to 
Jacqueline Ratner, our Consul in Turkey. Ms. Ratner not only recognized 
that this was a situation where she could make something good happened, 
she followed up and sheparded the Dushaj children through the 
application process. I have no doubt that it was her fine work that 
made this happy outcome possible.
  I also note the courage, ingenuity, and tenacity of the Dushaj 
parents and all their relatives in Albania and Turkey. They fought to 
bring these children to this country and no matter how desperate things 
looked, they never gave up hope. Most of all Mr. President, I would 
just like to say to Edrina and Lisela, welcome to America.

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