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ADVOCATES FEAR INCREASED SUSPICION OF REFUGEES AFTER THE MURDER OF AMADOU DIALLO
The murder of Amadou Diallo in February by New York City police officers has galvanized opinions on many issues. While many people focus on the murder as a sign of the racial bias within the New York City Police Department, others fear the impact news that Diallo had lied to the INS will have on refuge-seekers.
Diallo came to the U.S. on a student visa from Guinea, a West African nation. This visa was due to expire in April 1999. Apparently in an attempt to stay longer in the U.S. he filed a false asylum application. Diallo claimed to be from Mauritania, where, he said, his parents had been killed during the ongoing civil strife in the country. The INS denied his application, but Diallo won his appeal before the Executive Office for Immigration Review. 
While Diallo’s immigration status, or whether he committed immigration fraud, are immaterial to the charges of police misconduct, many have seized on them as a basis for increased suspicion of others seeking asylum in the U.S. Hostility to illegal immigration has increased in recent years, and a high-profile case of immigration fraud such as this further increases that hostility, and heightens suspicions of others.
This is especially troublesome in refugee cases. Often refugees flee without having had an opportunity to collect their identification papers, and often they are systematically deprived of proof of their identity before being allowed to exit, as is currently occurring in Kosovo. Diallo, like many refugees, did not submit any proof of identify with his asylum application. One can only hope that future applicants will not be denied the refuge they deserve because of undue suspicion created by the killing of Diallo.