The trial of four New York police officers accused of brutalizing
Haitian security guard Abner Louima in August 1997 suggested that
New York police officers often terrorize immigrants, and that the
blue "wall of silence" usually protects officers.  A fifth
policeman is on trial for helping to cover up the incident.  On
May 25, one of the police officers changed his plea to guilty and
threw himself on the mercy of the court.

Immigrants may join the US Armed Forces, and about one-third of
the recruits from New York City are immigrants, the same
proportion as those under 18 in New York City who are immigrants.
About five percent of those in the US Army are foreign born, up
from two percent in 1990; some of the immigrants are naturalized
US citizens.  The Armed Forces wants high school graduates with
no criminal record.

Somini Sengupta, "To More Immigrant New Yorkers, A Better Life
Begins in Uniform," New York Times, May 23, 1999.  Gabriel
Escobar, "Dominicans Face Assimilation in Black and White,"
Washington Post, May 14, 1999.

The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals denied asylum for a woman
from Guatemala who was fleeing a severely abusive husband. After
Guatemalan courts ruled a husband's beating of his wife was a
"private matter", Rodi Alvaredo Pena turned to the more
enlightened U.S. justice system. Our government openly admitted
that Ms. Pena had been repeatedly raped, kicked and
pistol-whipped by her husband and faced a direct and serious
threat of harm if she returned home. She would suffer, but she
would not suffer under any of the five categories recognized
under U.S. law: race, religion, nationality, political opinion or
social group. I can't emphasize enough the importance of acting
within the proper pigeon holes. If only Ms. Pena had thought to
utter some political views while being beaten...  (WP 6/20/99)