Free Republic

The American authorities appear to be backing away from a threat not to allow into the United States Somali refugees who have genitally mutilated their daughters. A group of about 12,000 Somali Bantus are currently waiting in a refugee camp in northern Kenya and have been given the right to emigrate en masse to the US. But earlier this week the American embassy in Nairobi confirmed that some of those refugees had been rushing to circumcise their young daughters, having learned that the practice is illegal in the US. An embassy spokesman said those involved would be investigated and the...

US authorities have threatened to ban dozens of Somali refugee families from emigrating to America because the parents have mutilated the genitals of their young daughters. The traditional circumcision rite is believed to have been carried out recently on girls as young as two after their families were told the act was illegal in the United States. Some 12,000 Somalis, members of a persecuted minority, are being held in camps in Kenya en route to the US. The ordeal usually happens at night. The young girls are held down on the floor by their families - the mutilation takes place...