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Regulations intended to block money from getting into the hands of terrorist groups has led the last bank that handles most money transfers from the United States to Somalia to pull out of the business.

Somali refugees in the U.S. say their families back home need the money they send each month to survive, and they're counting on lawmakers and Obama administration officials, who are meeting in Washington on Thursday, to try to find a solution.

"If they don't get this money they will starve."

- Omar Shekhey

Like tens of thousands of Somali Americans, Omar Shekhey, who lives in Georgia, pulls together a couple of hundred dollars every month and sends the money to his two sisters back in Somalia.

"This is like their paycheck," Shekhey says. "It's money that they need to survive. There are no jobs; nothing. They will starve. If they don't get this money they will starve."

And right now, he's extremely worried. This month, Merchants Bank of California — the last U.S. bank to handle most of these transactions — pulled out of the business. It cited concerns about meeting federal banking requirements, which are intended to stop the flow of funds to criminals and terrorists.

"And I don't know where to go, and I don't know where to send that money," Shekhey says. "This is facing not only me, but the whole community."

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Parallels

As Wire Transfer Options Dwindle, Somali-Americans Fear A Lost Lifeline

Immigrants Sending Money Back Home Face Fewer Options

Nasir Warsama is regional manager for Amal USA, a money transfer business that until last week operated outside Atlanta.

"Well, the business basically it's closed," Warsama says.

He says his firm would collect small amounts of cash from people like Shekhey, bundle it together and work through a U.S. bank to transfer the funds overseas, where the money would be distributed. He says there are few other options in Somalia because the war-torn nation has no central banking system.

"There's no functioning financial institutions," Warsama says. "So the only way they can get support from outside is either through the [United Nations] or the NGOs or the support from their family members."

That support has been huge: An estimated $1.3 billion a year from relatives around the world, including more than $200 million from the U.S.

But U.S. authorities worry that some of the money could end up in the wrong hands — like those of al-Shabab, the Somalia-based terrorist group that just released a video calling for attacks on Western shopping malls.

Strict tracking rules have been imposed on such money transfers, but Rob Rowe, a vice president at the American Bankers Association, says it's all but impossible for banks to comply in a country like Somalia.

"It's very chaotic because of all the civil unrest," Rowe says. "And so when a bank from the United States sends the money, they don't have the information or the transparency that they're required to have."

Like knowing exactly where the money goes.

"Bankers are looking at all this and they know that they're under the microscope and if they don't do the right thing, they're going to be held accountable," Rowe says.

Government regulators say they're trying to find a reasonable solution. They say they recognize the hardship for Somalis and that the end of regulated transfers could cause more serious problems. That's why a group of lawmakers has asked for an emergency meeting on Thursday with representatives from the Treasury and State departments and other agencies.

Minnesota Democratic congressman Keith Ellison says he fears more economic disruption in Somalia will only help al-Shabab.

"The last thing that we want to do is push Somalis into the hands of these homicidal maniacs," Ellison says.

He says people have been talking about the issue for years, but maybe now, with the crisis at hand, something will get done.

al-Shabab

somalia

money

House Speaker John Boehner had a message for the Senate today: The ball's in your court.

Speaking after a closed-door Republican conference meeting on Wednesday, Boehner repeatedly insisted that the House had done its job, and that the Senate must now act in order to stave off a shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security. The Department is slated to run out of money in just three days.

"I'm waiting for the Senate to act," Boehner told reporters. "The House has done its job to fund the Department of Homeland Security and to stop the president's overreach on immigration. We're waiting for the Senate to do their job."

Just a short while before Boehner spoke to reporters, he addressed members of his party and told them that he had not spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in two weeks, according to several lawmakers who were in the room.

Asked about his conversations with McConnell, Boehner would not clarify, only saying that the two staffs had been "talking back and forth" but that "in the end, the Senate has got to act."

Boehner's comments come one day after McConnell indicated that he would bring a so-called "clean" DHS funding bill to the floor for a vote, along with a separate bill that would target President Obama's 2014 executive actions on immigration policy. But Boehner himself has not weighed in on the merits of the McConnell plan — only saying that Senate Democrats are impeding progress, and that the plan appeared to be a hard sell in the House.

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks declared that "there's no way on God's green earth" he would vote for a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security unless it included language defunding Obama's executive actions on immigration. He went so far as to say that the so-called "clean" bill McConnell has said he'd agree to a vote on, wasn't actually clean.

"The Senate is not sending over a clean bill. A clean bill is a bill that protects the United States Constitution and stops illegal actions of the executive branch as reflected by two different federal court decisions," he said. "That is a clean bill. A dirty bill is one that protects illegal conduct."

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said that "no one wants a shutdown," but that "the plan, as far as I'm concerned is our bill."

"The question you've got to ask Democrats is, how can you insist on language in a bill that a federal judge says is unlawful? That makes absolutely no sense," he said.

Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon went so far as to say that Republicans weren't running the show in the Senate.

"The voters believe that in November Harry Reid was going to be dethroned and the Senate was going to be controlled by Republicans," Salmon told reporters. "Right now, Harry Reid's still running the Senate. That's a sad day."

In the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would not support McConnell's plan without Boehner's guarantee that a clean DHS funding bill could pass the House.

"You know we have to make sure that people understand the bicameral nature of this Congress that we serve in," Reid said Tuesday. "So to have Sen. McConnell just pass the ball over to the House isn't going to do the trick. I'm waiting to hear from the Speaker."

If House and Senate lawmakers do not reach an agreement, tens of thousands of employees would be furloughed immediately. The rest, considered essential workers, would be expected to continue working without paychecks.

If the department shuts down, it would be for the second time in 18 months. The entire federal government shut down for 16 days in October 2013.

Governments "must stop pretending the protection of civilians is beyond their power," Amnesty International says in its human rights report for 2014. The group faults the U.S. on a range of issues, from the use of excessive force by police to rights abuses in the name of fighting terrorism.

"Governments pay lip service to the importance of protecting civilians," Amnesty says. "And yet the world's politicians have miserably failed to protect those in greatest need."

The group is calling for members of the U.N. Security Council to lose their veto power over issues of genocide and other mass atrocities, saying that vetoes by the U.S., China, Russia, France, and Great Britain have been "based on vested interests or political expediency."

Amnesty listed Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Israel and Ukraine as places where the Security Council "has failed to deal with crises and conflict, even in situations where horrific crimes are being committed against civilians by states or by armed groups."

Saying that "2014 was a catastrophic year for millions caught up in violence," the 424-page annual report lists human rights abuses in 160 countries.

Amnesty Intl English 2014 (PDF)
Amnesty Intl English 2014 (Text)

And the violence and rights abuses will likely only feed on one another, says Salil Shetty, Amnesty International's Secretary General.

"From Washington to Damascus, from Abuja to Colombo, government leaders have justified horrific human rights violations by talking of the need to keep the country 'safe,' " Shetty says. "In reality, the opposite is the case. Such violations are one important reason why we live in such a dangerous world today. There can be no security without human rights."

The report predicts a "bleak" 2015, noting the growing influence of violent groups such as Boko Haram, ISIS and Al Shabaab.

As for America, Amnesty notes that President Obama "acknowledged that torture had been carried out following the 11 September 2001 attacks" in secret CIA operations — but the report also faults the U.S. for not providing "accountability and remedy for the crimes under international law."

From a summary of the report's U.S. section:

"In April, the Human Rights Committee criticized the USA on a range of issues - including the lack of accountability for abuses in the counter-terrorism context, solitary confinement in prisons, racial disparities in the criminal justice system, targeted killings by drones, excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, the treatment of migrants and the death penalty.

"In August, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also made numerous recommendations to the USA. In November, the Committee against Torture's concluding observations similarly covered a range of issues."

Amnesty titles its subsection on the U.S. detention and interrogation program with one word: "Impunity."

Calling for the U.S. to review its standards for the police use of force, the report states, "At least 35 people across 18 states died after being struck by police Tasers, bringing the total number of such deaths since 2001 to 602."

In light of the report's overall tone of gloom and doom, Shetty notes that "even at times that seem bleak for human rights — and perhaps especially at such times — it is possible to create remarkable change."

He adds, "We must hope that, looking backward to 2014 in the years to come, what we lived through in 2014 will be seen as a nadir — an ultimate low point — from which we rose up and created a better future."

Amnesty International

Human Rights

In Washington, D.C., construction is underway on the Museum of the Bible, an eight-story, $400 million enterprise funded by Hobby Lobby president Steve Green.

Green is a Pentecostal known for donating to conservative evangelical universities and developing a public school curriculum based on the Bible. After the craft store's controversial victory in this summer's Supreme Court ruling over contraception, some people worry the new museum will come across as evangelical propaganda. But organizers behind Green's latest venture say it won't be a memorial to evangelism.

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The Museum of the Bible will house the more than 40,000 artifacts in Green's personal collection, including Jewish Torah scrolls and papyrus fragments of the New Testament.

But the museum won't just put relics on display. As museum President Cary Summers explains, visitors can stroll through the biblical garden.

"So people can actually see what a Rose of Sharon is," he says. "And what does a Hyssop bush look like?"

They can visit the caf for flatbread, date honey and other biblical foods. It's part of what Summers calls an "immersive" experience.

"We want this to be highly engaging for people of all ages, all cultural backgrounds, all faiths, no faiths," he says.

But some people, like Jewish civilization professor Jacques Berlinerblau of Georgetown University, are skeptical.

"Oh, those crafty white conservative evangelicals!" he says. "They're so savvy. They're so politically cunning."

Berlinerblau also questions the Museum's location, just two blocks south of the National Mall.

"When there's an anti-abortion rally, an anti-gay marriage rally, an anti-Affordable Care Act rally to be had, what a convenient thing to have church groups coming to see the museum," he says, "and then while they're at it, next step on their itinerary is to march down to the Mall for a protest."

Summers says that's not the plan. He says they chose the site for its crowd drawing potential. After all, more than half of the Smithsonian's 19 museums line the National Mall.

But those museums are public, and the Museum of the Bible is private. Summers consulted for the Creation Museum in Kentucky, which shows humans and dinosaurs co-existing on a 6,000 year old earth.

This leads some scholars to wonder how the museum will interpret the world's most famous book. Martyn Oliver, who teaches religious studies at American University, says he applauds Green's collection for showing so many facets of the Bible.

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Woman Sentenced To Read The Bible? Yes, But There's More To The Story

"The texts and artifacts suggest the Bible as a text that has been in dispute, that is always changing, that is open to question," he says, "and this contradicts some theological positions that understand the Bible to be static, unchanging and the literal word of God."

Summers says more than a hundred scholars and experts of different religious stripes have weighed in as the museum's developed. And guests can choose from five different religious viewpoints on the handheld devices that will serve as virtual tour guides.

Tim Krepp, a D.C. resident and tour guide, says he's not a religious guy.

"I grew up Catholic; it didn't take," he says. "I'm certainly not fundamentalist at all."

And he says he expects to bring all kinds of groups to the museum.

"As a secularist, if you will, I can't be afraid of the marketplace of ideas," he says. "And this adds to that marketplace of ideas. So, like any other tourist attraction in D.C., any other place to visit, I'm going to be knowledgeable about it and be ready to share that it if guests are so inclined."

He has some time to find out. The Museum of the Bible isn't scheduled to open until November 2017.

hobby lobby

Bible

Washington DC