
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 24, 1994                   TAG: 9403240169
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated press
DATELINE: PORTLAND, ORE.                                LENGTH: Short

MUTILATION FEARS HALT DEPORTATION

A judge dropped deportation proceedings against a Nigerian woman Wednesday, ruling that it was more important to spare her two little daughters from genital mutilation than to respect ancient rituals.

In a telephone conference call from his office in Seattle, U.S. Immigration Judge Kendall Warren called the widespread African practice "cruel, painful and dangerous."

Lydia Oluloro, 32, had claimed that her daughters, Shade, 6, and Lara, 5, would face ritual genital mutilation if she was deported to her native Nigeria. She is in the country illegally; her children are U.S. citizens.

Warren said Oluloro had proven, as required by U.S. law, that her deportation would result in "extreme hardship" to her or her family. U.S. immigration officials said they would not appeal.

The judge rejected the U.S. government's argument that customs were changing in Nigeria. Instead, he relied on a United Nations study indicating that nearly all women in some parts of Nigeria were subjected to genital mutilation.

by CNB