Olympic tragedy
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tropicalities
Tongan group in Los Angeles Olympic tragedy
The long-awaited August visit to 1984’s Olympic Games city of Los Angeles by a group of about 80 Tongans turned sour when they were detained by authorities first in Honolulu, and then again in Los Angeles.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) charged that the tour was really a sophisticated trick designed to smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S.
The tour leader, Sipa Seko na. of Lehua Travel, Nukualo fa, was charged with conspiracy in connection with the alleged smuggling effort. Mr Sekona, a one-time resident of Los Angeles, was held on bail of $U525,000.
Laurie Becklund, of the Los Angeles Times , quoted INS re gional director Harold Ezell as telling a press conference: “The scam Sekona laid out was supremely thorough ... He had receipts for hotel rooms that weren’t rooms at all. He had tickets for Olympic events that included events most Ton gans don’t care about, like field hockey . . .
“Sekona told his people that they could stay longer than six months if they wanted to. And he would hold on to their return tickets. Of course, if they stayed and were apprehended by INS, the U.S. taxpayers would foot their bill home and Sekona would keep the money.”
Officials said that had all the tourists in his group elected to stay, Sekona might have “earned” about $30,000.
Becklund wrote: “The six month tourist visas held by the visitors were valid, INS officials said. However, the documents filed by Sekona to demonstrate that the Tongans were really tourists and not potential illegal aliens were forged or inaccu rate . . .
“Sekona had submitted re ceipts for more than $B,OOO in hotel rooms alone,” officials said. “However, the owner of the Inglewood apartment com plex where the group reported ly had plans to stay said no such deposits had been made and no rooms were reserved.”
Twenty-one of the seventy nine Tongans detained in Los Angeles were released when immigration investigators de cided they were genuine tour ists.
Ten admitted they intended to remain in the U.S. after their visas expired; they were proces sed for return to Tonga.
The remaining 48 were bailed out by relatives and friends an estimated 12,000 Tongans live in the Los Angeles area on $l,OOO bail apiece.
Becklund quoted INS offi cials as describing the bailing out process as “one of the most confusing, boisterous bail-outs in local INS history”.
He added: “Just finding Ton gan interpreters was an ordeal ... A Superior Court interpreter brought over to help the INS investigation described the job as the biggest of her lifetime.
“Oua elongoaa (keep quiet)!” shouted one booming Tongan voice in the crowded, noisy detention centre after an INS agent told the crowd he would halt the bail-out process until the crowd quieted.
“Outside, the newly released Tongans feasted on tacos and Tinkies from a snack stand ...”
After all this only a handful of Tongans actually got to see the Olympics, in which Tongan boxers competed. Said welter weight Saikoloni Hala, 22, as he waited outside INS Los Angeles headquarters during the bailing-out process: “Two
of those in custody are my cousins . . . They were com ing to cheer me on in my Olympic fight. But they never got to see me.” Hala said he had lost to a Turkish boxer while the cousins whose sup port he had counted on were in detention.
One Los Angeles Tongan community leader interviewed by Becklund said that many Tongans were angry with Seko na because of the arrests. An INS official reported that a local Tongan man had asked for Sekona’s release “so we can take care of him ourselves ...”
Effects of the episode on the Tongan community in the area promise to be long-lasting.
Community leader Enele M.
Tauteoli said: “They (the INS) made an excuse that the Ton gans come here without pocket money and do not have hotel reservations.
“But we do things unlike anyone in the world ... A Tongan I have never met be fore can come here and stay and eat my food like he is family. They should have known that Tongans do not need hotels and pocket money. ”
Becklund wrote: “Whatever action is decided on by the Tongans there is talk of suing INS it is certain that the city’s friendly Tongan community will show the U.S. Government where it went wrong, Tonga style.
“The way to get back at them is for the Tongan people who are here to be very good people, to live like good people so that they can see we are not trying to use the United States,”
Tauteoli said. “We love the United States.”
Another Tongan leader agreed: “I think because the government has treated us so bad, we are going to work special hard to show them they were wrong.
“Everybody loves the Ton gans, and the INS should love us too.”
Boxer Saikoloni Hala: “Two of those in custody are my cousins. They were coming to cheer me on. but they never got to see me.” - Los Angeles Times photo.