SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, July 16, 2009
U.S. Study Abroad: Filth, Kid Porn, Theft
Exchange Student Neglect in U.S. Leads to Calls for Reform
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In this photo provided by Nemesia Lago, Carlos Villareal , center, is seen with his parents, Nemesia Lago, left and Carlos Villareal, at the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport in Barranquilla, Colombia, June 12, 2009 upon his return from the United States. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Nemesia Lago (AP Photo/Courtesy: Nemesia Lago)
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Villarreal, a Colombian, had signed up for a pricey study-abroad program that promised an "unforgettable year" in America. What he and many other exchange students in northeastern Pennsylvania got instead was a year filled with shabby treatment bordering on abuse. "I just wanted it to end," he says.
The situation in the Scranton region has rocked the U.S. foreign exchange establishment, raising questions about checks and balances that are supposed to keep students safe and their stays positive.
While the U.S. government says most of the students go home happy, critics say weak regulatory oversight, combined with shoddy industry practices and a shortage of qualified host families, have led to neglect and mental, physical and sexual abuse.
The problems have been documented around the country:
In Scranton, students were placed in wretched living conditions by Aspect Foundation, a California nonprofit that brings about 1,000 exchange students to the United States each year. Some students were found to be malnourished, while others lived in filthy, cramped homes, at least one of which was later condemned. Aspect said it deplores what happened in Scranton but that its overall record is good.
"It's both horrific, and also inconsistent with basic foreign policy goals of our government," said Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who has pressed the State Department recently to improve its oversight.
Miller Crouch, who heads the department's Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau, said the scandal will likely lead to tightened federal control of the dozens of private exchange groups that sponsor thousands of foreign students each year.
He said State has also taken "a 360-degree look" at its own regulatory operation.
"We're not above reproach here. We should have known this," Crouch said. "This program is really good for the country and it's got to work."
Exchange agencies should secure a host family and a school before a student arrives, but that doesn't always happen. Danielle Grijalva, director of the California-based Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students, said as many as a dozen students at a time have been crammed into basements, garages or campers. In some cases, students have gone door to door, trying to secure a place to stay themselves, she said.
The State Department warned in 2006 that exchange programs found it increasingly difficult to find qualified host families, citing the rise in single-parent households and other demographic changes.
Now, amid a severe recession, there may be even fewer volunteers. But critics say placement agencies continue to accept more students than they can handle, leading to unadvised placements like the ones in Scranton.
Federal regulators have limited the growth of the Exchange Visitor Program for the past three years, trying to avert a "train wreck" by preventing demand from outstripping supply, Crouch said.
In northeastern Pennsylvania, the train went off the tracks.
Villarreal, from the northern Colombian mining town of La Guajira, had hoped to gain maturity and independence before heading off to college. But from the moment his plane touched U.S. soil, he knew something was wrong: Edna Burgette, the veteran Aspect placement counselor responsible for his welfare, had nowhere for him to stay.
As soon as he got to Scranton, Burgette walked him from door to door in the city of 75,000, begging people to take him in and "basically selling me like a piece of meat," he said. When there were no takers, Villarreal went to live in an area of dilapidated homes with Burgette's elderly companion, the one who guarded his food.
With little food in the house, Villarreal, an aspiring graphic artist, dropped 14 pounds.
His parents say Aspect ignored their complaints.
Anne Bardoz was even more desperate than her friend Villarreal.
Burgette placed the 16-year-old student from Tonsberg, Norway, with a family that couldn't afford to support her. A month later, Burgette sent her to a filthy three-room apartment already crowded with three other people. The floors were strewn with animal feces; the dog urinated on her bed and clothes.
The apartment "was pretty much the worst place I have ever been," Bardoz, who wound up staying in her principal's home, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
After local TV aired a May report on the students' plight, child welfare officials found "malnutrition, dehydration, unsanitary and unsafe home environments," said Theresa Osborne, the Lackwanna County director of human services.
A grand jury has launched a criminal investigation; a prosecutor said last week that the case merits charges. (Burgette, who was paid $400 for each student she placed, did not respond to requests for comment.) The State Department hit Aspect with penalties including a 15 percent reduction in the number of visas it can distribute next school year.
Aspect fired Burgette, saying she had used "appalling judgment," and accepted the resignations of two of her immediate supervisors. It also temporarily stopped accepting new students, sent surveys to students already in the United States and touted an "Exchange Student Bill of Rights."
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- I am sickened to learn of this taking place here in Scranton, PA. Please read the article and comments written by some citizens that our local newspaper has online re this story. My heart goes out to these students and their families. This woman and the company are responsible, and if it was my child, I'd take it all the way from the bottom right to the top. The students came to Scranton for an education and to experience the way americans live, not to be abused.
Please read our local online paper and comments--
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/news/criminal_charges_filed_against_woman_in_foreign-exchange_scandal#articleComments
It appears Burgette has taken off/or is in hiding..nice lady, huh--not! I hope they throw the book at her! - Reply to this comment
- To: abaur2,
You may be interested in reading how, sadly, what occurred in Pennsylvania is not an isolated incident. Go to www.csfes.org and then to 'Headlines of Abuse.' Read the News 2009 page to see how many students leave our country with a terrible impression of America. - Reply to this comment
- What I want to know is why is the exchange industry entitled to a stimulus package of $34 million when this country is suffering and they pay no taxes?
- Reply to this comment
- That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
"Now git over here girly, papa needs some special attention" - Reply to this comment
- A pup tent, three squares a day and a latine are all you need for survival. Anything else is 'icing' on the cake.
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- Why is ASPECT still in business?
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- They should be charged under trafficking laws. They brought these poeple here to abuse them.
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- IT IS SHOCKING THAT ONLY BECAUSE THESE ACTIONS WERE DONE AGAINST FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENTS ARE DRAWING INTERNATIONAL NEWS THAT THEY ARE STARTING TO CHECK THE PLACES OUT, IF THIS HAD BEEN LOCAL AMERICANS I DON'T THINK IT WOULD BE GETTING THE COVERAGE. AND OF COURSE ANYTIME YOU HEAR IN THE NEWS THAT IT WAS A CRIME AGAINST CHILDREN IT GET SPECIAL ATTENTION I ALWAYS THOUGHT EQUAL PROTECTION BUT WE ARE A COUNTRY OF UN-EQUALITY AND SPECIAL INTEREST, CONSIDER IF THESE THINGS HAPPENED AGAINST A WHITE GUY, THERE WOULD BE NO OUTRAGE, MINORITIES AND FEMALES ARE GETTING THE PROTECTION AS YOU CAN HEAR IN COURTS.
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- From the above article, "Villarreal, a Colombian, had signed up for a pricey study-abroad program that promised an 'unforgettable year' in America."
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Sounds like he got that. He isn't likely to forget this for a good while.
Now, where can I get an 18-yo foreign female as an exchange student, I need to get my kitchen and bathroom cleaned, and I need my clothes washed soon; socks are standing on their own and skivvies can only be turned outside so many times before they need washing.
OK, maybe I am being mean, but gotta admit others are thinking the same thing(s). - Reply to this comment
- This is just another example of the crumbling of American culture. There seems to be a malaise of hopelessness in this country...a kind of national depression where nothing matters. A very sad way to limp off the "superpower" stage.
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