Mother, son to be reunited

When Glendale resident Martha Kassa and her son, Sami Kassa, are reunited at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 25, it will be the first time they have been face to face in more than 21 years.

The reunion will end Martha Kassa’s struggle to bring her son to the United States from their native Ethiopia — an effort in which Rep. Adam Schiff, whose district includes Glendale and Burbank, played a crucial role.

Martha was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1966. She became pregnant at age 16 by her then-boyfriend and gave birth to her son in Ethiopia. When Sami was 2, Martha left him with her parents and traveled to Greece, where she lived for five years before coming to the United States in 1990.

“When I was 10 years old, I dream about America,” Martha Kassa said.

Although Martha kept in close contact with her son over the years, she was too preoccupied with attaining her own citizenship to tackle her son’s immigration. Besides, she said, she didn’t want to uproot Sami from Ethiopia, where he had been living with his grandfather.

“I want him to learn family,” Martha said. “I know I will get him, but there’s nothing like these things to me.”

Meanwhile, Sami was making a name for himself in Ethiopia as an entertainer. Under the stage name “Samvod,” he became a popular singer, actor, model and comedian, melding Western and Eastern styles to well-received effect.

“He like to be famous, to do something, different things. It’s him,” Martha said.

In 2002, Martha secured her citizenship. One month later, she applied to bring Sami to the United States under the Earned Legalization and Family Reunification Act of 2003, which allows for U.S. citizens’ unmarried children younger than 21 to immigrate to the United States.

The process is supposed to take 180 days, but for Martha Kassa it took 3 1/2 years.

First, the American Embassy in Ethiopia questioned whether Sami was Martha’s son. To prove their relation, they both had to undergo DNA tests.

“After that, I’m so happy,” Martha Kassa said. “That’s it, he’s coming.”

But the saga was far from over. The embassy next questioned whether Sami was indeed under 21. They demanded that he undergo bone-density testing, a procedure that is not conventionally used to verify age. When the bone-density test results indicated that he was older than 25, Sami insisted they were wrong and sought to be retested. An embassy-referred doctor advised against it because the procedure can potentially be unhealthy. Instead, he sent Sami for hormone tests that indicated that he was the age he said he was. Still, his visa was not forthcoming.

Meanwhile, in Glendale, Martha was becoming increasingly distraught over the issue.

“She was mentally and emotionally destroyed,” said Loren ZinderÖ, Martha Kassa’s fiancée.

After her immigration attorney told her that he could do no more for her, Martha Kassa went through a string of ineffective lawyers. Finally, in April 2005, she called Schiff’s office and found solace in Schiff’s 29th district representative, Haig KartounianÖ, who told her that he could help her.

Schiff uncovered that bone-density testing is not the appropriate way to discern age and dredged up hospital records that reliably showed Sami’s age. On March 16, of this year, less than a year after Schiff’s office took up Martha Kassa’s cause, Sami was granted an immigration visa.

“Adam Schiff ¼ what he did for me, I don’t have any word. But I want everyone to hear it, what he do for me,” Martha said.

Schiff said it is common for his office to receive requests for help with the immigration process, in part because of the high number of immigrants within his district.

“We probably have one of the highest immigration caseloads of any office in the country,” Schiff said.

Schiff also said that even though it took approximately 20 inquiries to help Sami, his case was not excessively difficult hard.

“We have dozens and dozens and dozens of cases that are equally difficult,” Schiff said.

Martha was gleeful at the very thought of her son’s arrival later this month.

“I’m very nervous, very happy, very exciting,” she said. “I have no words.”

Sami will live in Martha’s north Glendale apartment; Martha will move into Zinder’s apartment, also in Glendale. Sami will continue to work on his entertainment career, Martha Kassa and Zinder said.

Martha Kassa and Zinder also expressed hope that Schiff will be able to greet Sami at the airport.

“I haven’t checked my calendar, but I would love to be there for the happy moment,” Schiff said. “One of the fun parts of the job is when you can help a family reunite like this.”