Somali-born Dutch lawmaker welcome in US - Zoellick
published: Friday | May 19, 2006

HIRSI ALI

THE HAGUE (REUTERS):

A Somali-born lawmaker who may lose her Dutch citizenship because she lied on her asylum application is welcome to move to the United States, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said yesterday.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam, said earlier this week she was resigning and leaving the Netherlands after Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, a member of her own VVD liberal party, told her she might lose her Dutch passport.

Hirsi Ali has been offered a job by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank, and according to media reports had been in negotiations with two other U.S. institutes.