

WASHINGTON (AP) —
The large building at the
corner of 22nd and R streets
in downtown Washington,
D.C., sticks out like a wart
in the otherwise upscale
neighborhood.
Plywood
covers the windows, sleep-
ing bags and empty bottles
litter the shuttered door-
ways and head-high weeds
sprout through the asphalt
of the empty fenced-off
parking lot.
For a solid decade, neigh-
bors and local political
leaders complained bitterly
about the condition of the
former Pakistani consul-
ate. But the city remained
powerless to do anything
as long as the building was
classified by the State De-
partment as a diplomatic
property.
That diplomatic desig-
nation has since been re-
voked, according to the
State Department, but the
building still stands as per-
haps the most egregious
example of an only-in-D.C.
phenomenon, where dip-
lomatic protocol allows a
string of abandoned build-
ings to fester, untouchable
and tax-free.
"Residents, who them-
selves are under obligation
to keep their properties in
order, are complaining to
me," said City Council-
woman Mary Cheh, whose
Ward 3 contains several
such problematic prop-
erties. "Unless the State
Department is really com-
mitted to the issue, these
countries can really string
you along."
Cheh's office has com-
piled a partial list of vacant
and neglected diplomatic
buildings and she co-au-
thored a bill calling for
creating a comprehensive
citywide list. Violators on
Cheh's list include proper-
ties owned by the govern-
ments of Serbia, Sri Lanka,
Cameroon and Argentina.
Many of these eyesores
are in some of the District's
most high-end neighbor-
hoods. The Sheridan-Kal-
orama area, where sev-
eral are located, is home
to former President Barack
Obama, as well as President
Donald Trump's daughter,
Ivanka Trump and son-in-
law Jared Kushner. Jeff
Bezos, owner of Amazon
and The Washington Post,
recently bought a massive
house there. The area's most
recent prominent resident is
Secretary Of State Rex Til-
lerson, whose department is
responsible for making sure
these diplomatic properties
are maintained.
The issue is particularly
frustrating for members of
the city council, who find
themselves unable to use
the many instruments at
their disposal for dealing
with neglected buildings.
For example, the city has
a three-tiered tax struc-
ture designed to compel
landlords to maintain their
properties. Ordinary build-
ings are taxed at 85 cents
per $100 in assessed val-
ue; for a vacant property,
that rate increases to $5
per $100 and if a property
is judged by the city to be
neglected or "blighted" the
tax rate jumps to $10 per
$100 in assessed value.
But that isn't applicable
for a diplomatic building.
"If I have a vacant house
in the Shaw neighborhood
that's becoming a problem,
I can call in the cops, clean
it up, throw a fence around
it and if necessary seize it
for unpaid taxes," said City
Councilman Jack Evans. "I
have a lot of tools in my tool
box. But I don't have those
tools available to me if it's a
diplomatic property."
The State Department
doesn't have a lot of options
either. Cliff Seagroves, act-
ing head of the Office of
Foreign Missions, said he's
largely bound by the 1961
Vienna Convention on Dip-
lomatic Relations. Revok-
ing a property's diplomatic
status is an extreme step
that could provoke a diplo-
matic crisis and retaliatory
action against U.S. proper-
ties abroad.
"We have to balance (lo-
cal residents' concerns)
with making sure we're not
making things harder for
ourselves overseas," Sea-
groves said.
With limited options,
Seagroves admitted that his
office is often pleased to
see negative press coverage
of the issue that he hopes
will embarrass intransigent
nations into action.
"The shame factor is of-
ten our most effective tool
in getting these matters re-
solved," he said.
The case of the former
Pakistani consulate on R
Street stands as a rare re-
cent success. But it's also
an example of how bad a
situation has to get before
the State Department will
act. Seagroves said the
Pakistani Foreign Ministry
built a new embassy, moved
its consular staff there and
"in effect, walked away"
from the old building.
After years of nagging,
and with the building be-
coming a magnet for squat-
ters, Seagroves' office final-
ly delivered an ultimatum
and a deadline. When that
passed, State revoked the
diplomatic status in Feb-
ruary 2016 and let the city
move in and treat the prop-
erty like any other blighted
building. By June 2017, the
property had accumulated
more than $70,000 in tax
debt. That debt was pur-
chased by an investment
group at a tax auction in
July 2017, giving the Paki-
stani government about six
months to settle the debt or
risk losing the property.
The Pakistani govern-
ment, in a statement to The
Associated Press, said that
"a plan is being worked
out" for the building's reno-
vation and it was working
with the State Department
and District of Columbia
government "to amicably
resolve the issue."
However the Pakistani
statement also pointed out
that all diplomatic prop-
erties are exempt from
taxation, a contention that
seemingly ignores the re-
vocation of the property's
diplomatic status.
Repeated queries as to
the why the building fell
into such an extreme state
of disrepair went unan-
swered.
While residents can
claim victory there, the
fight continues. One block
away, down R Street, the
former Serbian embassy
sits in similar disrepair with
its diplomatic status intact.
Some of these unused
buildings are unused for
an understandable reason.
The former Iranian Em-
bassy has been empty since
the two countries severed
ties in 1979 and is now
maintained by Seagroves'
office. But in other cases,
there seems to be multiple
reasons why these nations
would allow such valuable
real estate to sit vacant and
neglected.
David Bender, head of
the local Advisory Neigh-
borhood Commission, said
an ambassador once told
him that he couldn't afford
to fix up a property, but
didn't want to sell it be-
cause he didn't want to be
responsible for downsizing
his country's presence in
the U.S. capital.
Seagroves said one for-
eign ministry official told
him "the cost to renovate a
particular property in D.C.
was equivalent to their en-
tire annual budget for main-
taining diplomatic proper-
ties around the world."
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Donald Trump's
four-month worldwide ban
on refugees ended Tuesday,
officials said, as his admin-
istration prepared to unveil
tougher new screening pro-
cedures.
Under an executive order
Trump signed earlier this
year, the United States had
temporarily halted admis-
sions for refugees from all
countries, with some excep-
tions. The end-date written
into the order came and
went Tuesday with no new
order from Trump to ex-
tend it, according to a State
Department official, who
wasn't authorized to com-
ment by name and request-
ed anonymity.
Refugees seeking en-
try to the U.S. will face
what officials described as
more stringent and thor-
ough examination of their
backgrounds, in line with
Trump's "extreme vetting"
policy for immigrants. The
Homeland Security Depart-
ment, the State Department
and other U.S. agencies
have been reviewing the
screening process during
the temporary ban.
The new screening proce-
dures were to be announced
later Tuesday. It was un-
clear exactly what measures
would be added, but in the
past, officials have spoken
about examining applicants'
social media posts and oth-
er investigative measures
to identify those who may
sympathize with extremists
or pose a national security
risk to the United States.
Refugees already face
an extensive backlog and
waiting periods that can
take years. Any additional
screening would likely ex-
tend the timeline.
Even with the ban lifted,
refugee admissions are ex-
pected to be far lower than
in recent years. Last month,
Trump capped refugee ad-
missions at 45,000 for the
fiscal year that started Oct.
1, a cut of more than half
from the 110,000 limit put
in place the year earlier by
President Barack Obama.
And the actual number ad-
mitted this year could be far
lower than Trump's 45,000
cap, which sets a maximum
but not a minimum.
The refugee restrictions
were in addition to Trump's
broader "travel ban" on
people from several coun-
tries. Courts have repeat-
edly blocked that policy, but
largely left the temporary
refugee policy in place.
Trump has made limit-
ing immigration the center-
piece of his policy agenda.
In addition to the travel ban,
which initially targeted a
handful of Muslim-major-
ity nations, the president
rescinded an Obama-era
executive action protect-
ing young immigrants from
deportation and vowed to
build a wall along the south-
ern border with Mexico.
During his presidential
campaign, Trump pledged
to "stop the massive inflow
of refugees" and warned
that terrorists were smug-
gling themselves into naive
countries by posing as refu-
gees fleeing war-torn Syria.
"Thousands of refugees
are being admitted with no
way to screen them and are
instantly made eligible for
welfare and free health care,
even as our own veterans,
our great, great veterans, die
while they're waiting online
for medical care that they
desperately need," Trump
said last October.
Instead, Trump has ad-
vocated keeping refugees
closer to their homes.
The end of the ban
comes amid an alarming
refugee crisis in Myanmar,
where security forces in
August began what human
rights groups have called a
scorched-earth campaign
against villages inhabited
by Rohingya Muslims.
More than 600,000 Rohing-
ya from northern Rakhine
State have fled to Bangla-
desh.
CITIZEN TRIBUNE
Politics
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
EEE-3
AP
In this May 15, 2017, file photo, protesters hold signs during a dem-
onstration against President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban,
Monday, May 15, 2017, outside a federal courthouse in Seattle.
AP
In this Oct. 19, 2017 photo, the vacant Pakistani embassy is seen in Washington.
Trump's refugee ban ends, new screening rules coming
What can be done about the abandoned embassy next door?
Neighbors no more?