Month: February 2009

No Muslim charity for Rohingya

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in what is now Myanmar (although officials there call them illegal aliens) and no Muslim country will help them.  In recent months the number of Muslim boatmen seeking work and flooding into neighboring countries have caused a political firestorm in Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Malaysia.    See our Rohingya reports category for the background.

An Associated Press story yesterday makes the point of telling us that a rich Muslim country, Saudi Arabia, won’t help them either.

But unlike the Kurds or the Palestinians, no one has championed the cause of the Rohingya. Most countries, from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia, see them as little more than a source of cheap labor for the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs.

For years, the Rohingya traveled to the Middle East for work, with nearly a half million ending up in Saudi Arabia.

[…..]

But in recent years — partly because of bureaucratic hurdles faced by Muslims following 9/11 — many now try to go instead by boat to Thailand and then overland to Malaysia, another Islamic nation.

I don’t know what hurdles 9/11 placed on the Saudis.  Most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi.

Zakat, giving charity, is one of the five pillars of Islam, I guess Saudi Arabia and other rich Muslim countries aren’t willing to help their Rohingya Muslim brethren.  The UN won’t say a word about it.  Instead western countries, Christian countries, will be called upon to do so—-what else is new?

Shelbyville Times-Gazette editorial says federal government unfair to local workers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We told you last week that 150 people, including a large number of  immigrants and refugees, mostly from Nashville, arrived at an employment office in Shelbyville, TN to compete for a few jobs at the local Tyson’s poultry plant.   The police had to be called in when a scuffle ensued.

This morning the Times-Gazette editorializes on the practice of non-profit groups, funded by the taxpayer, bringing immigrant labor to town and competing for jobs that locals would like to have.

Here is the background:

Concerns rose in Shelbyville this week after law enforcement was called out early Monday to quell a disturbance at the state unemployment office downtown after about 150 people, including a large number of refugees and others brought from Nashville by various charitable organizations, camped overnight to apply for Tyson jobs.

Members of our community have expressed anger that jobs are being taken by foreign nationals instead of local workers, and that anger has been wrongly directed at Tyson, which employs 1,300 people, the majority of whom are local residents. Tyson also recruits locally through job fairs and employment advertising.

We believe employment opportunities should be equally available for all legal workers, and agree that Tyson is following the law in its hiring practice, in this instance.

We do not, however, agree with our tax dollars being used to ship people to our county to apply for jobs.

Then here is an editor after my own heart.

We fear that current trends by the government to unwisely hand out our money to religious organizations that pass it on to foreign nationals seeking jobs in these difficult times may help reverse that.

World Relief, one organization that has shipped foreign nationals to apply for jobs in Shelbyville, told the Times-Gazette Monday that it contracts with the govenrment to do so. The organization received more than $31 million in federal grants in 2008, according to its financial report, available at www.wr.org.

This practice, funded by the federal government, makes it unfairly competitive to those who live here and are willing and able to take those jobs.

These are religious organizations. If they want to ship folks down here, let them pay for it out of their church coffers, rather than out of our tax dollars. If not, let the immigrants scratch up their own bus fare to Shelbyville.

Yes indeed!     Read the whole editorial, it was so good I wanted to post the whole thing here, but you should go visit the Times-Gazette.

Be sure to read the news update at the Times-Gazette today too.

Somali crybabies and the biggest crybaby of all—CAIR

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one of those you can’t win for losing stories.   First, we have written extensively about the missing Somali youths who may have joined the terror group al Shabaab and whose parents and the Somali community are demanding that the FBI and other authorities find out what happened to their “kids.”

Even CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) was demanding answers just last week here.  And, don’t forget here is a Somali writer blaming the FBI for not figuring out what was going on in mosques in the US earlier.

Then when the FBI does make a concerted effort to question Somalis, apparently especially those flying in and out of the country, the crybabies start to wail about religious profiling.   It makes me want to scream!

From Minneapolis Public Radio:

Ever since news broke a few months ago on the disappearances of young Somali men from the Twin Cities, local Somali residents say federal investigators have been randomly stopping people to ask them questions at malls, college campuses, and the airport. One civil-rights group representing Muslims in the U.S. has compared the questioning to a fishing expedition.

FBI, keep fishing!

… many college students of Somali origin have been stopped in the past two months, including Hassan’s older cousin. Mukhtar Osman said he was stopped in Chicago after flying back from Sweden to visit family friends.

Osman said he personally knows at least 10 others who have encountered similar lines of questioning, and not only while traveling. Agents have been known to interview college students on campus and even knock on the doors of private homes. A number of young people who attend the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in Minneapolis have also been approached.

Community leaders say many Somalis are eager to provide information — until the interviews begin to sound more like interrogations.

We hear so much about how poor the Somalis (former refugees) are and yet we also keep hearing about them flying in and out of the country.   What gives?  Someone who knows the Somali community well recently told me that you never know who is coming and who is going, they are always on the move.

Back to the story, so now CAIR  (unindicted co-conspirator in terror trial) is in on the act and crying about religious profiling.  Give me a break!

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has heard directly from 50 to 100 individuals who say they’ve been stopped by federal agents in recent months. The council has begun increasing the number of “Know Your Rights” presentations in the community.

Lori Saroya, who chairs the state chapter, said religious profiling is something that all Muslims have faced since 9/11, but some Somalis are just now beginning to encounter it. Saroya said the FBI’s approach has intimidated some Somalis who have traditionally feared government because of the oppression they knew in their old country.

Saroya, this last  is such a crock of you know what!  These Somali young people, the college-age students interviewed don’t even remember Somalia, most have been here since they were young children.

CAIR:  We want answers but don’t ask any questions and don’t ask Muslims.   Geeesh!

Note to the FBI:  Check out Nashville too!

H-1B visa racket uncovered in US, “tip of the iceberg”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Not a refugee issue but certainly part of the problem these days with too many foreign workers taking jobs Americans will do and want to do, the H-1B visa program allows companies to bring in skilled workers on a temporary basis.  You can read all about how the program works here, at the ICE website.   Hat tip:   Dinah Lord

From the Hindustan Times:

US federal authorities have claimed to have unearthed a major H-1B visa racket with the arrest of at least 11 persons, most of them suspected to be of Indian origin.

Though the officials did not reveal the citizenship of those arrested, the names released indicated that almost all of them are either Indian or persons of Indian origin.

Vision Systems Group, an IT company headquartered in South Plainfield New Jersey, has been indicted on 10 federal counts including conspiracy and mail fraud charge.

[….]

US Attorney Matthew Whitker alleged that Vision Systems Group, with a branch office in Coon Rapids, Iowa, used fraudulent documents to bring H-1B visa workers into the country, he was addressing a press conference at Des Moines, Iowa.

The Government is seeking the forfeiture of $7.4 million in proceeds raised through the alleged offences. “This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as this investigation goes,” he said.

Boise, Idaho: No job for Iraqi father of eight

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The stories are coming every week, will they be daily soon?    We have reports from 15 states* that there are no jobs for Iraqi refugees.   Surely other refugees are experiencing the same problem, but it seems the Iraqis  attract more news coverage.

Oregon Public Broadcasting has this report from Boise, Idaho where refugees are still pouring in despite the desperate economy.   The story of Iraqi truck driver Kaled Wali is told with the help of an interpreter.  His government assistance is running out, he has no job, he has 8 kids and his wife is ill.

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “The UN help me and my children. The UN gives him cash card for cash money monthly and this paper to food for my family. He save this because story for your children.”

Wali’s face softens as he explains the day he and his family found out they would be resettled in America. Now, all ten of them have been in Boise for nearly four months. They’re living on federal assistance; $1100 a month for rent and utilities; $1200 a month in food stamps. They also get Medicaid. But after 8 months all of the federal help goes away.

Sadie Babits: “After eight months what happens?”

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “I don’t know because don’t found any job here.”

Sadie Babits: “You don’t have a job in Boise?”

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “No. not yet.”

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) representative hopes no one will have to go to a shelter!  The IRC is one of the richest of the federal contractors.  Its CEO makes nearly $400,000 a year and it got $88 million of your tax dollars in the most recent year I could find (2005)—-hey President Obama, how about capping salaries of the non-profit CEOs too and keep the refugees they  bring to America out of shelters!

Leslye Moore is the executive director for the International Rescue Committee — the IRC — in Boise.

Leslye Moore: “You know the difference between an American not having a job and a refugee is that most Americans have a safety net of some kind built in. Refugees coming have nothing. They don’t have anything to fall back on so it’s a much more terrifying experience for them knowing there’s no work for them out there and wondering what their future is going to be.”

Unemployment in Idaho is the highest it’s been in 15 years. Major employers in Boise like Micron recently laid off some 1500 workers. That’s increased competition for entry-level jobs, which have historically been a good fit for refugees. And this isn’t just happening in Boise. Moore says resettlement agencies across the U.S. report major difficulties finding work for refugees.

Leslye Moore: “You know the last thing we want to do is put a refugee family in a shelter. We haven’t done it yet “

Once again, high expectations are not realized. 

Wali says he’s thankful to be here. But coming to America he had high expectations: a house, a new TV, and plenty of money. Now that he’s here he’s discovered just how unrealistic those expectations were. Adding to the disappointment and worry, Khaled Wali’s wife Zahra is sick. Doctors think she may have thyroid cancer.

By the way, the IRC is a part of the Refugee Council USA that wants to double the number of refugees we take in 2010.   So, it isn’t just Wali’s expectations that are unrealistic.

* The fifteen states we have written about so far that have no jobs for Iraqi refugees are Arizona, Maryland, New Hampshire,Virginia, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Idaho, Connecticut, New Mexico, California, North Carolina, Utah and Washington.