Month: June 2011

In honor of Fathers Day: Food stamp fraudster Dads….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..just doing it for the children.  And, what do you know! they are all named Mohammed!   

This is so funny, Baron at Gates of Vienna writing in a post entitled, “Culturally enriched food stamp fraud” refers to a story about a Somali Muslim immigrant food stamp scam having a “Mohammed coeficient” of 100% because LOL! everyone involved is named Mohammed (or a variation of the spelling of the name of their prophet).*

Read Gates of Vienna’s special in “The International Cultural Enrichment News!” where Baron Bodissey has more revelations about a food stamp scam from Michigan that we first reported here last month.  Such a good Dad!  And, isn’t diversity just grand!  Read the whole story at Gates of Vienna.

Another Mohammad fraudster!

Coincidentally, just in time for Fathers Day, we have news from O’Fallon, Illinois about another Mohammad (and such a good Dad) going to jail for food stamp fraud too—this one totaling $1.5 million dollars.  This Mohammad is Jordanian and he is worried about his family if he gets deported after serving a measly two years in jail.

From the News Democrat:

An O’Fallon man who managed a Washington Park convenience store will serve two years and nine months in prison for a food-stamps-for-cash scam that cost the government $1.5 million.

Rami Mohammad, 33, a Jordanian citizen who entered the United States in 2004, received the sentence Thursday in federal court in East St. Louis. Mohammad was the manager of the Quick Stop store in Washington Park.

After receiving reports about the store being involved in food-stamp fraud, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Inspector General began an undercover investigation.

The investigation showed that people were going into the store and conducting transactions with food stamps — which involves the use of a card similar to a credit card or debit card, rather than actual paper stamps — but the customers weren’t carrying any groceries when they exited the store.

Mohammad told agents he was accepting prepayment for items that he had to specially order. But he was caught on audio and video engaging in a cash-back scheme in which Mohammad took the value from people’s food-stamp cards and gave them smaller amounts of cash in return.

Steve Wigginton, U.S. attorney for the southern district of Illinois, said the food-stamp program was defrauded of more than $1.5 million.

He will only do two years in jail and then possibly be deported.  He will be ordered to pay restitution but he likely has long ago spent the money, or even more likely he sent your tax dollars out of the country (so many food stamp scammers are found to have done this!).

The court also ordered Mohammad to pay restitution, though it was unclear whether he’ll be able to make any repayment. In addition, the court informed Mohammad that he’ll likely be deported after he finishes his sentence.

But, waahhhhh!, don’t send us back to Jordan!  There is lousy health care in Jordan and the schools stink too!

Mohammad’s wife testified at his sentencing Thursday, saying she doesn’t want him to be deported because health care isn’t as good in Jordan as it is in the United States, and their children would have to go to inferior schools in Jordan. [OMG-ed]

Happy Fathers Day!

* Here is one post from 2009 where I noted the common thread in the scams—Mohammads are everywhere in these stories!  After all, we are infidels and in Islam it’s just hunky-dory to rip off infidels.  Type ‘food stamp fraud’ into our search function for dozens more stories like this one!

Comment worth noting: Brits to stop “insensitive” DNA testing of African asylum claimants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

From time to time we receive comments that merit attention on page one and this is one such comment.

Received from the “Opinionator” to this post from yesterday about how Somalis and others cheat their way into the UK.

It’s bad enough the people of the UK (and particularly England) are being trampled by incoming “refugees” and “asylees” and illegal and legal immigrants – now their traitorous government has decided that they – once again- cannot cull the cheats and liars (and we all know there are many) from the rest of the herd on non-British looking to avail themselves of the (heavily taxed) taxpayer benefits. This is particularly egregious considering the publicized Somali re-unification fraud in the USA (and covered at RRW):

UK Drops DNA test for Refugees and Asylum Seekers*

Tests are “unreliable” – Really? As unreliable as the “word” of thousands (if not more) fraudsters?

“Refugee Council chief executive Donna Covey said she welcomed the decision to scrap the DNA tests.She said the tests highlighted the insensitive attitudes of the U.K. Border Agency to refugees and asylum seekers.”

But what about the “insensitivity” shown to the immigrant beleaguered British citizens and taxpayers? Once again they are given short shrift.

Opinionator!  What are you thinking!  Only immigrants have feelings!  Everyone knows that Westerners are not entitled to sensitivity.  After all, we are history’s exploiters; it’s payback time and we dare not speak up.

* What the test sought to determine was whether the person seeking asylum was really from a country that is in turmoil because many, from places like Kenya, shouldn’t even be seeking asylum when their government is stable.

Ethiopian arrested in No. Virginia this morning in possible terror plot

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update June 24th:  Read New English Review for an update on the Marine charged in a jihadist plot, here.

This is a breaking story in the Washington, DC area today.

Update:  Alleged terror plotter a former Marine, here.  (At 22, he sure got in and out of the Marines fast?)

From MYFoxDC:

ARLINGTON, Va. – A man was in custody Friday after a major security alert outside the Pentagon.

The incident began when a man — believed to be a naturalized US citizen who came to the US from Ethiopia — was found in the nearby Arlington National Cemetery overnight Thursday. The man was arrested at the scene.
US Park Police then searched for the man’s vehicle. A short time later, a car was located near the Pentagon.

Several roads near the Pentagon were blocked off as law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the US Park Police, and the Pentagon Police rushed to the scene. A Pentagon Police spokesman said that an explosives team was also called in to investigate the vehicle.

Authorities reportedly found al Qaeda-related statements, a backpack initially believed to contain ammonium nitrate, and spent 9mm shells at the scene, ABC’s “Good Morning America” reported.

A notebook containing words including “al Qaeda” and Taliban” was found at the scene, FOX News Channel reported.

ABC News is reporting that the man’s name is Yonathan Melaku, 22 of Alexandria, VA.

If you thought all Ethiopians were Christians and therefore not likely to be terrorists, then you are wrong.  Ethiopia is approximately 34% Muslim, here.  And, I was interested to see that the Oromo who are now arriving in meatpacking towns like Garden City, Kansas are Muslim.

If you are a new reader, the Ethiopian Community Development Council located in Arlington, VA is one of the top federal refugee contractors and responsible for many Ethiopian immigrants in Northern Virginia.    As a matter of fact, I once heard they were operating in Maryland and ran into some sort of problem and no longer resettle refugees in Maryland.

Melaku is likely a former refugee or asylee.   Just a reminder that Open Borders activists are moaning about increased security screening slowing the flow of refugees to American.  Earlier this month we had two Iraqi refugees arrested on terror charges in Kentucky, here.

In addition, we recently told you about another Ethiopian former refugee on trial for murder in Northern Virginia here.

Somali ‘how-to’ guide on cheating one’s way into the UK; unrelated (?) London hotel bomb plot?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Reporter Kassim Mohammed writing at the Nairobi Star gives us a peek into how a Somali who wishes to get to the UK and ask for asylum (because it’s supposedly easier there to be granted asylum than, in say, the Netherlands) can buy a fake passport and be in London in a flash.

Readers should know that when seeking asylum, the asylum seeker is supposed to request asylum in the first country in which he or she arrives.

So, for instance those Somalis who travel across the world with many stops (including Cuba, South American and Central American countries and Mexico) and arrive on our US border and ask for asylum are really not eligible for asylum.  But, some cheating American asylum lawyer is waiting to help them get into the US anyway!  See one of many posts I’ve written on Somalis and the US borders, here.

This article from the Nairobi Star explains that for Somalis or other Muslim illegal aliens who pass through the Netherlands they do not want to request asylum there and thus cheat the system and buy a phony passport to move on to England.

From the Nairobi Star (published at AllAfrica.com)

The UN says you must keep your Somalis! No sending them back to Africa!

Somalia is mired in a seemingly unending armed conflict between the Transitional Federal Government and Al Shabaab fighters. Mortar and rocket fire that the two warring factions exchange lead to casualties and the common man bears the brunt.

Taking note of this grim reality, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued guidelines requesting host countries not to return any Somali seeking asylum to Southern and Central Somalia.

[….]

Under the European Union’s Dublin II regulations, the country where a person first entered the EU is generally held responsible for examining that person’s asylum claim.

This it appears is great on paper. Some of the Somali refugees who hear of the fate of their countrymen living on the streets opt out of the asylum process.

So instead of asking for asylum in the Netherlands, here is how they move on to London!

Ali Mohamed, 25, came to Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from Italy in April and decided not identify himself to authorities but use unorthodox means to get his way to the United Kingdom. “I heard that the Netherlands is not a good place to seek asylum. I don’t want to live on the streets. I will try my luck in London,” Ali said.

Ali was informed of Dutch passports for sale in Den Haag (The Hague). In the presence of the Star reporter, Ali was told by an Ethiopian man in the Dutch administrative capital to bring a passport size photograph to identify a passport that resembles him. Within five days, Ali managed to pocket a Dutch passport for 1,000 Euros (Sh126,000).

“I called several of my relatives in Canada and Norway who each sent me some money and I managed to raise the amount. I know it’s a bad thing but I am not planning to harm anyone, I just want a better life since my home country is uninhabitable,” Ali remarks while keenly looking at the photo attached to the passport.

Ali will now have to send back the passport after his arrival in his final destination- London. He went through Callais, France, and crossed the border into the United Kingdom. Immigration officials on both sides of the border didn’t notice any abnormally.

Keeping his promise to inform the Star on his progress of seeking asylum, Ali called after 17 days. “I am so happy. I have been accepted as a refugee here in the UK and all is well. I have also managed to send back the passport to the person who sold it to me. I hope it reaches him safely.”

Read it all.

Changing the subject—sort of!

Today we learned that there is a Somali terror plot to create a Mumbai-style attack on a London hotel.

Just today we learned that the now dead mastermind of the embassy bombing in Kenya, killed in Somalia a few days ago, had on him a plan to create a Mumbai-style attack on a London hotel.

From Fox News:

Federal authorities are warning hotels in major U.S. cities to be vigilant after intelligence recently obtained in Somalia shows Al Qaeda was planning to launch a “Mumbai-style” attack on an upscale hotel in London, England, Fox News has learned exclusively.

The intelligence came from computer accessories and other materials gathered at the checkpoint in Mogadishu where Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the Al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, was killed Saturday, according to sources.

Al Qaeda was working on what one senior U.S. intelligence official described as an “aspirational” – but possibly operational – plot to target the Ritz Carlton hotel in London. As part of the plot, operatives would stay in strategically chosen rooms on the first floor of the hotel, and then they would set their rooms ablaze in hopes of trapping guests on the floors above.

But you can’t send them back—the UN says so!

Idaho: Truck used for refugee vegetable project vandalized

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A kind of “hate-crime?”

From Fox12.Idaho:

They call her ‘Big Green,’ but this 1965 custom Ford pickup lost much of her luster sometime on Tuesday night.

Owners of the once-beautiful truck say the windows and hood were smashed by vandals who may have been targeting a non-profit organization that teaches immigrant refugees how to farm in Boise.

Just who did it, hasn’t been caught.

The truck made its debut last week, delivering fresh produce in Boise, part of a program that teaches refugees to farm sponsored by an organization called “Create Common Good.”

Tyler Smith drives the truck, and says his heart sunk when he saw the vandalism early Tuesday morning.

“In my mind this is kind of a hate-crime, you know, like somebody didn’t like what we were doing,” Smith said.

Smith quickly reported the vandalism to police, who say they suspect the actions were done using some sort of a metal stake or pole.

The estimated damage to the custom truck is in excess of $1,000.

“Create Common Good” says they hope it isn’t sending a message of intolerance.

Tyler Smith says he hopes the vandalism was a random act, and not meant to send a message of hatred or intolerance to Boise’s refugee community.

Create Common Good currently employees a handful of refugees, and has trained roughly 200 others at its community garden site this year.

Organizers then teach them English and actively try to find them jobs.

Smith says many of the refugees are from war-torn countries, and more than a few have expressed disbelief that a culture of hatred or intolerance could exist in Boise.

Perhaps “Create Common Good” wants to set an example of how tolerance should work.

I guess we will just have to wait and see who is responsible, but this story gives me an opportunity to tell you about this relatively new grant program that doles nearly a million tax dollars out each year from Washington to teach refugees how to grow fruits and vegetables and then put their government-subsidized produce into the local farm economy.

It’s called the Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program (RAPP)

From the 2008 Office of Refugee Resettlement annual report to Congress you can see a list of the grantees for FY2008.

The report (page 40) says in addition to teaching refugees how to grow produce, the program puts an emphasis on improved access to Food Stamps and other welfare assistance:

Corollary to refugee families growing familiar and healthier foods has been the additional emphasis on nutrition education and improved access to USDAFood & Nutrition Service programs such as SNAP, WIC and Seniors Coupons. Under the leadership and support of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, the use of farmers markets for accessing fresh produce and as a market outlet for refugee farmers has been promoted. [I think they are allowing farmers markets to take food stamps—boy, will that be an opportunity for fraud, convenience stores are bad enough!—ed]

I wrote a post in 2010 on the same topic here and asked the Food Stamp question then as well.

Here is a list for 2011 of the recipients of the RAPP grants.   Note that the recipient of the federal grant in Boise, Idaho is not ‘Create Common Good’ but is the Mountain States Group which must be subcontracting out to ‘Create Common Good’ (CCG) because I can’t find any tax information on CCG, but I can for Mountain States. [Update:  be sure to read comments to this post because reader ‘Bob’ tells us that Create Common Good is not the recipient of federal tax dollars.]   Readers, this is a very common practice—this business of collecting federal tax dollars at one point in the non-profit (quasi-government agency) chain and passing it along a chain of organizations making it more difficult for citizens to follow the money trail.

For a complete list of Idaho refugee partners, go here.

I’m not making excuses or even suggesting that any local (American) person in Idaho had any involvement with the vandalism (which is very wrong whoever did it), but I want readers to know that what local residents know is that some group of immigrants is getting money from Washington to, in this case, compete with them in their struggle to find work and survive in this economy.  The practice destabilizes communities.

Anyway, back to Mountain States Group, their feel-good project, and your money.

Check out their form 990 here for 2007-2008. (There are other years available, but I didn’t want to get too deep into the math, this year makes my point since ORR has released the 2008 report to Congress).

In 2008, Mountain States Group received $6,980,863 in government grants and $4,171,123 in government fees and contracts out of a total revenue stream of $11,794,982.  This isn’t a non-profit group, it is essentially an arm of the federal government and state government with 95% of its funds coming from taxpayers—but as a private non-profit group it enjoys the benefit of not being scrutinized by Congress.

Model for the World?

A model for the world says the farmer-girl and First Luddite herself, Michelle Obama:

“It’s a model for the nation, for the world”

First Lady, Michelle Obama upon visiting on April 15, 2010, the New Roots Community
Farm in San Diego developed by RAPP grantee, the San Diego
International Rescue Committee