Month: October 2012

Do refugees fly to the US for free?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

No, well maybe yes (sometimes).   They do get interest free government loans for their airfare.

I’ve reported on refugee airfare from time to time over the last five years, but what got me thinking about it again this morning was a puff piece about refugees speaking to students at Flagler College.  And, by the way, there have been a flurry of refugee puff pieces recently so there must be a PR push going on from the contractors who fear losing customers if the public gets too weary of paying for all this.

Here is the line from the Flagler College puff piece:

“They pay their way to get here, the government doesn’t buy their plane tickets. They take out loans,” Michelle Karolak, the Refugee Resettlement Director of Catholic Charities, said.

That is not exactly right, but you will see below how just giving a bare bones answer can be misleading (and from Catholic Charities no less!).

The International Organization for Migration (also a federal contractor) actually purchases the ticket with money received from the US State Department.   Here is a pretty good accounting of that.  USCRI is the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, but you could replace USCRI in the excerpt below with any of the top nine federal contractors including the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For his plane ticket alone, Ngoma was indebted to the U.S. government for $1,300 since it had fronted that amount after agreeing to his resettlement in Chicago.

The U.S. government is reimbursed for the costs expended on U.S.-bound refugees’ plane tickets by the refugees’ sponsor agencies. These agencies, such as the USCRI, set up individualized payment plans for each refugee to collect what is owed.

Historically, the problem with this revolving loan fund is that low collection and repayment rates have resulted due to the lack of law enforcement and inefficient collection methods used by voluntary agencies. According to Nancy Kingsbury at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Secretary of State made policy changes in 1987 to address the problem/.

“These changes ensure [among other things] that the sponsor agencies 1) establish loan criteria and milestones specifying when uncollected notes are delinquent and in default and 2) submit to State for further action the names and addresses of those refugees whose loans become delinquent,” Kingsbury explains.

Soon after settling into their new locations, refugees are required by the USCRI to sign a Promissory Note—a document legally binding them to individualized payment plans to pay off what is owed. To track the process, the USCRI assigns a loan ID number to each refugee and corresponding payment plan.

The U.S. Department of State Bureau of Populations, Refugees, and Migration requires that the agencies submit quarterly reports of these loan collections indicating amounts collected and remitted to the IOM. If an agency fails to comply with any of the Bureau’s provisions, it risks being prohibited by the Bureau from utilizing funds received under this agreement for future resettlements.

So the refugee or refugee families arrive with oftentimes extremely large debts to repay.   The resettlement contractor is their bill collector.  Some pay and some don’t.  The State Department has been reluctant to report just how much they ultimately receive.

Enter the US Conference of Catholic Bishops

Here is the really funny part about the comment from Michelle Karolak of Catholic Charities at Flagler College!  She conveniently forgot to tell the audience that  the collection agency gets to keep some of the government’s (your!) money for their services collecting the federal loan.

Let’s have a look at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops 2011 annual report on their refugee program.

The USCCB by its own account resettles 25% of the refugees resettled each year.  On page 20, note that their total revenue for the year was $72,102,484, and of that, you, the taxpayer, gave them $66,723,452 (or roughly 93% of all their revenue for refugee resettlement).   

Their second largest source of income ($3,751,295) is for travel loan fees!  So they strong-armed the refugees for the airfare loan money and got to keep a chunk (again of taxpayer money) for themselves!

Their private charitable gifts are a tiny portion of their revenue.  So, when I hear the Bishops squawk about what Obama is doing to them, I have no sympathy.  When you take the government cash, you are no longer free!

Minnesota terror recruitment trial ends in guilty verdict for former mosque janitor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is the gist of the story from the Star Tribune:

A one-time janitor at a Minneapolis mosque was found guilty Thursday of conspiring to help a terrorist group recruit young Minnesota men for a holy war in their native Somalia.

A federal jury in Minneapolis deliberated about 8 1/2 hours before convicting Mahamud Said Omar, 46, in a case that provided the clearest picture to date of a worldwide investigation into the recruiting of at least 20 young men to fight in Somalia with Al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terror group.

Omar, of Minneapolis, rocked gently in his seat and studied the jurors dispassionately as the verdict was read.

Guilty on count one: conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Guilty on count two: providing material support to terrorists. Guilty on count three: conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, namely, the Islamist group Al-Shabab. Guilty on count four: providing material support to Al-Shabab.

Each of those charges carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. Omar swallowed hard in advance of the last verdict, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison: guilty of conspiring to kill or maim people.

Read the whole story about how the US prosecutors think this was a huge breakthrough, however, I am left wondering if the kingpins are still free as birds.  And, I want to know what involvement mosque leaders had with this recruitment?  Are we to believe a janitor held meetings with jihad recruits in the mosque and no Imam knew?

Something humorous in this serious reporting!

The Star Tribune is back to using their go-to guy on anything relating to Somalis anywhere in America—Omar Jamal is back!  I haven’t heard or seen much of the Somali mouthpiece, the Jesse Jackson of Minneapolis, in awhile.   Last we heard he was off in NYC as the representative of Somalia at the UN.    Longtime readers know Jamal was convicted of immigration fraud years ago in Tennessee and somehow got off the hook.  I’ve wondered if we let him off the hook so that he could become a media megaphone in defense of Somalis gone wrong.

Omar Jamal  became a “community activist” and could be counted on to comment on anything Somali anywhere.  One of his early and best spins involved hopping out to Denver four years ago to speak for the Canadian family of a Somali man who killed himself with enough cyanide to kill hundreds in advance of the Democrat National Convention that year.  Jamal told the media to move on, nothing to see here—just a nut!

Here he is yesterday speaking for the family of the man found guilty.  BTW, the families of the “youths,” many of whom lost their lives in Somalia, were happy with the verdict.

Omar’s [Mahamud Said Omar] family members declined to comment, referring questions to community activist Omar Jamal. “They were not expecting this,” he said. “They are a little bit shocked.”

Jamal said the trial revealed many things that were not known to the community about Al-Shabab’s recruiting efforts in Minnesota, but he said many questions remain.

“The most important thing is, this is not the end of the game,” Jamal said. “The people responsible for ruining the lives of these kids are still out there … somewhere.”

On that, he and government prosecutors agreed.

“Some folks are still fugitives … and there are still ongoing investigations,” Jones said. “This isn’t the end.”

I hope not, but let’s see if we ever bring a kingpin to justice.

By the way, every day we bring more Somalis into the US who are just like Mahamud Said Omar—originally a homeless  refugee in Rochester, MN most likely resettled there by Catholic Charities.

For new readers:  Type ‘Minnesota terror trial’ into our search function for previous stories about the case.  Also, see one of our most widely read posts every day at RRW–-Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis?

Minnesota teachers’ union meeting includes session on how to teach about Islam in public schools

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You can bet they aren’t going to talk about 9/11, or the Minnesota Somali just convicted of aiding Al-Shabab, or the recent attack on our consulate in Benghazi and the murder of our Ambassador.  Not this bunch!

Here are some of the other topics posted by EAG (Education Action Group Foundation).

EAG News:

“Using Persona Dolls to Promote Social Emotional Intelligence and Acceptance of Diversity”; “Defined Benefit vs. Defined Contribution Pension Plans”;  “Financial Concerns for Women”; “Teaching Students to be Peacemakers”; “Contextualizing Immigration Using History and Human Rights”; “Teaching about Islam in the Context of Social Studies and World Religion” and “The State of Minnesota Schools and LGBTQ Youth: A Roundtable Discussion.”

I don’t see anything about teaching about Christianity or Judaism.

California “refugee” center gets $3.7 million digs!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

Recently a reader charged that I had become too cynical in my writing here at RRW.   Guilty as charged!  And, this story from Garden Grove, California provides further evidence that what may have been simply a humanitarian-driven program (although honestly I doubt it ever was all about altruism) has become an industry fueled with buckets of taxpayers’ money.

From the Los Angeles Times:

It started with the Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon. Then came the Romanians, the Iranians, the Central Americans and those from the Middle East, all showing up at the little Garden Grove haven they knew simply as the “refugee club.”

Folks at St. Anselm’s Cross-Cultural Community Center offered newcomers the basics: where to find a job, how to write a resume, how to get a handle on America. By the thousands, those fleeing war, poverty or persecution poured in.

Now, this club has moved from its humble quarters — cramped rooms, donated furniture and dim lighting — into a gleaming $3.7-million two-story building in Orange.

Fulfilling the needs of the “modern refugee” and calling themselves “social entrepreneurs!”  Give me a break!

And as its headquarters has expanded so have its services: yoga classes, marriage counseling, personal finances, even step-by-step installation of a child’s car seat — the needs of the “modern refugee,” says Vicki Connely, the center’s director.

Inside, the structure spans 30,000 square feet, bought in April from Farmers Insurance. Outside, there’s enough space for annual health fairs attracting nearly 900 participants.

“We’re actually a nonprofit evolving into social entrepreneurs,” Connely says.

Government (read taxpayer) grants and contracts have apparently provided them with the funds to acquire their new lavish digs and run this Cadillac operation.

St. Anselm’s, for all its offerings, also runs as a business with a staff of 80 and plenty of private and public transportation contracts with city and county agencies. Drivers ferry an average of 1,000 riders a month, many senior citizens, taking them to the doctor, to pick up prescriptions or to adult day care, generating enough income to take the pressure off fundraising.

They do very little (private) fundraising.  Check out their most recent federal IRS Form 990, here.

If you don’t want to wander through the many pages, here are some of the important facts, and btw, a couple of years ago one could see government grants on page one, but the IRS has kindly removed that information to page 9 presumably so the casual reader might have a harder time figuring out what we are paying for all this!

St. Anselm’s received $4,225,008 in revenue in FY 2011 (tax year begins in 2010).

$2,972,285 came from government contributions (70 % of its income came directly as a gift from the taxpayer)

As for the income referenced in the article above—contracts for transportation etc.—they garnered another $131,382.

That leaves about $1.1 million they received from private donors.

Now, get this, they paid out $2,869,592 in salaries and benefits.  I think this is what Obama means when he talks about government creating jobs!  Oh, and incidentally, one job created was for the sister of the “progressive” director to be the organization’s grant writer (you will find that admission on Schedule L near the end of the tax return).

Read about the history of St. Anselm’s here which got its start with the help of one of the big nine federal refugee contractors, Church World Service.  For new readers “voluntary agency or volag” is a misnomer, these mostly “church” non-profits actually couldn’t survive for a week without their taxpayer funding.

‘Generation Identitaire’ protests mosque-building and Muslim immigration in France

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update October 22nd:  Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has much more on the anti-Muslim protest, here.

Maybe have a look at Generation Identitaire here on youtube, before reading the Washington Post story about their protest in Poitiers yesterday.  (hat tip: Ed)

AP at the Washington Post:

PARIS — Dozens of far right extremists stormed atop an unfinished mosque in western France on Saturday to show their hostility toward it and denounce immigration that has brought millions of Muslims into the country, a regional official said.

About 70 protesters traveled from around France for Saturday morning’s demonstration in the city of Poitiers, which has symbolic meaning as the place where a French medieval ruler once drove away Arab invaders, regional prefect Yves Dassonville said by phone. After police arrived, the protesters dispersed without resistance — and three were detained to face accusations of “incitement of racial hatred” and damage to property, he said.

French TV broadcast images of dozens of rowdy, waving and chanting protesters on the mosque roof next to its minaret. They unfurled a banner that read “Generation Identitaire” and demanded a referendum on immigration and mosques. The banner also bore the number 732, which Dassonville said was a reference to the year when the army of medieval French leader Charles Martel stopped an Arab invasion in Poitiers.

[…..]

France is home to Western Europe’s largest population of Muslims, estimated to be at least 5 million even though the government does not provide official figures.

Poitiers imam:

“We are thunderstruck … these are people who are stuck in the year 732, and who don’t see that the world has changed,” Poitiers imam El Haj Boubaker told France’s BFM-TV.