Month: November 2012

Germany: Asylum seekers continue to “camp out” at Brandenburg Gate

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We first reported the story here last month.

Now, it’s getting cold and they are still there demanding ‘stuff’ from Germans who aren’t giving them a large enough allowance they say.

From Deutsche Welle:

Frustrated at their treatment at the hands of the German authorities, a group of asylum seekers is protesting in Berlin. They have now been camping for nearly a month in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

Asylum-seekers in Germany are entitled to a 134 euros (around $170 USD) allowance per month. [In addition to shelter and food—ed].  They say this isn’t enough. Normally, they are not allowed to leave their refugee accommodation either.

We then learn about Mirsai, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who doesn’t bother staying in Afghanistan to help fix his own country.  Heck we have Americans dying there to help fix “his” country so why can’t he stay?

When Mirsai first arrived in Germany, he landed at Munich airport. Carrying a fake passport, and was immediately arrested by police.

“Well, I knew it was a risk, it was a big risk. And I knew what would happen,” he told DW. “But I had to do it because I had to save my life and that’s why I tried.”

He came to Germany expecting to learn the language, go to school, and find a job. Instead, he was packed into a home with other asylum-seekers. His allowance is barely enough to get by on. His German is still rudimentary and authorities don’t pay for lessons.

Mirsai went on a week-long hunger strike before setting off to Berlin. He had to be tube fed at a hospital. When he got to Berlin he went on hunger strike again.

I wonder how much his hospital stay cost the German taxpayer?

“Victim visas” available for abused Muslim women

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Oh brother, what other visa programs do we have that we don’t know about (yet)?

There are a couple of messages in this story to ponder.

First, no doubt we feel sympathy for Muslim women abused by the men in their lives.   But, is it our duty to save each and every one whose husband, brother or father thinks ‘his’ woman has not behaved properly according to their ‘faith?’

And, take note that we are importing this behavioral mindset to the US every day through myriad legal immigration programs, including refugee resettlement, when we admit immigrants from Muslim countries?   Who will save the women when the US is paralyzed by pressure from multiculturalists urging us to respect diversity.  Believe it or not, we have occasionally heard ‘cultural relativism’ arguments that go like this—-who are we to say female genital mutilation is an evil practice?

Now, hat tip David, here is the story from Al Arabiya entitled, ‘Saudi women get U.S. ‘victim visas’ following family disputes‘:

Five Saudi women living in the United States replaced their student visas with “victim visas” following disputes with male members of their families.

The women, whose change of status renders them ineligible for financial support from Saudi Cultural Bureau in Washington DC, were accompanying their families to the United States and went to court after they got into fights with their husbands or brothers, the Saudi edition of al-Hayat newspaper quoted a source from the bureau as saying.

One of those women, the source explained, is a student currently living with her children in an orphanage because of a dispute with her husband.

After the American court with which she filed a complaint ruled in her favor, she was not able to go back to her husband and since there were no guarantees of her safety if she returns to Saudi Arabia, she preferred to stay in the United States. She is now financially supported by the American government.

Let me know, if any of you find out which agency administers “victim visas!”

Bowling Green, KY: finding employment for refugees has become an industry in itself….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yes, thanks in large part to taxpayer-funded grants to this new entrepreneurial “business.”

Your tax dollars at work!

The “non-profit” organization touted in this piece is the Community Action of Southern Kentucky(CASOKY).  It’s kind of like ACORN—help the poor connect with “services,” which of course means welfare and other taxpayer funded programs, and then it serves as a political voice as well.    Now they are expanding into the refugee industry….

Before you read the story, get this:  CASOKY is a $22 million a year outfit that gets $18 million from government grants (recent Form 990 is here).

Maybe instead of pushing for amnesty for illegal aliens, a certain US Senator from Kentucky (Senator Rand Paul!) concerned with government spending should do something really challenging—-begin questioning the need for federal and state taxpayers to pay for this type of mini-ACORN organization.

Here from the Daily News is the story from the “welcoming” city of Bowling Green:*

…. the network of employers and agencies attempting to connect with the city’s immigrants and refugees has crystallized and nearly become an industry in itself.

[…..]

Community Action of Southern Kentucky has increased its presence this year among Bowling Green’s international community.

The nonprofit agency, which provides programs and services to people dealing with poverty, began offering refugee-specific services this year.

Specialized job search training for special people—refugees (to compete with American unemployed)—yippee!

Being a job development specialist in the Refugee Employment Program at Community Action means acclimating refugees to the American job culture, and that entails familiarizing refugees with the job interviewing process, how to market themselves and how to make the best impression with potential employers.

“We help new arrivals integrate into the community and get them connected with local resources, we work on them with interviewing, doing job applications, putting together the resumes that they need,” Ray [Heath Ray] said. “We’re open-ended as to what we can do. Whatever the need is, we try to work with them.”

Employment specialists screen all refugee clients for employers and refer the most qualified job candidates to an employer with a particular need, and the program can provide services to support new employees after they are placed in jobs.  [What sort of services?—ed]

Currently, a team of three people in the employment program are assisting an estimated 80 clients, Ray said.

Only available to refugees who have lived in the US for less than five years—and you pay for it with grant money!

The program, which began in March thanks to grant funding, is limited to refugees who have lived in the U.S. for less than five years.

Refugees served in the program come from many countries torn by war and ethnic, political or religious strife, particularly Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Burma and Cuba.

For new readers we have written a lot about the “preferred community” of Bowling Green.  Type ‘Bowling Green’ into our search function and you will see what I mean (ahhh! for fun I just counted all the posts in which Bowling Green, KY is mentioned and it’s over 75!).

Bowling Green also made national news in June 2011, when two Iraqi refugees were arrested there on terrorism charges, they have subsequently been found guilty and sentenced to prison.

One of the earliest posts I wrote about Bowling Green was this story where a homeowner shot and killed a Bosnian teen breaking into his home.  The homeowner was ultimately exonerated because he was protecting his property!

Update:  I see Friends of Refugees has another report on how the federal refugee contractors are not doing their jobs in Bowling Green.

Bosnian refugee sentenced in NYC subway bombing plot

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

He must have come here as a child as one of over 100,000 Bosnian refugees we admitted during and after Bill Clinton’s Bosnian War.  No magical melting pot for Medunjanin.

From the New York Daily News:

A Queens man whose hatred of America inspired him to join the Taliban and become a wanna-be subway suicide bomber was sentenced to rot in prison for the rest of his life – plus 95 years.

Adis Medunjanin, the son of hard-working Bosnian refugees who had fled war and repression in their homeland, sang verses from the Koran and denounced capitalism and democracy before the sentence was imposed.

[….]

Medunjanin was convicted last May of traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2008 with two friends from Flushing High School so the radicalized trio could fight coalition forces. They received terrorist training and were recruited by high-ranking al Qaeda operatives to carry out an attack in the New York City subway system in September 2009.

We love death more than you love life!

Law enforcement officials have never publicly revealed how they were tipped off to the plot because the details remain classified. They were in the advanced stages of producing bombs and days away from carrying out the attack when they were arrested by the FBI and NYPD.

“He is not a great warrior or a celebrated martyr as he hoped,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Bitkower said. “He is a convicted criminal, and we ask the court to treat him as such.”

The prosecutor was referring to Medunjanin’s last act of jihad before his arrest – crashing his car at high speed into another vehicle on the Whitestone Expressway while screaming to a 911 operator, “We love death more than you love life!”  [Gee, guess that means he isn’t thankful for the opportunity we gave him for the good life in America—ed]

We’ve had a bunch of news over the years about problems with Bosnian refugees.  One of my favorites is this one from 2008 when I first became aware of the fact that politicians (Bill Clinton in the 2008 post about Iowa meatpackers) help supply their business friends with cheap labor through this program.  For more stories on Bosnians, just type ‘Bosnian refugees’ into our search function.

Small-town Australia says ‘no thanks’ to refugees moving in

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It wasn’t too long ago that we told you about the small town in Sweden that was resigned to the arrival of refugees to be housed in a historic mansion in their town, here.   And, LOL!, then remember the refugees said, ‘get me out of here, there are ghosts!’

Now, a small town suburb of Melbourne,  Hawthorne, Australia, is balking at a proposal for 100 refugees to “transition” while living on a “heritage street.”

****Update Nov. 17th and correction:  Reader Nilk commented to this post (be sure to see the comments) to tell us more about Hawthorne.  He describes it as a rather trendy suburb of Melbourne and not a “small town” as I’ve described it.***

By the way, everyone remembers when immigrants went to big cities, but this is a growing practice in the West—trying to get refugees moved to small cities and towns.  The refugee industry advocates probably think they are thusly teaching the local hicks how to be “welcoming” and to get used to multiculturalism.  However, jobs and housing become an issue for such immigrants—not to mention the antipathy some rural folks have to change (and why should they be forced to change?)

Here is the story from the Herald Sun:

COMMUNITY pressure has all but crushed plans for asylum seekers to be housed in a former aged care home in Hawthorn.

Neighbours are divided over a proposal to use the Uniting Church centre on Manningtree Rd as accommodation for up to 100 refugees on bridging visas.

The furore began when refugee services agency AMES, which has a six-month lease on the property, sent a letter to locals on October 30, introducing “some new residents in your neighbourhood”.

The organisation provides jobs and short-term accommodation for asylum seekers while their refugee claims are finalised.

But AMES spokesman Adam Baxter said the organisation was now reconsidering the plan because of objections from some local residents.

“The reason that we’re not moving ahead at this stage is because we’re not comfortable with the level of community welcome,” Mr Baxter said.

Residents do the “unwelcoming” thing—circulate a petition against the plan.

“In principle it’s terrific. Refugees deserve to be here, by definition they’re only here because they’ve had a bloody hard time,” the woman said.

“(But) you’d totally change the balance of the (heritage-listed) street.”  [I had to look up heritage-listed street and found that it must be a street with an historic preservation designation, geez, they even have the ‘good-taste gestapo’ in Australia.  But, it’s always fun to see Leftwingers squirm when you use one of their programs to defeat another of their pet projects!—ed]

The Herald Sun understands a petition was circulated against the proposal.

As I said here a couple of days ago, if  you think you can escape the politically-correct policies of the Left by running away to Australia, forget it!   Besides, if you are white with a European ethnic background and a non-Muslim, you probably can’t get into Australia anyway!