Month: April 2014

Wyoming still moving forward with refugee “recruitment” discussions; story goes national

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve not seen that phrase before—refugee recruitment—it must be newly coined by critics of Wyoming Republican Governor Matt Mead’s proposal to study the possibility of a refugee resettlement office in the state, but I like it!

Mead’s primary challenger, Dr. Taylor Haynes, opposes Mead’s invitation to the federal government to study the possibility of resettling refugees in Wyoming.

Here is yet another article on the controversy.  Our complete archive, is here.

From the Wyoming Tribune Eagle:

CHEYENNE — State officials are continuing to study a proposal that could bring a refugee resettlement program to Wyoming.

But the governor’s office and others are also trying to quell worries that this will lead to an influx of immigrants coming here.

“Some people are concerned about this effort, worrying that Wyoming is ‘recruiting’ refugees,” Gov. Matt Mead recently wrote in a letter to the editor sent to newspapers in the state. “There is no recruitment; there is, however, an effort to understand the issue.

“Right now, our state is learning more on the issue.”

Mead sent a letter last year to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement*** to explore setting up a public-private resettlement office here.

The federally funded program would provide refugees with a range of assistance, including help finding housing, employment and health care, for the first several months after they arrive in the country.

The feds and their resettlement contractors would like Wyoming decision-makers to think that the whole program is funded from Washington.  It is not!  For a few months US taxpayers foot the bill for the refugees and then the responsibility falls on the state for all of those refugees who never find work.  Wouldn’t you think that a Republican governor would be sensitive to taxpayers and jobs for Americans everywhere before getting into a contract with Washington?

Barnett:  Federal refugee contractors are no different then your Lockheed Martins in that they have the same incentives.

The Tribune Eagle continues:

Don Barnett is a fellow for the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for a reduction in the number of immigrants coming into the country.

He agreed that refugees can impact the state’s and federal government’s budget.

And he cautioned that the federal government and the groups picked to be its contractors rather than the state  would largely control how many refugees come here, where they will live and where they come from.

He said the contractors also proactively try to set up the refugees with the welfare programs.

“I don’t think people realize that the state will not have much control of this program if it is institutionalized or implemented,” he said. “It’s largely these contractors that will have the say, and these federal contractors are no different than your Lockheed Martins in that they have the same type of incentives.”

*** Gov. Mead wrote his letter of inquiry to the Office of Refugee Resettlement which is in the US Dept. of Health and Human Services (they dole out the $$$ to the contractors after the refugees are resettled.  It is the US State Department (and the UN) which makes decisions about who comes to the US and it is the State Department which doles out the $$$ to the contractors for the initial resettlement and decides where they will be located (in consultation with ORR).  Contractors are PAID BY THE HEAD.

Wyoming controversy goes national, including discussion about Mead challenger Taylor Haynes

The Associated Press has picked up the Wyoming refugee story.  Here it is at the Washington Times:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Gov. Matt Mead is addressing criticism about the possibility of opening a refugee resettlement program in Wyoming.

Mead recently sent a letter to the editor addressing the issue to newspapers across the state. Mead wrote that the state is still learning more about the issue and said that Wyoming is not recruiting refugees.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle (http://bit.ly/1m21Fj0) reports that Mead’s challenger for the Republican nomination, Taylor Haynes, is among those who have criticized the move.

Haynes said refugees could strain Wyoming’s budget by relying on state and federally funded safety net programs like Medicaid. He is also worried that they may not be screened for ties to violence or for diseases such as HIV and the Ebola virus.  [Haynes is a medical doctor, so it is interesting that the story doesn’t mention those credentials.—ed]

Two Wyoming cities are the subject of discussion for locating the federal offices—Gillette and Casper.  Once established, it is only rarely (extremely rare!) that a city can stop the program when they find out that there are problems and there will be many problems!

Addendum:  I see our fact sheet on refugee resettlement is attracting large numbers of readers (again!).  If you haven’t seen it, click here.

Australia “closed” so fake asylum seekers will try to break into New Zealand

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
The asylum seekers in detention in Jayapura: (From left) Mohammad Saiful Islam Tanu and Mohammad Shohidul Islam and, both from Bangladesh; and Ahmad Fahim Naziri and Mahmood, both from Afghanistan. Photo: SMH

 

In the best demonstration there is that Australia’s policy of towing boats full of mostly Muslim illegal aliens back to Indonesia is working is a story like this one—human traffickers are now setting their sights on New Zealand.

See our Australia category for all the news on the Abbott government’s tough policy.

To American and European readers, we want you to know that some first world countries are taking steps to stop the illegal alien flow!

From the Sydney Morning Herald last week (Hat tip: the ever-vigilant ‘pungentpeppers’).  Emphasis is mine:

Jakarta: People smugglers in Indonesia are mounting their first credible attempt to ship asylum seekers on the hazardous voyage to New Zealand and circumvent the Abbott government’s Operation Sovereign Borders.

Four men – two from Bangladesh and two from Afghanistan – were caught last month by the Indonesian immigration department in Jayapura, West Papua, on their way to get a boat to New Zealand.

Their capture appears to have stalled, for the time being, a plot to send up to 100 people, but sources in West Java say people smugglers in the town of Cisarua are still advertising for places on a New Zealand-bound boat.

Easier to get into New Zealand than Australia?

One of the men in custody, Bangladeshi Mohammad Saiful Islam Tanu told Fairfax Media that when he had arrived earlier this year from Malaysia to Cisarua – where many asylum seekers wait as they try to get to Australia – he had been told by others that the Abbott government had “closed the way”.

“The Australian government already is closed [the way] because every boat going to Australia comes back to Indonesia. So many people say it’s impossible. Now we not try to go to Australia,” Mr Saiful said. “What can I do? And [a people smuggler] Mr Jafar told me, ‘You can go to New Zealand from Papua’.”

Mr Saiful said the smugglers had told them that it was easier to be accepted in New Zealand than Australia.

New Zealand has taken steps to deter the migrants in advance!  They will be detained!

A spokeswoman for the New Zealand embassy in Jakarta said New Zealand had never had a “mass arrival” (defined as 30 or more), but that “we are aware that people smugglers continue to express interest in targeting New Zealand through a variety of avenues, including both air and sea routes”.

[….]

Though New Zealand has been protected from the rash of asylum seekers by its distance, it has passed relatively tough new laws in case of this development. Anyone coming as part of a mass arrival can be detained until their circumstances are assessed. Even for those found eligible, there is no guarantee of permanent residence.

Read it all.

Two other LEGAL immigration programs of concern

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We wish there were more hours in a day to write about other legal immigration programs that are changing the demographics of America and swamping our culture besides refugee resettlement, but alas there are not.

Here are reports on two Visa programs for you to watch.  Both offer opportunities for massive immigration fraud.

CA Rep. Mike Honda wants to make Visas for “religious workers” a permanent program.

The first is the Investor Visa, as described in this article from Michigan Live (Hat tip: Dianne):

Michigan luring “entrepreneur aliens” from Asia and the Middle East!

LANSING, MI — Michigan’s new status as a federally designated center for an increasingly popular investor visa program — just the second of its kind in the nation — will uniquely position the state to attract foreign capital and create local jobs, according to experts and stakeholders.

United States Customs and Immigration expedited and approved Michigan’s application to run its own EB-5 Regional Center, the Snyder administration announced this week, citing support from the governor, the state’s entire Congressional delegation and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

The federal EB-5 visa program is designed to attract “entrepreneur aliens” by offering them a green card in exchange for domestic investments that produce at least 10 new jobs in the U.S.

Read it all.  The Center for Immigration Studies has done a lot of reporting on problems with this program, here.   Michelle Malkin calls it the “cash-for-visas racket,” here.

Religious workers Visa

This isn’t just for the Imams, Priests, Ministers, but for “religious workers” supposedly needed to back-up the leaders. Rep. Honda wants to make the program permanent so Congress doesn’t have to revisit it every few years with the possibility each time of killing it!

From ZeeNewsIndia:

Washington: Aimed at facilitating immigration of religious workers including those of Hindu and Sikh faith, a US lawmaker has introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives.

Introduced yesterday by Congressman Mike Honda, the Freedom of Faith Act (HR 4460), will make permanent the special immigrant provision for non-minister religious workers.

The current religious workers programme is set to expire in 2015.

When passed by the Congress, the Act would cover religious workers, who provide a variety of services, such as translating for Korean Presbyterian churches, singing as cantors in Jewish temples, delivering sermons as mullahs (clerics) in Muslim mosques, and helping with Hindu pujas during Dussehra, Naimittika, Shivaratri, and Sikh ceremonies such as Akhandpath.  [What! We don’t have enough religious workers here already?  If not, how about training some right here—ed]

Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Jain, Mormon, Catholic, Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim workers would benefit from this.

“For over two decades, Congress has reauthorised this programme time and time again,” Honda said.

Can you just imagine how broadly the “workers” definition is being interpreted!

The next time you hear someone say:  ‘I don’t like illegal immigration, but we welcome legal immigration!’  Think about these kinds of LEGAL immigration and give them a bop over the head!

 

Arizona: Sudanese refugee sentenced in drunk driving case, boy died

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is strength alert!

Mabior Ding led a “tortuous” childhood in Africa, said the judge.

After running over an 11 year old Hispanic kid in the parking lot of an apartment complex, Mabior Ding took off because he didn’t understand the language spoken by the boy’s people.

This case involved two taxpayer-funded interpreters—one Arabic and one Spanish.

The added expense to “welcoming” communities for court, health care and school interpreters is rarely mentioned as the Open Borders agitators including the refugee resettlement contractors push for more immigrants.

From Arizona Central (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced a Sudanese man on Friday to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised probation in the hit-and-run death of an 11-year-old boy last year.

Mabior Ding, 33, pleaded guilty in March to manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal collision.

At his sentencing hearing, Ding told an Arabic language interpreter t

Enoc Quejada was hit by the drunk-driving Ding in a Phoenix multicultural apartment complex parking lot.

hat he had helped the child before fleeing but that he was frightened when the people around him spoke a language he did not understand. Ding said he apologized to the family at the scene.

[….]

Enoc’s aunt, Rosa Quejada, told a Spanish language interpreter that Enoc was a beloved nephew who had hopes to go to school, study and become an adult.

Ding used the terrible-childhood-in-Africa defense:

Judge Jeanne Garcia took into consideration Ding’s turbulent past when deciding his sentence. Ding grew up in Sudan, where he experienced a “tortuous” childhood.

If Ding hadn’t been drinking, Garcia said, the accident could have been avoided.

The 317 days that Ding has already served will be applied to his 10-year prison sentence. Garcia also required Ding to seek substance-abuse help.

One more criminal case a local jurisdiction is paying for.  Shouldn’t the US State Department be chipping in to pay the bill for the trial and for Ding’s incarceration.

By the way, Phoenix is a US State Department preferred resettlement site.

US resettles 75,000 Bhutanese refugees since 2007; State Department goes back on its word

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In 2007, then Asst. Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration, Ellen Saurbrey, said the US had agreed to take 60,000 of the 100,000 Bhutanese (really Nepali) refugees living in camps in Nepal over a five year period.  Here we are, going on 7 years, and we have now taken in 75,000 with more on the way!

Sauerbrey: 60,000 over five years.

You can read all about why we decided it was our duty (here) to do this when we had no national interest in it—other than that the UN told us to do it!  And, surely US companies, looking for cheap legal labor, were egging the Bush administration on, while the human rights industrial complex agitators cheered.  In fairness, we can’t blame Sauerbrey for what the subsequent Obama State Department is doing.

But, pay attention because they will do this (lie) about the Syrians as well. 

Once the US State Department begins the process with its resettlement contractors, the numbers will balloon way beyond what they promised in the first place.  Remember the contractors are paid by the head to resettle refugees in your cities and town.  They are always out scouting for a fresh supply!

Other countries were supposed to help, but as is the usual case, the lion’s share falls on the US.

From the International Organization for Migration (also a US contractor):

Nepal – The United States this week resettled its 75,000th Bhutanese refugee from eastern Nepal. Tilak Chand Ghimire, 44, his wife, 12-year-old daughter and 75-year-old parents, will start new lives in Akron, Ohio, where his brother resettled in 2010.

The move brings the total number of Bhutanese refugees resettled from Nepal since 2007 by IOM, in close cooperation with the Nepali government, the embassies of resettlement countries and UNHCR, to 88,770.

Get it!  We took 75,000 of the 88,770 resettled so far!

All subsequent negotiations to allow them to return to Bhutan failed and almost the whole 107,000 caseload are expected to eventually be resettled in third countries, notably the US.

We have an extensive archive on Bhutanese refugees going back to our first year writing RRW, click here to learn more.  You will see in the early posts that a large number of the Bhutanese/Nepalese camp dwellers DID NOT want to be resettled in third countries.