The American Muslim vote in 2012

10/21/2012 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers: This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report.

Number one issue for Muslims according to a survey: IMMIGRATION

It is no surprise that American Muslims are going for Barack Obama in November, although they have their problems with Obama as well, that according to this story at OpEdNews (Tracking the American Muslim vote in 2012 election by Abdus-Sattar Ghazali)

Democrats just the lesser of two evils!

Democrats and Republicans are seen by many [Muslims] as the two sides of the same coin since both are aligned with the rich against the American people. For some Democrats are seen as a lesser evil. Gerald Celente says when confronted with the choice between the two evils, you don’t vote for the lesser evil. “Lesser or greater, evil is evil.”

However, the seven-million strong American Muslim community — remained under siege since 9/11 tragedy – has decided to actively participate in the nation’s political process in a bid to make its voice heard. Muslim community’s political activism was reflected at the Democratic National Convention where the number of Muslim delegates had quadrupled since 2004. There were more than 100 Muslim delegates representing some 20 states at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September last. That’s up from 25 delegates in 2004.

“The more than doubling of Muslim delegates at this year’s Democratic National Convention is a direct result of their hard work and grassroots organizing within the Democratic Party,” according to the Council on Arab-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Government Affairs Coordinator Robert McCaw. “It is also a sign of the American Muslim community’s growing civic engagement and acceptance in the Democratic Party.”

On August 22, 2012, the CAIR announced the formation of a national partnership with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to coordinate voter empowerment and election activities. The two national organizations pledged to work together on hosting voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, phone banks, town hall meetings, and candidate forums.

Muslim Public Affairs Council (see Investigative Project on Terrorism) conducted a survey of Muslim voters!

Another leading civil advocacy organization, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) also issued a 32-page Election Kit – My Faith. My Vote. My Future — to encourage and actively engage American Muslims in the upcoming elections.

In order to learn more about the issues American Muslims care about most during this election year, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, (MPAC) conducted an online survey this spring. The survey, which ran from May 22 through June 4, sought to understand American Muslims’ investment and involvement in civic activities and political issues. As part of the survey, we asked American Muslims to rate the top 10 issues that will determine their vote this year.

The MPAC found that the main issues American Muslims care about are (in order of importance):

1. Immigration 2. The Environment 3. Taxes and the Federal Budget 4. National Security 5. Foreign Aid 6. Social Safety Programs 7. Social Issues 8. Medicaid/Medicare 9. Foreign Policy Toward South Asia 10. Religious Freedom

Curious isn’t it? Immigration! Not at all when you realize they hope to one day create a worldwide Muslim caliphate and govern with Shariah Law and for that they need population numbers.

They say what they mean and they mean what they say! Why do we not believe them?

Disillusioned with Obama and just using them for now:

The Democrats’ inclusion of support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in their official party platform may have disillusioned some Muslim voters, who were already critical of Obama’s failure to properly address the discrimination their community has faced. Four years ago, Obama enjoyed overwhelming support from Muslim voters — 89 percent Muslims voted for him. There is currently no polling data indicating the percentage that intends to vote for Obama this November, but politically active community members agree that enthusiasm for his candidacy has waned. In particular, many say they are disappointed by the way Obama has shied away from addressing an apparent rise in Islamophobia spreading throughout the United States. [What they are looking for from Obama and the Dems here is a curtailment of freedom of speech—ed]

Why are they mad at Republicans? Because we want to keep the US Constitution and want no Shariah law creeping into our legal system!

American Muslims were also disappointed with the Republican Party when its convention adopted an amendment to their platform supporting a ban on foreign law (read Sharia). The so-called anti-Sharia legislation has become another tool to foment hatred against Islam and Muslims. At the same time many Republican leaders continued rhetoric against Islam.

If the Muslim immigrant political activists wanted to assimilate and be American, why would they be pushing Shariah law?

Democrats more flexible with the rules!

I don’t have time to discuss it here, but in an article in Aljazeera recently about Nashville, TN with a booming Muslim population largely thanks to Catholic Charity’s refugee program there, a Palestinian immigrant told Aljazeera why he thinks the Dems are better than Republicans for now:

Ghanem says the Democratic Party is slightly more on the side of the immigrant community.

“We think Democrats and Republicans are 90 per cent the same for immigrants. I’m not either, but immigrants are more comfortable with Democrats, who are more flexible [with the rules].

That, and many good Dems are deaf and not willing to hear what Islamist political activists are saying when they say what they mean and mean what they say!

Illegal alien kids lining up for two-year work permits, will bring even more competition for scarce jobs

08/15/2012 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update August 16th: This is funny, the Chicago story I linked in my previous update has modified the numbers of “dreamers” who lined up in Chicago. It is now 11,000 instead of 50,000. Also, see my post at PTPR today about CASA de Maryland advising its ‘clients’ to not file if they have had any run-in with the law.

Update: 50,000 illegal alien “kids” lined up in Chicago today to apply to get two-year work permits and volunteer to be fingerprinted and investigated. Whew! No wonder Chicago is in such trouble—imagine what it has cost just to put that many non-citizens through school!

….. and wouldn’t you think that those in the refugee resettlement business would be worried since the kids who got here illegally will be able to legally work under the Obama “amnesty” and compete for jobs with legal refugees? No one involved with refugees seems to ever express that concern. Why is that?

Funny thing is that the only real employment that might come out of this are the immigration attorney jobs!

But I digress, here is the story from Minnesota as the Obama “amnesty” gets underway today (hat tip: Cliff):

At last, the wait is over for Pedro Ramos Ortiz.

Starting Wednesday, he and thousands of other young illegal immigrants in Minnesota can apply to stay under a new policy that would spare them from being deported.

“I had to wait for a miracle and here it is,” said Ortiz, 27.

Two months ago, President Obama announced that the federal government will allow illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children and who have attended school here the chance to stay and receive a work permit. The president’s action does not offer citizenship or permanent residency.

As many as 1.7 million people nationwide may be eligible to escape the threat of deportation under the new policy.

Meanwhile, local immigration lawyers say they’re preparing for a deluge of clients wanting to apply.

“In my office, everybody’s nervous,” said Mary Baquero, an attorney in Minneapolis. “We’re talking about how we’re going to handle it, because a lot of people are going to apply.” Her office has scheduled conferences for Thursday, Friday and Saturday for immigrants interested in applying; already, those sessions are full, she said.

It’s been a busy summer for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which serves low-income immigrants.

The center has hosted public workshops and has fielded phone calls from people wanting more information about the new policy.

Read it all in the Star Tribune.

Requirements of the Obama work permit process will mean not one “kid” will have been given his reprieve before the election!

Last month I wrote about the Obama election year gimmick here at my other blog. This is a summary of what we learned then:

* The dreamer kids must pay a $465 processing fee.

* According to the report I posted (interesting that the story is no longer available!), the feds expect to approve 890,000 applicants (they think they will receive 3000 applications a day!) and they aren’t staffed-up yet to handle the application process. (BTW, we admit around 70,000 refugees a year and the unemployment rate is likely as much as 60% or higher in some parts of the country. What will 890,000 additional low-skilled workers do to those numbers?)

* They expect 151,000 to be rejected after going through the lengthy application process and I want to know what happens to the “rejects.”

* If they make it through the process they get a 2-year work permit, no citizenship. What then? Do they have to go through this again in two years?

* The kids (up to 30 years old!) will be photographed and fingerprinted (LOL! so much for the Holder/Perez Justice Department’s objections to photo-IDs). And, the feds will know where they and their family live.

* Here is the timeline which clearly indicates that no “dreamer” will get through the process until after the election:

2-10 days to scan and file application

4 weeks for photos and fingerprints

6 weeks for background check

3 months for government to decide if one is granted a work permit or rejected (again, what happens to rejects?)

It will be interesting to see if the “kids” get much out of this or whether the O-man snookered a whole lot of “dreamers” (again!).

Mitt (Etch A Sketch*) Romney headed to the Left on immigration

04/20/2012 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

[Cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report]

I can emphatically say I am not surprised.

Much to my profound shock, back in January Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a leading legal beagle on immigration and a hero to many on the immigration control side, endorsed Romney. See my post here. Even NumbersUSA President, Roy Beck, was sounding all warm and fuzzy for Romney. I was shocked!

In the meantime, Rick Santorum’s NumbersUSA scorecard was shown to have been better than Romney’s. Here Santorum is an A-. I see they have pushed the guy who previously had a C, Romney, up to a B- recently. In light of this news, it’s time for a new score for Romney, don’t you think!

Back in January, did Kobach and Beck get snookered by the Romney gang—did they not know that the likes of Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and Ed Gillespie—the Open Borders troika—were in the wings to run things for Romney? (Remember Norquist said all they needed was a weak President—Romney the robot— here and here, to sign things!).

Here is The Hill telling us what it means for the Romney team to have put Ed Gillespie on the payroll as a strategist (emphasis mine):

Mitt Romney’s hiring of Republican strategist Ed Gillespie is being seen as a sign the campaign will heavily court Hispanic voters — perhaps at the expense of immigration hard-liners in the party.

Gillespie, a former head of the Republican National Committee, has long advocated an aggressive outreach to the Hispanic community. He helped found the Republican State Leadership Committee, a group that recruits and trains GOP candidates for office and has emphasized finding female and minority candidates. He also heads up Resurgent Republic, an organization focused on messaging to independents, including Hispanic swing voters.

There is nothing wrong with outreach to minority voters, UNLESS they are making promises for government goodies to come!

The RNC is highly aware of this, and on Monday announced it would have state-level Hispanic outreach directors placed in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.

Republican DREAM ACT on the way? (Marco Rubio involved too)

Establishment members of the party praised Gillespie’s hiring.

“He’s going to be great as a key figure in the Romney campaign,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told The Hill on Monday. “Ed brings a pretty big background in understanding and being an effective communicator in the Hispanic community and that can only be a positive.”

Some signs of a shift in Romney’s tone have already emerged since his status as the presumptive nominee has become stronger.

The former Massachusetts governor warned during a private fundraiser this past weekend that his standing in polls with Hispanics “spells doom for us,” and that to alleviate the problem the GOP needed to offer its own policies to woo Hispanics. His suggestions included a “Republican DREAM Act,” referring to a GOP version of the Democratic plan that would give some illegal immigrants who came here as children a path to citizenship.

While he was not advocating for a specific policy, the comments were a sharp break from Romney’s rhetoric during the primary, when he said he would veto the DREAM Act and attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) for backing a state law that gave illegal immigrants in-state college tuition, calling it a “magnet” for more illegal immigration.

Kobach kicked to the curb?

Gillespie’s hiring is being viewed as a counter to hard-line advisers in the Romney camp, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), who wrote Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

Republican strategists predicted that Gillespie’s gravitas would make him influential within the Romney campaign, outweighing the more-conservative voices on the issue.

Is it Tea Party time yet?

*Romney the Etch A Sketch candidate, here.

Update April 21: Alas, the Kobach endorsement of Romney and the on-again/off-again alliance may be all about money, that is assuming we can believe Think Progress (hat tip Richard Falknor at Blue Ridge Forum):

Indeed, it will be very hard for Romney, whose PAC was one of the largest donors to Kobach’s campaign for Kansas Secretary of State, to distance himself from his immigration adviser or the law in Arizona.

Uzbek Muslim “student” pleads guilty in plot to kill Obama

02/10/2012 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Don’t you think that it is just fascinating that the President, who wanted to reverse all the bad feelings toward America in the Muslim world, was the target of a Muslim extremist. We first reported on his arrest here.

From AP today:

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) — A man from Uzbekistan pleaded guilty Friday to plotting with an Islamic terror organization in his home country to kill President Barack Obama with an automatic rifle he bought from an undercover federal agent in Alabama.

Authorities said Ulugbek Kodirov had discussed trying to kill the president as he campaigned for re-election because he would be out in public more often.

[….]

Kodirov pleaded guilty to three counts: Threatening to kill the president, possessing an automatic weapon, and providing material support to terrorists. Four other charges were dropped as part of the deal.

[….]

Kodirov said that he did not care if he got shot and killed, as long as he killed President Obama,” according to the plea deal. [expecting virgins I suppose—ed]

Kodirov entered the US on a student visa but never enrolled in school—what a surprise! I wonder how many other Islamists are here on student visas looking for infidels to kill?

Authorities say Kodirov was in the country illegally because he obtained a student visa but never enrolled in school.

And, you know what is so funny?

Obama just 10 days ago loosened restrictions on foreign students wishing to enter the US on Student Visas, here.

Now here is perhaps the most interesting part of this whole AP story—the US State Department says Muslim terrorists have been perpetrating violence in Uzbekistan for a decade!

Islamic terrorists have been linked to sporadic violence in Uzbekistan for more than a decade, according to the State Department.

THEN WHY ON EARTH WERE WE BRINGING SOME OF THEM TO THE US THROUGH THE REFUGEE PROGRAM????

See Uzbek alleged terrorist arrested in Colorado ten days ago, here!

Santorum soars on immigration!

01/16/2012 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers: this is cross posted from Potomac Tea Party Report (my other blog). You may want to check out other posts there over the last few days as they are related to immigration issues. Keep in mind the post is written for an audience which may not be as savvy as RRW readers on Legal immigration problems and programs.

Yesterday I wrote a post based on a Washington Times story from Thursday that said that the immigration control crowd was forming behind Mitt Romney. But, all that appears to have changed when Rick Santorum gave a speech on Friday in South Carolina that will change the playing field for many. Michael Savage, for one, should be pleased that one of the candidates has finally come out forcefully on immigration.

In a press release late last night, NumbersUSA announced that the former Pennsylvania Senator had soared to the top of their Presidential scorecard primarily because he didn’t just stick to the usual talking point—illegal immigration is bad, legal is good—he told people that the numbers are too high. He took on, without prompting, the Diversity Visa Lottery and chain migration (that is when you get your foot in the door, you can bring a whole host of relatives in with you).

Somalis are a case in point

Not to get too deep into the weeds, but on this business of chain migration, the US State Department in 2008 halted “family reunification” for Somalis (and a few other African groups) when they discovered through some random DNA testing that the would-be family members weren’t family at all. It is believed that as many as 36,000 Somalis got into the US illegally by claiming family connections.

Diversity visa is insane

Also, I haven’t mentioned it here much (here is one post this past July), but the Diversity Visa Lottery (yes, a real lottery) allows 50,000 immigrants from countries—Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Bangladesh etc.—that we don’t (supposedly) have enough people from to apply for a lottery to get into the US to increase our diversity. NumbersUSA has been working with certain members of Congress in recent years to kill the program.

So, here then is what NumbersUSA is saying about Rick Santorum:

Former Sen. Rick Santorum zoomed from the back of the GOP pack on immigration issues to way out FRONT at a C-SPAN televised event in South Carolina on Friday. For the first time in many years, we have a Presidential candidate who says LEGAL immigration numbers are too high!

[…..]

Congratulations to all of you Santorum supporters who have been pushing him to greatly improve his immigration platform. You succeeded beyond most of our wildest dreams.

Now, the rest of you who are supporting other GOP and Democratic candidates need to increase your pressure on them to catch up to Santorum.

Roy Beck explains what happened—Santorum from a D- to an A literally overnight:

We have long said that candidates don’t need a long speech or a huge position paper to make it clear to the American public that they think American workers should get the next U.S. jobs, that illegal aliens should not be rewarded with U.S. jobs and that legal immigration categories should be cut if they don’t serve the national interest.

When Santorum began moving up in the public opinion polls late November and December, we devoted blogs and webcasts to his poor record on immigration that worked out to a D-minus.

But we always said that his bad grade was mainly based on bad decisions in the 1990s and on a lack of statements on various categories during the campaign. We said that it would be easy for him to improve his platform and grade very quickly with a set of new statements and promises.

Here is the clincher. Santorum went beyond the usual—I oppose illegal immigration—and took it one step further.

But for the first time in the year-long Presidential campaign thus far, we have a candidate who has brought up the Visa Lottery and Chain Migration.

Go to NumbersUSA to see what Santorum said.

I guess we will now be testing the Michael Savage thesis!