Maryland: CAIR wants 14-year-old girl investigated in case of threatening note to Iraqi refugee family

Thanks to Wikileaks, we are becoming increasingly aware (more than ever before) of how the mainstream media presents ‘news’ in a way to push an agenda or oppose candidates they don’t like.
A prime example……
I literally sat here with my mouth open when I read this story (the whole story!) at WBAL in Baltimore by Saliqua Khan (Islamophobic note we are told in the headline!).
If I had stopped reading at paragraph ten, I would have a completely different idea of what happened.  Here is what we are told first:

DUNDALK, Md. —A civil rights group is asking authorities to investigate a hate message as a bias-motivated crime after a note was left at the Baltimore County home of a family of Iraqi Muslim refugees.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Friday called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate a note left at the family’s Dundalk home.

zainab_chaudry
Zainab Chaudry speaking for CAIR in Maryland is quoted as blaming it on…you guessed it! Donald Trump!

CAIR said the hate message, left on the door of the family’s home, said, “Terrorist, Leave, No one wants you here, Your kind is a disgrace, 9/11 was your fault.”

The message also included a crude drawing of a Muslim woman wearing a head scarf (hijab) and holding a bomb, with the comment, “Take that (expletive) off your head.”

The victim’s father, who’s family recently found refuge in the U.S. and speaks very little English, said he’s worried about his family’s safety after his 11-year-old daughter received the note.

“Now, I am scared and worried about my child,” the victim’s father, Raad Lalqaraghuli, said. “I was scared, no sleeping.”

The Washington-based civil rights organization said the targeting of the Maryland Muslim family is the latest in a series of hate incidents directed at American Muslims, mosques and Islamic centers nationwide in the past week.

At this point I felt bad for this Muslim family (no sympathy for CAIR!)…..

But, now get this! The police already investigated and determined it was a squabble between CHILDREN!

Continue reading:

Baltimore County police have determined that a dispute between children led to an offensive note left on at the apartment of a Muslim family.

[….]

Officers were able to identify a 14-year-old girl, whose family lives in the same building, as the person who wrote the note. When officers met with the girl and her parents, she stated that she wrote the note because two of the children in the family had “cursed at her and made offensive gestures.”

Officers explained to the girl and the family the seriousness of what she had done. The girl’s parents were cooperative and assured officers that they would handle the matter at home.

The investigation indicated that while the note was offensive, that no crime had happened.

“This is nothing that happened as a result of an organized hate group this was a dispute between two children,” Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost.

So if you stopped reading at paragraph ten, you would never know this!
By the way, Dundalk is a poor suburb of Baltimore and it is no surprise that resettlement contractors likely placed the Iraqi family here.
For more on Zainab Choudry, I wrote about her here in 2013 at Potomac Tea Party Report.

Maryland Gov. Hogan says he is not voting for Trump; more refugees entering MD than during Dems control

Maryland Republicans were beside themselves with joy that in a blue, blue state they succeeded in electing a Republican governor in the fall of 2014.
The bloom is now off the rose as Governor Larry Hogan says point blank he will not vote for Donald Trump and doesn’t agree with most of what Trump says.  (By the way, Hogan owes some of his electoral success to help from NJ Governor Chris Christie an up front supporter of Trump, so who knows what is going on there!).

Larry Hogan
Looks like Hogan was all talk when he said he didn’t want Syrian refugees resettled in Maryland.

By saying what he did, he has now, for all intents and purposes, thumbed his nose at 248,000 Marylander Republicans who voted for Trump in the primary. See Blue Ridge Forum here (248,000 orphaned GOPers).
I don’t want to get too deep into the weeds of Maryland Republican politics, but long-time Republican observer and former staffer for Congressman Roscoe Bartlett said this (below) on her facebook page.
This would have been an excellent way for the Governor to respond to demands that he tell Marylanders where he stands in this fall’s election. My prediction is that Hogan has just guaranteed that he will be a one-termer.
Keep in mind that the man who wants the governor’s mansion two years from now is Congressman John Delaney, an uber-wealthy Democrat who is apparently already bored with Congress and has been hounding the Governor to say if he supports Trump. (Delaney wins this round!).
Here is the sensible thing Hogan should have said. Maybe it’s just as well he wasn’t smart enough to give a nuanced answer.
Sallie Taylor on facebook:

SCREAM! How hard would it be for Hogan to reply “I am certainly not going to be voting for the former Secretary of State who put all our safety at risk by setting up her own unsecured email system, who failed to protect her own people in Benghazi , who appears to have been selling government favors for contributions to the Clinton Foundation.” And then Hogan just needs to walk away. Unless he is joining O’Malley and is supporting Hillary Clinton for President then how he is answering makes perfect sense.

Enough of that…..
Since this is a blog about refugees, I decided to see how the numbers are looking during Governor Hogan’s Administration. Remember he was one of the 30 or so governors who declared that Obama shouldn’t resettle un-vetted Syrians in the state and then he went silent.
Maryland doesn’t get a huge number of refugees compared to states like Texas or Michigan, but a steady stream does arrive.

However, much to our surprise more entered in the year after Hogan was elected than in any one of Martin O’Malley’s years.

Editor: It is a good thing we checked these numbers yesterday because today that important data base maintained by the US State Dept. is not available.  We hope this is a temporary problem, but if by Monday it isn’t up and running, then we know the Obama Administration is blatantly blocking the public’s right to know who has been seeded into their towns. 

Yesterday I went back ten years in the data and found that in 2005, Maryland resettled 751 refugees with a gradual increase each year until 2015 when the number jumped to 1,453 (under the Hogan Admin).  In those last ten plus years, Maryland ‘welcomed’ 12,112 refugees.
In 2016, the state has, as of June 15th, received 137 Syrians  (35 in 2015 and 93 so far this year).  The Syrians were distributed to Baltimore, Ellicott City, Riverdale, and Silver Spring.
MD resettled Muslim refugees from Iraq, Burma, Afghanistan and Somalia among many others from around the world.
Here are the towns and cities where refugees were resettled this year (some got only a handful, others got large numbers with Baltimore and Silver Spring being the top destinations).

Arbutus

Baltimore

Catonsville

College Park

Dundalk

Ellicott City

Elkridge

Gaithersburg

Halethorpe

Middle River

Nottingham

Riverdale

Rockville

Silver Spring

Looking for fresh territory! Hagerstown?

Rest assured, the contractors are out scouting new sites in Maryland and may have their eyes on Hagerstown (again).
Back in April (when we were away for a few days) the Hagerstown Herald Mail reported that the local “interfaith” group invited Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (one of nine major resettlement contractors headquartered in Baltimore) to come and discuss bringing Syrians to Hagerstown.  See here.
Watch for it!  And, know that they don’t technically have to have an office in Hagerstown (as Virginia Council of Churches did in 2007 before the program was closed) because they can resettle within a hundred mile radius of an existing office.
See our archives on Baltimore refugees by clicking here.  Could the stress from forced multiculturalism be an important factor in why Baltimore is now a city out of control?

Maryland Senators want more Syrians resettled in the state; seek to streamline security screening

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.: Let's spend more taxpayer dollars to bring in more Syrians more quickly
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.: Let’s spend more taxpayer dollars to bring in more Syrians more quickly!

We are always reporting on other states, but we mustn’t forget our home state of Maryland!  Although, as Maryland readers will attest, this is not exactly earth-shattering news!
Here the Baltimore Sun reports on efforts by Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski to obtain more funding to speed up the resettlement of mostly Muslim Syrians to the US and to Maryland.
And, although it is at the end, Sun reporter, Ian Duncan, does tell us that the Sessions’ hearing last week revealed that thorough security screening of Syrians is virtually impossible.

Maryland’s senators are seeking ways the U.S. government can do more to aid Syrian refugees, joining other officials in the search for a balance between the humanitarian urge to help those who are suffering and the security concerns of admitting masses of people to the United States from a region that has been cracked apart by terrorism.

Sen. Ben Cardin called this week for more funding to process refugee applications, and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has asked homeland security officials how better technology could speed the vetting process.

[….]

About 7,000 refugees from around the world were resettled in Maryland from October 2008 through September 2013, according to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. The Baltimore office of the nonprofit International Rescue Committee had found homes for 26 Syrians this year through mid-September.

Cardin urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to boost funding for the agencies involved.

“We must support funding to significantly increase the number of refugees screened and admitted into the United States,” Cardin and other Democrats wrote in a letter to the panel’s leaders.

Although it is at the very end of his story, the reporter does mention the important hearing held by Senator Jeff Sessions last week.

The process is also colored by concerns that the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria could try to sneak operatives posing as refugees into the United States.

At a recent hearing, Sen. Jeff Sessions questioned whether immigration officials know enough about individual candidates to determine who might pose a national security risk.

“We have little or no information about who the people are, no background information, no ability to determine whether they are radicalized now or might become radicalized after their arrival in the United States,” the Alabama Republican said.

More here.
Adding Muslim diversity to Baltimore!
Be sure to check out some recent posts on refugee resettlement to Baltimore here and here.  An Islamic charity affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood is ‘helping’ refugees resettle in Maryland.  I wonder if they assist ol’ Ben and Babs with a little campaign help as well, just as CAIR is doing in CT, here, for another Democrat Senator.
Where is Governor Hogan on all of this? Does anyone know?

Maryland Governor O’Malley calls UACs “refugees,” doesn’t know what he is talking about

I’m reporting on what an uninformed governor says only because this governor wants to follow Obama to the White House.  So, all readers across the US, keep track of Martin O’Malley’s positions—he is a leader in the Democrat Party for Open Borders (no borders!) and has facilitated the growth (with tax dollars) of the notorious CASA de Maryland.

O’Malley (left) hoping to be the next O-man in the White House. Rumors abound that Obama doesn’t like O’Malley, but his policies will be the same as Obama’s.

Here is what he said to a Hispanic advocacy group in Washington on Thursday about the Unaccompanied Alien Children.

Maryland has received the largest number per capita of any state we are told.

From Southern Maryland Online:

WASHINGTON (Sept. 11, 2014) — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, in his keynote address to the Hispanic National Bar Association’s annual conference Thursday morning, called on the association’s members to help in his state’s efforts to provide pro bono representation for the large numbers of unaccompanied minors who’ve crossed the U.S. border this year to escape violence in Central America.

“When unaccompanied children fleeing violence in Central America arrive at our doorstep, it is not only for their good, but for our good and the good of the nation that our children will share with them that our nation should act hospitably and revere the human dignity and the courage that those children have possessed,” he told a crowded ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington.

O’Malley, who is considering a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, came under fire earlier this year when he openly criticized President Barack Obama’s plan to deport many of the children back to the countries from which they fled.

“We are Americans, and we do not return refugee kids who find themselves on our doorstep back into war-torn or famine-racked places where they will face certain death,” O’Malley told reporters in mid-July. “I think we have to act like Americans.”

Since then, Maryland has accepted 2,804 children, according to the latest figures from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the largest number of refugees per capita of any state in the country. Each is currently living with family or friends while awaiting deportation hearings.

Nebraska pro-immigration lawyer explains why the “children” are not refugees.

Coincidentally I came across this news item at the same time as the O’Malley disingenuous comment where a pro-immigration lawyer tells the public why the children are not “refugees.” Yet anyway!

Unaccompanied minors from Central Nebraska cannot be granted refugee status because people are classified as being refugees before ever arriving in the United States, Maynes said. That is why Sudanese and Somali immigrants – who actually lived in refugee camps – are legally considered refugees.

She said the question for unaccompanied minors is whether they can be classified as seeking asylum, a designation given to immigrants after they arrive in the U.S. Although in different categories, refugees and asylees must meet at least one of the same criteria to receive those legal designations under U.S. immigration law.

Both refugees and asylees must have a “well-founded fear of persecution” because of their political opinions, religion, nationality, race or for being a member of a protected social group, Maynes said. She said some immigration lawyers are arguing that unaccompanied minors should be part of a protected social group because as children, they are vulnerable to the predations of Central American gangs.

Of course the important point is that the Open Borders advocates and lawyers are working toward turning the “children” into legitimate asylum seekers by stretching the definition of “refugee” and thereby making anyone in the world, claiming to be escaping crime, eligible for entry into America.

Go here for all of our coverage of the ‘unaccompanied minors.’

Baltimore: “Sponsor” allegedly sexually abused ‘unaccompanied child’

You know this is just the beginning!

Tennessee state police photo. Would you turn a 16-year-old girl over to this guy? The feds did! http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-08-04/news/bs-md-co-minor-smuggle-charge-20140804_1_court-documents-honduras-teenage-girl

A 42-year-old illegal alien promised the Office of Refugee Resettlement (in Health and Human Services) that he would provide a separate bedroom for a 16-year old girl not related to him—AND THEY BELIEVED HIM!

These people live in la-la land and surely we will see many more such cases of abuse as the Obama border surge continues.

From the Daily Caller (emphasis is mine):

A 42-year-old illegal immigrant from Honduras who was awarded custody of an unrelated 16-year-old Honduran girl has been accused of sexual abuse and of smuggling her into the U.S.

Pedro Lara Portillo is charged with alien smuggling and encouraging an alien to illegally enter the country, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Lara, who told authorities he has been in the U.S. illegally for seven years, also lied to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement when he said that he and the girl would have separate rooms while she lived with him, according to federal court documents.

The girl came to the U.S. in late March and spent a month in the custody of HHS, which turned her over to Lara’s care.

The agency is in charge of finding housing for the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children apprehended at the U.S. border while they await deportation proceedings to commence.

The girl told Baltimore County police in early June that she had been smuggled into the country, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Lara and the girl’s mother coordinated the plan to smuggle her from Honduras through Mexico, and the teen eventually entered the U.S. through Texas.

“Lara admitted in sum and substance that he wired money to Mexico for the purpose of having [the girl] smuggled to the United States,” Department of Homeland Security special agent Edward J. Kelly wrote in the charging documents.

According to the federal documents, Lara and the girl did not have separate rooms, contrary to assurances he made in the custody arrangement with HHS.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately arrest Lara after they interviewed him, though he was eventually apprehended in Tennessee.

There is more, keep reading.

All of our coverage of the ‘unaccompanied minors’ border surge may be found by clicking here.