Month: September 2007

Good overall look at immigration and its impact on America

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

 Your tax dollars:

Someone just brought to my attention an excellent report by Steven Camarata at the Center for Immigration Studies entitled “Immigrants at Mid-Decade.”  It includes some useful statistics on refugees too.   But, if you had been wondering why in recent years it seems that immigrant numbers have increased dramatically, well its because they have.   Here is just a part of Camarata’s conclusion:

The latest data collected by the Census Bureau show that the years 2000 to 2005 are almost certainly the highest five years of immigration in American history. Immigration continues to be the subject of intense national debate. The 1.5 million immigrants arriving each year have a very significant effect on many areas of American life. Immigrants and their young children (under 18) now account for one-fifth of school age population, one-fourth of those in poverty, and nearly one-third of those without health insurance, creating enormous challenges for the nation’s schools, health care system, and physical infrastructure. The low educational attainment of many immigrants, 31 percent of whom have not completed high school, is the primary reason so many live in poverty, use welfare programs, or lack health insurance, not their legal status or an unwillingness to work.

More on Female Genital Mutilation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a little bit of information to follow up on Judy’s post yesterday about Female Genital Mutilation.  This is from the Center for Immigration Studies report we cited a few days ago.  FMG could be happening here already.  This conversation  took place among the non-profit “church” groups and other agencies involved in resettling refugees.

…… we are told that CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) can be used to educate refugees about the dangers of female genital mutilation (FGM), though there was disagreement as to how to do this in a “culturally appropriate” manner. CDC (Center for Disease Control) recently estimated that more than 150,000 women and girls in the United States may be at risk for or have already been subjected to the operation. Conferees confirmed a back alley practice in the operation, which leads one to wonder just how safe America is for women fleeing FGM in their home countries.

What is a “culturally appropriate” manner?   You just tell anyone coming to America that there is no tolerance here for any abuse of women and children.  You tell them they must leave their brutal practices behind.   You tell them they will go to jail for a very long time, or you tell them they will be deported.   How is that for “culturally appropriate?”   

Just a little problem in faraway Bosnia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday’s Washington Post headline, “In Bosnia, former Fighters Face Expulsion” got my attention.   It seems that the Bosnian government has now figured out that some of the foreign fighters who came to fight in Bill Clinton’s Bosnian war may pose some problems afterall.   Years after many married local women and produced large families, some of those Muslim fighters are being considered for deportation.  Possible links to al-Qaeda are to blame.

Foreign security agencies have long warned that Bosnia, which has struggled to stamp out lawlessness in the postwar period, is fertile ground for terrorist groups seeking a foothold in Europe and trying to recruit so-called white Muslims, non-Arabs who can more easily evade security profiling.

Who knows if they have links to the worldwide terror network, but they sound like charming fellows:

Both denied that they or any foreign fighters in Bosnia have a link to terrorism. But they warned that by separating them from their families, Bosnian authorities are creating a threat of extremism that otherwise would not exist…..  “The government will regret this, and they will pay.”

O.K. so what does this have to do with us?   The largest group of Muslims we ever brought to the US are Bosnians.  From 1990 to 2003 we resettled 103,107 Bosnians.  Any chance a foreign fighter or two slipped in?

Good for Daily Kos and us

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can’t believe I would be happy with anything I read at Daily Kos, the left wing blog that recently made the news by inviting Democratic candidates to their annual meeting (most accepted the invite).  But, today they reported that the Federal Election Commission(FEC) has deemed them a media entity and that is good for them and good for us. 

Here is what the FEC said:

DailyKos is available to the general public and is the online equivalent of a newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication as described in the Act and Commission regulations.

Go here to read the rest.   Where do I pick up my White House press pass?

Immigrants sending a fortune out of the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

Every time you turn around there is some new angle on this issue of immigrants, refugees and mass migration.  This time its Remittances—the money immigrants send home and out of the US economy.    According to this article in the Washington Times yesterday, we really did not have a handle on how large a problem this was until after 9/11 when we began tracking terrorist financing.

The US lost a staggering $41 billion in 2005 alone ($22 billion went to Mexico), and according to this article much of it untaxed.  I guess it’s no surprise that the US has the largest outflow of money in the world. 

The article also touches on the concern many  leaders of the world’s less well-off countries have and that is the brain drain issue.  Actually this is something I’ve been wondering about—if everyone wants to live in the US, how will other countries ever improve the condition of their people?   And, if they improve largely because of remittances from the US, won’t that eventually kill that goose laying the golden eggs?

Globally, remittances — the cash that immigrants send home — totaled nearly $276 billion in 2006, according to the World Bank. Remittances have more than doubled since 2000, and with globalization increasing the number of people on the move, there’s no end in sight.

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Analysts tracking the phenomenon said they have gotten a much clearer picture since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when authorities trying to cut the flow of cash to jihadists began taking a harder look at how immigrants move their money around.

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 Mass migration, they say, has spawned an underground economy of staggering proportions.  

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There are other downsides: fears of brain drains and a vast permanent army of economic exiles, and the untaxed earnings flowing out of host nations.

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 The U.S. lost $41.1 billion in 2005, according to the World Bank…

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Mexicans wire home the most cash — nearly $22 billion — most of it earned in the U.S.

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Much of the world’s migration is illegal, and although many immigrants work at menial jobs, some are doctors, engineers and other professionals. Their departure can mean a brain drain of highly trained personnel and create an immigration culture.