Day: November 8, 2007

Syria has opened door to US Homeland Security

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

AP is reporting this afternoon that Syria will give visas to officials from US Homeland Security in order to screen some of the 12,000 Iraqi refugees the UN has selected for resettlement to America this fiscal year.

Syria has agreed to allow U.S. interviewers into the country to screen Iraqi refugees for admission to the United States, clearing a major obstacle to the Bush administration’s resettlement program.

See our previous posts here and here on who the Iraqis are in Syria.  And, our post on the UN’s role in selecting refugees in Jordan.

Atlas Shrugs posts on Somali refugee problem

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The well-known Atlas Shrugs blog, reporting yesterday on a piece by Jerry Gordon of the ACT [American Congress for Truth] blog on the Somali refugee problem brewing in Emporia, Kansas, asked the questions we have been asking (and trying to answer for you!): 

My question is how did we become centers for immigration without any input from the community or public notification? And how do we take political action on this?”

We are glad to see that others in the country are raising red flags about large numbers of refugees entering the US and not assimiliating, but expecting us to change how we live to accomodate their religion and culture.  And, adding insult to injury, the whole process is funded by you, the taxpayer.

See our Diversity page linked above for articles that further articulate this problem.

As for Atlas’ question, how do we take political action on this?   The first step is what Atlas has just done and what we are trying to do, educate the public about the problem and then bring out the facts on how refugee resettlement works.   My driving force from our early days in the Hagerstown controversy is to educate the public and to insist that citizens be given all the facts.  The democratic process cannot function, and communities cannot weigh in on this community-altering program unless the people know what this program is and who runs it.   Some cities will want more refugees, others won’t, but everyone is entitled to voice an opinion, which is impossible if the program is kept quiet.