Month: November 2007

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.

Iraqi refugee bill on the move in conference committee

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just two hours ago the UN Observer reported that the  ‘Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act’ which was attached to the Defense Authorization bill at the end of September is now in conference committee.  You can read about it in this news report from EPIC (Education for Peace in Iraq Center).    EPIC joined some of the volags, who coincidentally will receive federal funding to resettle the refugees, in lobbying for this measure.

All last week, EPIC and our colleagues from Amnesty International, Human Rights First, Church World Service, and International Rescue Committee (IRC) met with House lawmakers to urge them to support these important Senate provisions on protecting Iraqi refugees, and suggested ways to strengthen the language to go even further.

We have covered Iraqi refugees extensively and we encourage readers to review our coverage here.  As we have mentioned previously, the US State Department already has the authority to admit Iraqi refugees.  If you notice the groups involved in the drumbeating have opposed the war and by making a big issue of the refugee situation, they get in their licks against the Bush Administration.

US says Bhutanese are “intimidated”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I really don’t get it.  Why are we insisting that 60,000 low-skilled people with limited educations come to America from refugee camps in Nepal?    US officials are charging that prospective immigrants are being intimidated by leaders of the camps who want to keep them there presumably to keep up the political pressure on Bhutan and Nepal to accept the return of their native people.  That sounds sensible to me.  All over the world people are returning home after years of exile.  Just the other day we reported that Afghan refugees are heading home.

Why do we feel the need to shift people around the world, to scatter them to the four winds?  Why can’t we do more to pressure the governments there to repatriate their people?   Do we think our culture is superior to theirs and we need to introduce them to the joys of fast food and TV smut?   Or, is this about jobs Americans won’t do?  Or, about keeping the volags in the resettlement business?

Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal are facing “severe intimidation” ever since plans to resettle them in the West were announced, a senior US official says.

I very much would like someone to explain to me the logic of pressuring people to accept resettlement.

Bhutanese refugees headed our way

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Traveling in Asia in the last week, Asst. Sec. of State Ellen Sauerbrey announced that Bhutanese refugees living in United Nations camps in Nepal would soon be resettled in western countries.   The United States will take the largest number—60,000.    The Nepali-speaking Bhutanese were, according to various reports, driven from their homes by “racist” persecution (not by war).

The process for large scale third country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal has begun with the mass information campaign in all the camps, UNHCR today said.

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The campaign is aimed at assisting the refugees to make an informed decision by providing them with accurate information, the UN refugee agency said.

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This follows the decision of the Nepal government to allow those refugees who wish to opt for third country resettlement as an alternative solution to do so on the basis of an informed choice and acceptance by the resettlement country.

We reported way back in July that many of those living in camps did not want to leave, holding onto hope that  they would be allowed to return someday to a country known as the “last Shangri-La”.   The mostly Hindu refugees may be in for a real shock when they are resettled in crime-ridden neighborhoods in America.

I guess the United Nations will convince them that working the 12- hour shift at meat-packing plants or mattress factories dispersed throughout America will be better than the wish of many to stay together in Nepal and wait for the easterly wind to bring the smell of their soil.

The first of thousands are expected to arrive here in January 2008.

Ft. Wayne, IN stretched to the max, no sympathy here

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum, here we go again.  Fort Wayne, Indiana facing an overload of refugees.   Apparently Allen County has been there, done that before.  Does anyone care?   Schools are overcrowded and a health crisis looms.    But, like so many outside the Washington Beltway they seem to be like sheep, whatever Washington wants, Washington gets?

Allen County may receive up to 800 refugees next year, more than four times the usual number. This year has also seen a dramatic increase with more than 700 refugees.

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Estimated at more than 3,000, Fort Wayne’s Burmese population is already one of the largest in the United States.

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The majority of the incoming refugees are family reunification cases. Catholic Charities, as one of the many organizations nationwide used by the federal government to aid in resettlement, can’t turn any refugees away.

Catholic Charities can’t turn refugees away because they have a federal contract to resettle them somewhere.  But, the citizens of Ft. Wayne and Allen County can insist that the federal government cover the costs of the refugees’ schooling, welfare and health care.   These costs of a federal program should not be borne by the local community.   Or, Ft. Wayne could join other cities and just say NO! 

Oh, and speaking of health care, Allen County is still boo-hooing over the health problems they face.   We heard about this back in September, but it would appear that no one has bothered to complain to their federal elected officials.

About half the refugees are infected with latent tuberculosis, and treating the infection has strained the health department’s resources.

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But it must be done: About 10 percent of people carrying the non-contagious infection develop active, contagious tuberculosis if they are not treated with antibiotics, McMahan said.

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About 10 percent of the refugees also have chronic active hepatitis B, she said.

One more thing, Ft. Wayne, if you continue to jump when Washington tells you, you might want to at least insist that Catholic Charities does its job and finds enough volunteers to care for the refugees’ needs.