Day: March 12, 2008

House Committee hearing held to smack around the Bush Administration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So what else is new!   The House Foreign Affairs Committee titled its hearing on Iraqi refugees,  “Neglected responsibilities, blah, blah, blah.”   No not really, but it was all about neglect according to this account put out by Talk Radio News Service.  The hearing focused on the refugee industry mantra about how Pres. Bush is not doing enough for Iraqi displaced persons.   Not a word seems to have been mentioned that our aid to Iraqi refugees increased from $45 million in 2006 to $200 million proposed for 2008.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) challenged the Chairman with this comment:

……it is not the job of the United States to subsidize refugees in Jordan or anywhere else, if they are able to go home. We should do our best, he said, in our ability to help assist them in Iraq.

Then Congressman William Delahunt  (D-MA) came back with this:

They cannot go home, he said, or they’d be killed. Our response should also work to prevent further erosion of how we are viewed in the Middle East. If we are concerned about terrorism, he said, it’s in our national interest to “step up.” If the vast numbers of refugees are not treated with respect, it will be the new “breeding ground” for terrorists.

Anyone out there in Mr. Delahunt’s district who could give him some basic education on Islam and on why the terrorists are terrorists.  Oh, and be sure to tell him that compassionate Sweden is sending Iraqis home.

Hire a refugee says State of Utah

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Utah Department of Workforce Services conducted a seminar yesterday to promote refugee employment in the state.   The Salt Lake City meeting drew prospective employers, refugee resettlement workers and immigration lawyers (of course). 

One discussion made mention of the fact that some earlier refugees, especially those from European countries knew the basics of employment, but more recent waves of immigrants find work challenging because it was not something they did while living in camps.   

They were not afforded education,” Nakamura said. “They were not afforded well-skilled jobs. … We’re talking about people who are illiterate in their own language.”

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Smith, of Air Terminal Gifts, agrees. She said that during the 1990s she hired people from the former Yugoslavia who had attended school and worked jobs that required them to be on time and perform tasks efficiently. More recent waves of refugees can be difficult to train.

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“You’re honestly trying to teach them from scratch,” she said. “You’re teaching them the basics.”

An immigration lawyer then gave this veiled warning, presumably suggesting his folks would be keeping an eye on things.

Roger Tsai, an immigration attorney for local firm Parsons Behle & Latimer, reminded employers that they cannot discriminate against refugees, because the refugees are protected by the Civil Rights Act.

And then there was one lonely commenter to the article (identified only as KM) trying to clarify a point.   His comment kind of summed things up.

Acutally when refugees arrive in the county they are immediately eligible to work for an indefinite amount of time, not just 90 days upon arrival. This is very important for employers to understand, as there are a lot of misunderstandings of what rights refugees have. They have all rights that American citizens have other than voting.

After reading the article in the Desseret Morning News, I wondered if the prospect of hiring refugees had appealed to anyone present.

Here’s a question I’ve raised before:  what happens if the economy goes very sour, who will be employing refugees when English speaking American citizens will need jobs?    One thing for sure, by importing poverty, the Democratic party will always have the poverty issue to beat us around the head with.

US is screening Muslim immigrants with some rigor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

YES!   That is exactly what many of us were hoping for!   Here’s how an article published at The Chicago Tribune—an article that originated last week at the McClatchy Newspapers—begins (Hat tip:  Brian at Us or Them blog):

 WASHINGTON – In the six and a half years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, federal law-enforcement agencies have secretly established profiling techniques to screen immigrants based on their nationalities, protocols that critics charge encourage the unjustified targeting of Muslims.

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The profiling, described in a February 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by McClatchy Newspapers, shows that the government has relied more heavily on nationality as an indicator of security risks than was previously known.

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Federal agencies have created internal lists of countries that are of “special interest” for national security reasons, wrote the memo’s author, Ted Stark, supervisory special agent with the Office of Intelligence at ICE.

Please read Hugh Fitzgerald’s excellent take on this over at Dhimmi Watch.

Infidel Bloggers Alliance suggests we cut the flow of Albanians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In the wake of the Kosovo catastrophe of a few weeks ago, the Infidel Bloggers Alliance commented last Sunday on an article in America’s Daily entitled “Islamization of Europe takes a new turn.”  The article is one more in a stream of articles suggesting that due to Albanian history, creating a Muslim state in the middle of Europe is a problem.    Infidel Bloggers Alliance says of the article:

…… [it] fills in the knowledge gaps we may have and puts into perspective the danger of allowing Albanians into Europe or indeed the USA – where there are significant numbers.

Albanians are already here.  We brought in nearly 4000 through the Refugee Resettlement program alone in the last few years.   We’ve written about Albanians on a couple of other occasions here.  Thanks to Always on Watch for bringing this to our attention.