Month: August 2008

Iraqi translators feel they are dumped upon, others are missing?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

IRAQI interpreters given asylum in Australia after working alongside Australian troops during the occupation of their country say they feel short-changed by the Federal Government since arriving in Australia two months ago. 

Gee where have I heard this before, oh yeah, yesterday in Baltimore.  The Age from Melbourne Australia joins the Baltimore Sun in whacking the stingy, bad, pro-war West and our allies and goes on:

The interpreters, who faced persecution in Iraq and were branded traitors by many of their countrymen, feel they have been dumped in Australia with little help or prospect of work.

They say they were promised jobs, immediate health care and moderately priced housing.

However, most have been told since arriving that they will need to retrain to work in their existing professions. Some, with family health issues, have been placed on public hospital waiting lists, and those who have been housed are paying almost half their Centrelink payments in rent. Many say they have had to scrounge for furniture and clothes from church and charity groups. Several families are still living in motels.

I don’t know if NGOs (non-government organizations) are responsible for resettling refugees in Australia as they are here, so I have no clue if this is the same story there as in Baltimore.   However, we have written so much about conditions refugees face that I wonder how all these Iraqis are getting some idea of ‘shangri-la’ in the West.   We have reported innumerable times that Iraqi refugees, even well-educated ones, are doing menial labor when they get to the US.  And, we have reported that the Iraqi government wants its well-trained people to return to rebuild Iraq.

According to this article, some may already be returning (or are they?):

A small number of the Iraqis, many of whom are trained teachers and university educated, became so disillusioned that they are believed to have returned to Iraq at their own expense. Others say they plan to follow, putting themselves at great risk from vengeful militia, according to their colleagues.

“…they are believed to have returned to Iraq.”   You mean the Australian government DOESN’T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!

I am sure there are decent deserving interpretors and other Iraqis who will make a better life for themselves in the West.  But, I will remind readers that when translators went to Denmark, some were found to be spies for insurgents, see Judy’s post here.  And then there is the story that no one discusses about how 365 suspected terrorists were weeded out of the Iraqi refugee program in recent months by Homeland Security.

I don’t know if some of those 365 were translators but it doesn’t take a genius to see that insurgents and other terrorists would be sure to plant their best and brightest in the interpreter profession.

Learn everything (and more then you ever wanted to) about the Iraqi refugee issue by going to our category entitled Iraqi refugees here.

Lutheran Immigration agency dropping the ball in Baltimore

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is an article from Baltimore, MD about an Iraqi translator who lost his legs when an IED exploded near his American convoy.   Now he is in Maryland, a resettled refugee, and none too happy about his treatment.  

Ahmed’s rough landing is hardly unique for Iraqi translators who helped the U.S. From Seattle to Phoenix to Denver, his complaints are echoed by other wounded Iraqi interpreters now trickling into the country as part of a government push to admit thousands of Iraqis.

Miserly federal support and the strain on strapped nonprofit refugee agencies have soured many maimed translators, who say they’re not getting help commensurate with their service to the U.S. in Iraq.

This line of reporting caused some readers to lash out at Ahmed for what they see as a lack of gratitude on his part that he has been given a new life in America (be sure to read the comments).

Clearly the reporter wants you to come away with the idea that the stingy federal government is to blame for all this, so it is the last comment that is the most important.  Oh yeah, the federal government (read, US State Department) is to blame but not in the way you think.   According to Chris Coen of Friends of Refugees there is money flowing to the volags like Lutheran Social Services in this case, but is anyone making sure they fulfill their obligations as government contractors?

Here is what Chris Coen told readers of the Baltimore Sun today:

This article says that American soldiers are buying basic necessities for Saad Ahmed with their own money, e.g. dishes and a lamp. Readers should know that the State Department contract that LSS signs in order to receive government funding actually REQUIRES them to provide basic necessities, including dishes and lamps. Why do the soldiers have to waste their money on these things when they could instead be helping Saad with other needs?

The article says that Saad sleeps on a mattress in the living room. An LSS employee said it is not always possible to find both a frame and a mattress for each refugee. This is an amazing statement. LSS’s government refugee contract, again, REQUIRES them to provide a frame and a mattress for each refugee as a minimum requirement. It’s indicated that the apartment that the Washington-area Lutheran Social Services (LSS) put Saad in is ill-suited for a wheelchair. Again, their government contracts supposedly REQUIRE them to provide disabled refugees with housing that accommodates known disabilities. LSS was said to have made an “offer” of job-seeking assistance. Yet, they are REQUIRED to provide this assistance, not simply make an offer. Saad’s LSS caseworker should have brought him some job applications by now, and/or taken Saad to places of employment to fill out applications and do interviews.

The article also mentions “miserly federal support”. Yet, refugee resettlement agencies do not rely solely on the $425 per refugee they receive from the State Department refugee resettlement program. They can also receive such government grants as refugee micro-loans program, Employment Services (lasts up to 5 years), Employment Assessment Services and On-The-Job Training, English Language Instruction, Vocational Training, Skills Certification, Day Care, Transportation, Case Management Translation/Interpreter Services, Assistance in Obtaining Employment Authorization Documents, professional refresher training and other recertification services, ownership society grants, marriage initiative grants, faith-based organization grants, community-based grants, individual development account grants, etc. By the way, the refugee program is supposed to be a “public/private partnership”. How many dollars does LSS contribute for each public dollar they consume? Refugee resettlement is supposed to be heavily financed by these “charity” organizations, such as LSS, and not rely mainly on government handouts. These handouts can be substantial.

The failure of LSS to provide these minimal household items and services is not at all unique. Our group has found these failures at refugee resettlement agencies all over the country. Until the State Department decides to start enforcing the fairly minimal “minimum requirements” of its contracts, these problems will continue.

Christopher Coen
Friends of Refugees
FORefugees@hotmail.com

We are very grateful to Chris Coen for his enormous knowledge about the inner workings of this complex federal contracting program.    As we have said on previous occasions, we can debate all day about how many refugees come to the US and from where, but when they get here and want to assimilate and become Americans then those paid to care for them better darn well do their jobs.

Renewed interest in Tyson’s (failed) Somali experiment in Emporia, KS

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In the wake of the news from Shelbyville, TN last week about Tyson’s Food scrapping the Labor Day holiday in favor of a Muslim holiday, we have had a flood of visitors to RRW and many are interested in what happened in Emporia, KS.  

Reader Robert sent us this post from a blog called “Maggie’s Notebook” which begins: 

Tyson Foods’ blatant disregard for the institutions of America is worse than we thought – and it stretches outside just the Shelbyville, TN plant.

Here’s how the Topeka Capital-Journal under the heading “Somalis arrive in Emporia with tuberculosis” describes the “exotic, new arrivals:”

Yes, Maggie, it was definitely a critical point in the controversy in that city.  Here is our post on the TB death at Tyson’s.

For the ambitious reader we have referred to Emporia, KS in 34 posts and you can review those here.  At one point the citizens were so upset by the influx of Somalis that a public meeting was called to air grievances (that was in November).  The bottomline is that Tyson’s closed (well, nearly closed) it’s Emporia meat packing plant in January of this year and moved the Somalis out.

I’ve been hearing suggestions that Shelbyville is due for a public meeting.  We had one in Hagerstown, near where we live, last September (see VDARE on our meeting here).  I’m all for putting all the information out to the public and letting the citizens of a community hear all the facts and have some say in the sort of community they want.   The federal government working with businesses like Tyson’s Food shouldn’t be able to dictate the character of a city or town.

Refugee news from around the globe

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is so much happening and so little time to comment, so to be sure you aren’t missing refugee and immigrant news from around the world, here are a few nuggets:

Italy declared emergency over illegal immigrants arriving in boats and a few days later 800 more came ashore from Africa.

Some 800 immigrants arrived in Southern Italy on Thursday (31 July), just a few days after the country declared a national state of emergency over what it describes as the “exceptional and persistent influx” of irregular immigrants.

Rohingya Muslim refugees go to New Zealand.  To see why this could be a problem for New Zealand, see our category Rohingya Reports here.

New Zealand has already welcomed the Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh. The first batch of 23 Refugee were resettled on 28th June 2008 that included the members of the Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma.

Japan may soon take refugees.   Heretofore Japan has avoided taking refugees but now is working with the UN to start opening its doors.

Critics say Japan is a generous supporter of refugee programs overseas but shuts the door when people seek asylum in its own shores.

North Korean refugee coming to US from Russia.

He is the first North Korean defector to find asylum in the U.S. from Russia, which has refused to recognize North Korean defectors as refugees and approve their seeking of asylum to the U.S. for fear of harming diplomatic ties with the North.

South Africa, the rainbow nation, has a large and growing group of impoverished people—white people!   Will South African whites be considered for refugee resettlement some day?

It is not politically correct to talk about white, poor people,” said Dirk Hermann, a senior Solidarity official. “They are the nation’s forgotten people. Zuma’s been surprised by the level of poverty among the white population which is not talked about. They have been poorly served by the government.

Update on Law lifting ban to allow HIV-positive immigrants to enter US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We reported to you not long ago that Congress had approved a measure, and I gather the President has signed it, to lift the ban on HIV-positive immigrants to the US.   The ban had been in place since the 1980’s.

Now comes a group called “Immigration Equality” that describes itself as follows:

Immigration Equality is a national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals. Founded in 1994 as the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, we have grown to a membership of 10,000 people in cities all over the country. We are run by a Board of Directors and have full-time staff in our National Headquarters in New York. Immigration Equality is funded by donations from our members as well as generous support from private foundations.

Immigration Equality helps Gays and Lesbians seek asylum in the US.  Here is a portion of their website dealing with asylum.   I guess their work must be stepped up in recent times as the internet is full of photos of gay men being hanged in Islamic countries like Iran.

Anyway here is what they are telling their members what the next step is to make sure the ban removal is fully implemented.

When the President signs the Pepfar bill (which could be as early as this Wednesday) the statutory HIV ban will be removed. That is, the HIV ban will no longer be written into the Immigration and Nationality Act which is extraordinarily good news. This is just the first step though, in a two step process. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has the authority to decide which illnesses constitute “communicable diseases of public health significance.” Currently, HIV is on this list, meaning that the HIV ban will not immediately be lifted with the passage of Pepfar. So, what happens next?.

We must now set our sights on HHS. and urge them to strike HIV from its list. Immigration Equality is working in coalition with other organizations now to determine the best way to approach HHS. In order for the ban to be fully repealed, HHS will have to issue proposed regulations, allow for public comments, and then issue final regulations. This could be a lengthy (and contentious) process.

Refugees have already been admitted to the US with HIV/AIDS, a reader had previously told us how that has come about here.

By the way,  did I mention that the taxpayer will be paying for the treatment of these new immigrants, as we already pay for refugees HIV medicine.