Month: August 2008

Somali accommodation, CAIR and the EEOC

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  See more on the EEOC and more on CAIR here at this excellent article by Jerry Gordon at New English Review.

Kind of funny how things come together.  Twice in the last couple of days the EEOC (Equal Opportunity Employment Commission) has come up in relation to Somalis in the workplace. 

Turns out coincidentally that just last month the EEOC formalized its “EEOC Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination.”   Here is what author Kim Bobo said in an article in which Bobo is critical of  the “anti-Muslim” sentiment in the Tyson’s Labor Day fiasco in Shelbyville, TN:

On July 22, 2008, the EEOC issued an excellent new resource manual, “EEOC Compliance Manual on Religious Discrimination,” to help employers and workers learn more about the issues. The manual contains many useful examples of what is and is not religious discrimination and helps both employers and workers understand what is reasonable accommodation and what are best workplace policies for ensuring compliance with religious discrimination laws. [read the rest here]

Then note that CAIR worked with the EEOC to get the uniform changes for Somalis at Sky Harbor.

After preliminary meetings with CAIR-AZ and the EEOC, the workers were able to come up with a uniform they believe accommodates their religious needs and the legitimate needs of the company. The new uniform includes a black skirt, an apron and an Islamic head scarf, or hijab. Airport officials were shown the new uniform and approved its use. The EEOC subsequently signed off on the uniform change.

“We would like to thank all those whose hard work and cooperation helped resolve this issue in a mutually-agreeable manner,” said CAIR-AZ Office Manager Lisa Gopalan.

She said employers who have questions about how to accommodate Muslim employees may contact the Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group.

This is how accommodation of Islamic practices for the growing number of Muslim immigrants to the US is creeping into our government and our lives.    Looks to me like CAIR lobbyists were all over the EEOC.   You can bet the EEOC wasn’t thinking about fundamentalist Christians who might want to pressure Hooters into a dress code for those Christians wishing to work at that establishment. 

To new readers of Refugee Resettlement Watch, the US State Department has brought over 82,000 Somali refugees to the US in recent years.

Somali women workers at Sky Harbor get to wear special attire

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update August 28th:  See my post today on CAIR and the EEOC here.

Immediate update thanks to Jim:  When you check out the CAIR link below be sure to first read this latest information from the Investigative Project on Terrorism showing how CAIR is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Here is another of those stories about our accommodation of the cultural/religious wishes of immigrants.  Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix has a Muslim cleaning staff and 30 women refused to wear new uniforms.  So, political activists got involved and the company caved.   Or did it?   Could this have been a set-up?

The Muslim women balked at a planned policy change by their employer, GCA Services, (that’s GCA’s logo pictured here), that would have forced them to wear pants and a tucked-in shirt as they did their janitorial duties.

After discussions between GCA managers, aiport officials, the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Somali Association of Arizona, it was agreed the 30 women could wear black skirts and aprons in addition to a white shirt. Their right to wear the Muslim headscarves known as hijabs was never in question, says Hakim Osman of the Somali Association of Arizona.

I would like to know more about GCA Services, does anyone know who owns this company?  Oh, and be sure to read the CAIR link for a laugh!

Here is a previous post about accommodating Somali women in the workplace.

For new readers of RRW, we have resettled over 82,000 Somali refugees to the United States in the last 20 years.

Xenophobia, Xenophobia, Xenophobia! That is all you hear in South Africa

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update from the so-called Rainbow Nation of South Africa.   You know the country that got rid of Apartheid, ushered in a new (Black) government and opened wide its borders.   After poor black South Africans attacked black immigrants in rioting that spread throughout the country last May, everyone is scratching their heads (bottoms too?) and blaming everything on xenophobia (fear and hatred of strangers).

Here is an article from a week or so ago about a conference of “experts” on refugees and immigration that called for NOT tightening South Africa’s borders.

Experts on refugees and resettlement have warned the government against tightening the country’s borders or making immigration policy restrictive, as this will encourage more xenophobic attacks.

Dr Loren Landau, director of the Forced Migration Studies Programme at The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) urged the government to transform its migration policy, warning that “making the policy more restrictive would create the perception that migrants or migration are negative”. 

Landau was addressing a conference on curbing xenophobia in Pretoria on Tuesday.

Then read this sidebar article entitled “Digging up the roots of xenophobia.”    I don’t know why this is so complicated.   There are too many people in Africa, the economy stinks, everyone is worried about feeding themselves and their families, they are going to flood any country that offers asylum and a way out (refugee resettlement), consequently,  the citizens of the invaded country fear for their livelihood so they attack those who they think will take it away from them. 

This is not some psychological malady that can be cured by discussing and trying to exorcise “xenophobia,” or suggesting it’s racism (remember these were black on black riots).    What is happening in South Africa is a straightline progression from opening the borders wide, allowing the poor to flood the country and ultimately sinking the country.   Take heed America.

See our archive of posts on the South African immigration crisis here.

Breaking news: ICE Raid in Mississippi largest in Nation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update August 27th:  Here is a more detailed account of the raid.  I wonder if the illegal Germans are actually Turks or other ethnic minorities?

And, here, thanks again to Blulitespecial, is an article about local (Americans!) arriving at the plant looking for a job!  And, here is yet another about Americans looking for jobs at this plant yesterday.

 Later in the day on the 27th:  See news about the “ripple affect” here.  

And, the first eight illegal aliens went before a judge here.

The eight are facing the federal charges because they are accused of fraudulently using social security numbers, residency documents, and work-related forms. Most of the fraudulent identities were stolen, but at least one person’s identity was a dead person.

More from Blulitespecial:  Tensions between union and immigrants according to AP here.

 

Thanks to Blulitespecial for the tip.  ICE has raided a manufacturing facility in Mississippi and taken into custody 600 suspected illegal aliens. 

Federal officials say nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants were detained in a raid on a manufacturing plant in southern Mississippi, making it the largest such sweep in the country.

Howard Industries of Laurel, MS also employed minors who are now in the hands of the office of Refugee Resettlement according to news reports.

Nine 17-year-olds were transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Why ORR— because it manages the federal Unaccompanied Immigrant and Refugee Minors program here.  That is a program not without controversy of its own.

Citizens of Rome, NY ask, can we afford more refugees?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  I had forgotten all about the Delphi Technique until responding to a commenter at this post.  Go here and see how what happened at the meeting in Rome puts the technique on full display.  Judy posted this in advance of our meeting in Hagerstown, MD last September. 

Usually there isn’t a public meeting to discuss whether a city will take more refugees, the volags just bring them, so this article leads me to believe there must be problems afoot.   Either Rome has too many refugees already or word has come 20 miles up the road from Utica (the city that loves refugees) that everything is not sweetness and light in that city.

Just as in our city of Hagerstown, MD this time last year, the citizens’ main concern is economic, can our city afford it?

While many Rome residents welcomed the dozens of Burmese refugees who will be moving to the city within the next year, other residents expressed concerns Monday about the economic impact of such an influx.

With roughly 250 Burmese refugees expected to arrive in the community the four to five years ahead, Rome Mayor James Brown hosted a town hall meeting to discuss any questions or concerns people might have about their future neighbors.

And the first concern voiced by two city residents involved money.

Expressing what we found a common theme in Hagerstown, one citizen said,

“We can’t afford any more,” Russitano said. Later, he added, “It’s not who they are, it’s not what they are. What we care about is the economics, and economically it’s a challenge.”

It has nothing to do with the Burmese Karen people themselves, and by the way, they are Christians not Muslims.   But, people want to know why we don’t take care of our own impoverished people first. 

Notice when you read the article how the Mayor is promoting more refugees, perhaps he should talk with the Mayor of beleagured Ft. Wayne, IN, or maybe the Allen County Health Department.

And, one final thought, it’s disgusting to parade refugees into a meeting of this sort.  We flat out opposed the idea for the public forum in Hagerstown last September.  It’s embarrassing and demeaning.  Citizens are there for a serious public policy discussion about such things as finances, which could only make those refugees in attendance feel even more unwelcome.