Month: September 2008

HIV epidemic (in the US!) reported among Black immigrants from Africa

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I said earlier today, most of our important stories come to us from our readers and this one is no exception.   You may have heard on the news a few months ago that HIV-AIDS was on the rise in the Black community in the US, but it appears that rise is not among Black Americans but is a result of immigration.  Unfortunately I don’t have time to do it justice but here is how it begins:

There is a “hidden epidemic” of HIV amongst African migrants living in the United States, according to investigators writing in the September 12 edition of AIDS. The researchers found that African-born individuals in the US had a disproportionately high prevalence of HIV – although they comprised only 0.6% of the study population, almost 4% of HIV diagnoses were amongst African-born individuals. Furthermore, the investigators found that in one health area approximately 50% of HIV infections amongst black people were amongst individuals originating in Africa.

Apparently when statistics are gathered, no one distinguishes between those Blacks who are native born and immigrant Blacks.   The article goes on to spell out some of the consequences:

Failure to acknowledge the scale of the HIV epidemic amongst African-born individuals, could, the investigators argue, mean that the HIV prevention and care needs of African-born US residents are being neglected. The investigators call on the US government and health authorities to target information about the availability of HIV testing and care to individuals from Africa, and for the gathering of accurate surveillance data about the country of origin of individuals diagnosed with HIV.

Aidsmap News tells us something we already know and that is that HIV positive refugees have been allowed to enter the US and it obliquely mentions that no one will be barred from entering with HIV in the very near future (thanks to a bill signed into law by President Bush).

Read the whole article here and take note of the US hot spots for the immigrant-fueled HIV epidemic.  See our health issues category for all of our posts on this important topic.

Somalis sailing to Malta: I want a tea party too!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we go again, another mention that Somalis are breaking into Malta.

A group of 28 Somali illegal immigrants were brought into Birzebbuga on Sunday night, after they were spotted some 17 miles off Delimara by a local sailing yacht.

Malta has been targeted as a destination by Somalis since the situation in that country deteriorated; they now make up some three quarters of migrant arrivals, according to sources.

“Since the situation in that country deteriorated” and since we started airlifting these illegal aliens to the US with a TEA PARTY SEND-OFF!     Our ambassador to Malta is transforming illegals into refugees, giving them tea parties at her home and sending them to a city where you live at your expense. 

Is it any wonder they keep coming to Malta!  This is insane.

Thanks for the kind words about RRW

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Over the Labor Day weekend our work here at Refugee Resettlement Watch received praise—twice! 

First, we are mentioned by Dymphna at Gates of Vienna blog in a lengthy dissection of the recent ICE raid in Mississippi.  Read “An American Tale: The Perfect Cultural Storm” here.

Then our friend Jerry Gordon wrote at The Iconoclast that RRW was discussed on a radio program here, in which Gordon suggested that the Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 must be reformed.

I suggested that the US Refugee Act of 1980 was ‘broken’ and that its overhaul by the Congress was long overdue. Christine Brim of the CSP, the WIBG radio panel moderator suggested to listeners that for more information on this topic they consult Refugee Resettlement Watch (RRW) that maintains a daily ‘watching brief’ on these abuses of the federal and state programs for legal humanitarian refugees.

Go to the Iconoclast and see the discussion centered around Patrick Poole’s article on CAIR and Charter Schools for (mostly Somali) Muslims here.   Reader Robert first brought that article to our attention.   We thank him and all of our readers who forward us much of our great material!

Thanks again!  And, yikes, we will try to live up to everyone’s praise!

We deport refugees (gasp!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Once again Blulitespecial comes up with good stuff.  Happy Labor Day to Blulitespecial and all of you relaxing and eating and celebrating (and not laboring) today!

This article, “Somali immigrants getting bad legal advice,” from The New America Media (Expanding the News Lens through Ethnic Media) reads like a spoof!  Wouldn’t you just love to see some late night comedy routine on this one?  Come to think of it, that is just what we need!  But, I digress.  Back to my story.

First, in all seriousness (sort of):

Somali immigrants, who number over 30,000 in Minnesota, arrived as refugees in the United States. The majority now has permanent legal status, or green cards. Even so, they could be deported for a variety of infractions, simply because they are not citizens.

“Many people in the U.S. don’t know that we deport refugees,” [oh my gosh I didn’t know, how awful]says John Keller, director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, adding: “It’s unconscionable to return them back to the place we gave them refuge from,” he says.

Then this is no joke, here is the guy they use as an example of someone who has only an “infraction” and now fears deportation:

Take the case of Mohamed Ali. He’s a 21-year-old Somali immigrant, who got arrested for breaking into a restaurant in early June. He’s looking for help finding a private defense attorney from community organizations because he’s charged with second-degree burglary, a felony. [He doesn’t trust his smiling female public defender]

Ali admits that he was involved in the burglary, but he says the charge doesn’t fit the crime. He says he and a friend walked into a Jimmy John’s that was already broken into, and Ali grabbed a stash of receipts thinking they were cash and stuck them in his pocket. Roseville Police chased him and his friend down with a dog. Ali pulled up his pant leg to show off scars on his ankles and behind his knees, the result of dog bites.

Ali admits he made a mistake, but he believes he should get a second chance because his record is relatively good – he has a pending misdemeanor assault charge from an earlier fight in a neighboring county. He said he’s trying to make something of his life. “I have never been in trouble — this is my first crime, but the attorneys don’t ask me about my past,” he says.

Ali says he worked his way through high school and graduated with good grades. Since then, he’s held odd jobs, even as he began attending community college. But with his green card taken away by law officials, finding steady work has been difficult.

Ali arrived in the United States when he was 13. His older sister was a citizen here. She sponsored him and a dozen brothers and sisters. Ali says he barely remembers what life was like in Somalia. He has no idea of what he would do if he were sent back. [He was 13 for goodness sakes and he is only 21 now, how can he “barely remember”]

Here is a thought, why don’t we DNA test Sis and all the siblings and see if they are really related.  Afterall, the US State Department has found that 80% of Somalis in Africa are not related to those applying to sponsor them and the program is temporarily suspended.  Hint to prosecutors:  maybe there is a little immigration fraud to add to his charges?

I swear I did not make this next line up:

Ali says he’s been too depressed to shave his wispy chin hairs since he got out of jail six weeks ago.

He is depressed because he doesn’t want to be “stuck in Minnesota”!    Ahhhhhhh! Not Minnesota!

These days, Ali sits in his sister’s home in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis. It’s bigger than a jail cell he says, but he’s worried. He’s worried sick about getting a felony conviction because that would make it hard to find work and also because he will be stuck in Minnesota. His sister is moving to Canada, and his stepmother is going back to Africa. Even if ICE doesn’t put a hold on him, he doesn’t know what he’ll do.

“I’m the only one -– everybody is leaving,” he says.  [waaahhhhhh!]

Does anyone other than me see a little inconsistency here, Immigrant Law Center honcho Keller says it’s unconscionable to send refugees back, but isn’t stepmom going back voluntarily?   Here is an idea, just pack up Ali with stepmom and off he goes back to Africa — “to the place we gave them refuge from?”—because, if it’s safe enough for mama, it should be safe enough for him.

Endnote:

Between October 2006 and 2007, ICE deported 285,157 immigrants nationwide. Over one-third of those were deported for criminal convictions.

Iraqis in America weigh in on McCain v. Obama

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Something called Inter Press Service News Agency published an article late last week about the views of Iraqi refugees and immigrants on the Presidential campaign and asked which of the candidates would be better for Iraq.  The article is a bit confusing because first they cite polls in Iraq where Iraqis by very large margins supposedly want America out, but then Iraqis interviewed here seem to be mostly for McCain, at least on issues relating to their homeland.

“I am so sad to say it, but I think that McCain would be better for the future of Iraq, especially since my family and friends are still living there,” Bassam Sebti, a 28-year-old Iraqi who has lived in the United States for two years, told IPS.

“I’m a taxpayer now. Obama is better for the U.S., but not for Iraq,” said Sebti, who is an editor at the International Centre for Journalists and lives in Washington. 

Naseer Nori, 51, came with his family to the U.S. in May under the Iraqi refugee resettlement programme. “Iraqis back home prefer McCain — they do not want an early withdrawal, which will only leave the country in the hands of militias and political parties that will fight with each other,” he told IPS. “We do not have a strong military to stop that.”

Then here is another Iraqi interviewed who sees it completely differently, but keep in mind that Saddam was a Sunni and this fellow was a part of the favored sect in Iraq prior to our arrival:

Other Iraqis here believe that Obama would be better on U.S. domestic policy, especially treatment of immigrants and refugees, and have no confidence in McCain’s policies toward their homeland.

Suhail Ahmed, a 55-year-old Sunni translator, also moved here with his family in May. Asked to assess the candidates, he responded wryly: “A milkmaid will never tell you that her yogurt is sour.”

Ahmed noted that the Republicans have never admitted that they made mistakes in Iraq. “People back home are tired, and the Republicans will follow the same footsteps of Bush — nothing good will happen to Iraq if McCain wins,” he said.

Bottomline, there is no consensus.  But, this article does give us some useful statistics:

At the time of the 2000 census, about 89,000 Iraqis lived in the Unites States. That number represented only 0.3 percent of all foreign-born people living here. According to Refugee International, 13,754 Iraqi refugees have come to the U.S. from 2001 to 2008.