Big city paper finally catches on to African immigration fraud story

Well, can you believe it!  The Minneapolis Star Tribune, the hometown paper of the Somali capital of the USA, has finally written about the worldwide suspension of the State Department’s P-3 family reunification program—suspended due to widespread fraud in Africa.  We told you about this bombshell story two weeks ago.   Our very first mention was back in July here, but we didn’t know the full extent of the fraud until recently.

A day late and a dollar short, the Star Tribune published a report yesterday, November 28th, a full 12 days after the little Shelbyville, TN Times Gazette had the scoop.   Wouldn’t you think that the Minneapolis paper, in light of the Somali terrorist investigation going on, might have been right on top of this story.

The Star Tribune doesn’t add much more than we already know, but our now favorite Somali mouthpiece is all over this story too.  What, don’t you reporters have anyone else you can go to than a Somali guy who was convicted of lying to get into the US?  Any chance he might not be straight with you now?  Nah!  Oh, yes, I forgot, the Star Tribune thinks this is the modern day West Side Story.

Omar Jamal with lots of column inches:

Immigrant groups in the Twin Cities acknowledge that there is occasional fraud — in some cases, money changes hands to claim sponsorship of supposed family members. But they say it is unfair to keep out those who can document they aren’t lying.

“You have a huge number of desperate refugees who are stuck in the middle of nowhere,” said Omar Jamal, president of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in the Twin Cities. “They’re looking for assistance from the United States. It’s very sad.”

Cry me a river!

State Department officials, meanwhile, say they can’t reopen the program until they ensure that it works. No date has been set.

“We have to figure out what the next step is,” said Todd Pierce, a spokesman for the department’s Bureau of Populations, Refugees and Migration. “We’re obligated to make sure it works the way it was supposed to work.”

The State Department and Department of Homeland Security are working together to devise new verification procedures. One proposal would involve more widespread DNA testing. But some officials worry that it could add significantly to the program’s cost. [Edit:  so let me understand, it’s cheaper to have the illegals here than to do some advance DNA testing?]

Jamal, who has faced his own legal problems with immigration officials — he was once found guilty of making false statements to enter the U.S. — says that the government’s concerns are overblown.

“I cannot deny there may be some fraud,” he said. “But the policy of shutting the whole program down will hurt huge numbers of innocent, law-abiding people who are in desperate conditions in refugee camps.”

Jamal understands that some of the government’s concern derives from Somalia’s status as a state without a functioning government, riven by warring groups of clans and Islamic militias, some with ties to Al-Qaida.

He, too, has heard of sponsorships being sold to fictitious family members, sometimes for as much as $10,000. But for most, he said, “they are innocent people falling victim.”

So, I’ll ask the same question as one of the commenters asked in the juicy comments section to this story:  How many of those fraud cases did you turn in Mr. Jamal?

More on spinmeister Omar Jamal here and here (Denver Somali Cyanide death).

News Busters: Star Tribune makes Somali missing men look like characters in West Side Story

I had noticed that the Minneapolis Star Tribune coverage of the missing Somali men was a little sugary, but I realized that I have become so accustomed to mainstream media outlets soft-peddling terrorism that I didn’t give it another thought until a reader sent me this analysis at News Busters which begins:

It reads like the lyrics of the song in West Side Story where the “Jets” gang members sing to Officer Krupke claiming they are just misunderstood kids, not punks and criminals. The Minneapolis Star Tribune takes this approach to the story of young male Somali refugees that have taken residence in Minneapolis who have decided to go back to Somalia to “visit.” The suspicion is, though, that are they going back to join terrorist gangs there. The Star Trib claims they absolutely are not in its coverage, however. Yet, for some unexplained reason, the Star Trib also leaves out the fact that Somali recruiters have been seen roaming the streets of Minneapolis encouraging Somali men to return for just that purpose, as well as other important details linking the “visits” with terrorism.

Why would the Star Trib leave out such important facts in the story?

Continue reading.

I suppose it is the same reason that Matthew Lee at AP won’t investigate the unhappy Iraqi refugee issue, it doesn’t fit the reporters or the news outlets view of the world.

Is Barack Obama a natural born citizen of the United States?

Update July 26th:  SPLC going after Lou Dobbs on birth certificate issue, here.

Update July 15, 2009:  Soldier challenges orders to report to Afghanistan claiming Obama is not legally the President of the United States, here.

A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.  

His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending deployment orders.

“We won! We won before we even arrived,” she said with excitement. “It means that the military has nothing to show for Obama. It means that the military has directly responded by saying Obama is illegitimate – and they cannot fight it. Therefore, they are revoking the order!”

Update Jan. lst, 2009:   It is not over yet, two US Supreme Ct. conferences remain, new cases filed, here.

Update Dec. 13th:  The Birth Certificate issue leads to a discussion of democratic tyranny at Gates of Vienna today.

Update Dec.12th:  Diana West has a good column on this subject here today.

Update Dec. 9th:  Blue Ridge Forum has a good post on the issue here.

Update  Dec. 8th:  Excellent discussion of the issue, here.

Update  Dec. 6th:   More news here, press conference Monday in DC

Update Dec. 4th:  Atlas Shrugs has a very thorough summary of where this issue stands today.

Off topic I suppose, but maybe not so far off because I have grave doubts about whether an Obama administration would ever even think to begin reforming the Refugee Resettlement program.  I will even bet they quickly lift the suspension of the P-3 family reunification program that primarily effects African immigration to the US.

Gates of Vienna yesterday has a very interesting article about the birth certificate controversy with a whole new angle.  Read it here.   For more detail be sure to follow the link back to Atlas Shrugs—the blog that did the groundbreaking work on the subject.

Then also be sure to listen to the MSNBC commentary on the topic.

The US Supreme Court has scheduled a conference on the issue for Dec. 5th.   I gotta say it is really creepy and wierd that the mainstream media isn’t talking about this—the silence is deafening.

And that reminds me.  Atlas Shrugs has a post  yesterday about Fox News going over to the “dark side,” that as a long-time Fox News viewer I was disheartened to read.   But, lo and behold, one day recently I just flipped over to MSNBC and couldn’t believe my ears, they were harder on Obama then Fox has been recently.  Maybe it was a one time deal, but it might be worth some revisits to confirm.

Another day, another state, another unemployed Iraqi refugee

This story is from Boise, Idaho.  One of hundreds of Iraqi interpreters (among thousands of other Iraqi refugees) entering the US can’t find work.  Tell me something I don’t know!   This fellow (Mohammed) at least doesn’t think we owe him a job.

But now he’s joined the ranks of Idaho’s unemployed at a time when the state’s economy lost more than 9,500 private sector jobs between September and October.

Jobs once available to refugees are being taken by Idahoans who have been laid off.

We asked the regional director of the International Rescue Committee in Boise if it is fair to bring refugees into the United States now to compete for jobs with Americans.

That is my question too.   And, how can the International Rescue Committee and its sidekick, Refugees International, justify telling our newly elected President to bring in a hundred thousand Iraqis this fiscal year that began October first?  It makes no sense, unless they are really trying to bring down our country.

IRC’s response to the fairness question:

“It’s not a question of fairness,” said the IRC’s Lesyle Moore. “We are extending humanitarian protection to them. If I was in the same situation I would want somebody to reach out to me”

The IRC says 1,000 refugees resettled in Boise during fiscal year 2008.

Once it was relatively easy for them to find work.

Not anymore.

Yesterday I gave you a list of the states where we have unhappy, out of work, Iraqi refugees. 

Lets see so far we have unhappy Iraqis in Arizona, Maryland, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, Michigan, Ohio and now Georgia.

 We can now add Idaho.