Day: January 29, 2009

Rohingya: Today’s news from Thailand

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday we told you that 78 more Rohingya illegal aliens have been apprehended in Thailand.    Sixty-six have been sent to jail (the other 12 are minors).

RANONG, Jan 28 – 66 illegal Rohingya migrants sent before a Thai judge in this gateway to Myanmar on Wednesday were fined 1,000 baht each (nearly US$30), and when none were able to produce the funds, the judge sentenced them each to five days imprisonment.

The wrangling is well underway between on one side the UNHCR and human rights groups who say the Rohingya Muslims are persecuted and thus should be given asylum,  and the Thai government which maintains they are economic migrants and thus illegal aliens subject to deportation.

The migrants represent the latest influx of Rohingya who have been entering Thailand illegally amid accusations that the Thai military have mistreated them. Human rights groups fear that repatriation could lead to further difficulties.

“There is no reasonable ground to believe that these illegal migrants fled from their country of origin for well-founded fear of being persecuted,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Thailand faces an “enormous burden” because of 3 million illegal migrants currently in the country, the statement said.

Note:  the emphasis above is not mine, it is in the original story.

Finland planning to deport Somali criminal pair

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When I saw this story I laughed.   I laughed because I couldn’t imagine the US deporting some Muslim immigrant back to Somalia who had been here for 15 years (since he was a child), heck we are bringing American terrorist body parts back for burial when they blow themselves up in Somalia.    And, I laughed because this guy is now begging to stay in good old Finland where he has lived on welfare and stolen booty.

A repentant young man sits in Jokela Prison. Unrest in Somalia drove Said out of his country at the age of ten, but now, after spending 15 years in Finland, he faces deportation to Africa.

“I regret what I did. I would like to have another chance in Finland”, the 26-year-old man says in a prison interview with Helsingin Sanomat.

Officials feel that the interests of Finnish society override the personal interests of Said. Before Christmas, the Supreme Administrative Court kept in force a court ruling ordering his deportation and that of another Somali man.

Said has been convicted of a number of crimes of violence and theft. Some of the crimes have been serious. He has been given two prison sentences of over two years.

Said has not integrated into Finland.  [Indeed!]

Read the rest of the story, it’s amusing.

Don’t you just love this line!

Officials feel that the interests of Finnish society override the personal interests of Said.