Boise, Idaho: No job for Iraqi father of eight

The stories are coming every week, will they be daily soon?    We have reports from 15 states* that there are no jobs for Iraqi refugees.   Surely other refugees are experiencing the same problem, but it seems the Iraqis  attract more news coverage.

Oregon Public Broadcasting has this report from Boise, Idaho where refugees are still pouring in despite the desperate economy.   The story of Iraqi truck driver Kaled Wali is told with the help of an interpreter.  His government assistance is running out, he has no job, he has 8 kids and his wife is ill.

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “The UN help me and my children. The UN gives him cash card for cash money monthly and this paper to food for my family. He save this because story for your children.”

Wali’s face softens as he explains the day he and his family found out they would be resettled in America. Now, all ten of them have been in Boise for nearly four months. They’re living on federal assistance; $1100 a month for rent and utilities; $1200 a month in food stamps. They also get Medicaid. But after 8 months all of the federal help goes away.

Sadie Babits: “After eight months what happens?”

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “I don’t know because don’t found any job here.”

Sadie Babits: “You don’t have a job in Boise?”

Khaled Wali/Adel Muhammad: “No. not yet.”

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) representative hopes no one will have to go to a shelter!  The IRC is one of the richest of the federal contractors.  Its CEO makes nearly $400,000 a year and it got $88 million of your tax dollars in the most recent year I could find (2005)—-hey President Obama, how about capping salaries of the non-profit CEOs too and keep the refugees they  bring to America out of shelters!

Leslye Moore is the executive director for the International Rescue Committee — the IRC — in Boise.

Leslye Moore: “You know the difference between an American not having a job and a refugee is that most Americans have a safety net of some kind built in. Refugees coming have nothing. They don’t have anything to fall back on so it’s a much more terrifying experience for them knowing there’s no work for them out there and wondering what their future is going to be.”

Unemployment in Idaho is the highest it’s been in 15 years. Major employers in Boise like Micron recently laid off some 1500 workers. That’s increased competition for entry-level jobs, which have historically been a good fit for refugees. And this isn’t just happening in Boise. Moore says resettlement agencies across the U.S. report major difficulties finding work for refugees.

Leslye Moore: “You know the last thing we want to do is put a refugee family in a shelter. We haven’t done it yet “

Once again, high expectations are not realized. 

Wali says he’s thankful to be here. But coming to America he had high expectations: a house, a new TV, and plenty of money. Now that he’s here he’s discovered just how unrealistic those expectations were. Adding to the disappointment and worry, Khaled Wali’s wife Zahra is sick. Doctors think she may have thyroid cancer.

By the way, the IRC is a part of the Refugee Council USA that wants to double the number of refugees we take in 2010.   So, it isn’t just Wali’s expectations that are unrealistic.

* The fifteen states we have written about so far that have no jobs for Iraqi refugees are Arizona, Maryland, New Hampshire,Virginia, New York, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Idaho, Connecticut, New Mexico, California, North Carolina, Utah and Washington.

Man wants Americans to understand Muslims better; beheads wife

Is this a bizarre story or what? The media can’t avoid saying Muzzammil Hassan is a Muslim, since he founded a cable TV station for the express purpose of helping Americans understand Muslims.  This report in the Buffalo News is typical:

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.

“He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.

…Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.

The best comment came from Trina Hoaks of the Examiner:

Whoa! If this man wanted to help Americans better understand Muslims, this was not the way to go about it – or maybe it was.

She reports this additional fact.

Apparently, Aasiya recently filed for a divorce. She must have been worried for her own safety as it was reported that she had a protection order against her husband.

It’s happened before — wife leaves husband, insane husband kills wife. But beheading? I guess we wouldn’t understand; it’s a Muslim thing. Maybe Bridges TV will explain it to us.

I could go on here about the honor/shame culture of Muslims, but I don’t have time now. It’s important, though and I will return to it.

Update: Whoops, Ann and I were posting at the same time. It’s okay; we emphasized different things.

Update Feb. 15: Here’s some good commentary on this story from Mark Steyn on the lack of coverage in the mainstream media — Headless Body in Gutless Press:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWVlZDFkN2RmOGE1YWMzMmY5YjBiZThkYTIxN2Q5ZDU=

Part II: Refugee Council USA wants to dramatically increase refugee numbers

Yesterday, I told you about the Refugee Council USA’s “Recommendations and Actions for the Obama Administration and the 111th Congress.”     Today, in Part II, Im reporting on this preposterous proposal: they want to double the number of refugees we take in 2010 and yet we aren’t able to find work for the ones we are bringing now. 

Just this week we heard about a fight that broke out in an employment line in Shelbyville, TN where World Relief  (among others) had trucked in refugees to compete with local people for jobs at Tyson’s Food.   World Relief is one of the organizations that makes up the Refugee Council USA.   The disconnect from reality demonstrated in these recommendations to Obama is stunning. 

The problem they say, “US refugee admissions targets are far below historical averages.”   For “Background” from Page 9 of the report:

The admissions target* has stagnated at around 70,000 in the past eight years, a low number considering a historical average of admissions targets closer to 100,000 per year.  Refugee admissions levels are similarly lower than in past years, and the target-to-admitted ratio has experienced an all time low between 2000 and 2007.  Refugee admissions levels must be determined based on the global need** for resettlement.

*  The Presidential Determination each year is not a target, it is a CEILING!  There is a lot of difference and these advocates know it.   A ceiling means that it is a number we don’t exceed, but we don’t necessarily have to get to it!    They have been wanting to make it a target number and so now they are just telling Obama et al that that is what it is.

** The global need!   What about our need!

So what actions do they recommend.   Since we can’t employ or take care of the 60,000 we brought this past year, lets just bring more!   

 Actions:

Propose admitting 125,000 refugees in fiscal year 2010 and commit to gradually increase the number of refugees admitted each consecutive year, with a goal of admitting 200,000 refugees in fiscal year 2013.

And, of course they go on to recommend that they need more money for all of this.  Many of the groups that make up the Refugee Council USA survive only through your tax dollars.

You will find other useful information in our category ‘Where to find information’ here.

Moderate Muslim cuts wife’s head off…in NEW YORK!

Update Feb. 24th:  Feminists dispute honor killing and Judy’s post.

Update Feb. 22nd:   See Judy’s good post about Muslim’s speaking out (sort of) on this horrible crime.

Update Feb. 18th:  Judy has just posted on Mark Steyn’s column about media malfeasance in covering the story.

Update Feb. 17thJihad Watch reports that authorities are now relating the beheading to the couple’s religion.  No you don’t say!

That’s right, not in Pakistan where he came from, but right here, near Buffalo, NY.    Muzzammil Hassan, the founder of a TV station whose purpose was to educate Americans that Muslims are just like you and me, murdered his wife presumably for seeking a divorce.  

I won’t repeat the story here because both Jihad Watch and Gates of Vienna have it covered.

P.S.  Be sure to see Judy’s good post on honor killing vs. garden variety domestic abuse here.