Associated Press does yet another ‘same old story’ about Iraqi refugees struggling in the US

If you are interested, go here and read the story.  But, I assure you it’s the same story we have been writing about for more than a year in our Iraqi refugee category (with 425 posts!).

These are the basic points the reports always include:

*Iraqis suffered because of the US invasion of Iraq, so we owe them bigtime.

*US was slow to help Iraqi refugees.

*Iraqi refugees are arriving in larger numbers in the US now and have been told their lives will be wonderful.

*But, now they discover there are no jobs and most of the Iraqis were rich professionals in Iraq and are disgruntled by low level jobs, or none at all.  No one ever raises the issue of slowing the flow of refugees during the recession.

*Refugee agencies place them in either expensive apartments they can’t afford for long, or lousy stinky ones.

*Bob Carey of the International Rescue Committee is always quoted about how rotten our refugee program is now and we need more taxpayer money allocated to refugee welfare, but no one ever asks how much money he makes and how rich the IRC is.

*Iraqis have doubts about staying here at all, but  most say they want the safety even if life is rotten right now and that they miss their former lifestyle.

Ho hum!  That’s it in a nutshell. Can’t you reporters find some new angle?  Makes me wonder if the IRC is driving these stories.  I wonder if they even send out little press kits and tell reporters exactly what to cover and who to interview.

Another white South African granted asylum

This is a story from Ireland to follow-up the earlier story from Canada, here, about white South Africans seeking asylum and claiming persecution in the “rainbow nation.”

Dianne Jefferson (22), who moved to Ireland to live with her father when she was 14, was turned down for a resident’s visa even though she was married to an Irishman. She appealed to the Dublin High Court for permission to stay in the country, stating in her affidavit: “I say and believe that as a white South African there is a real possibility of criminal racial discrimination against me and I fear for my well-being and ultimately my life if I am returned.”

The judge granted her an injunction stopping immigration authorities from deporting her, and she has now been given a five-year residency visa.

The South African government is not too happy with the trend.

“This is untrue and inaccurate to suggest that crime is racially motivated and that a particular section of the South African society is more likely to be exposed to crime than any other,” the department said. “The South African government has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to provide safety and security to all South Africans, black and white, and not only to a select section of its population.”

The department went on: “The applicant’s unsubstantiated claims and suggestions are nothing but an attempt to tarnish the integrity of all South Africans, black and white, and to damage the country’s reputation.

“While South Africa faces many developmental challenges, insinuations that crime is racially based are inaccurate.”

I might actually agree with the South African government on one point (well, sort of anyway).  I haven’t written about the subject for awhile but it seemed that all that terrorizing and killing that had been going on in South Africa in recent years wasn’t racial because it was mostly black on black terrorizing.   Here is my most recent post on how Somalis trying to escape the persecution by South African blacks were caught, and returned.

Catholic Bishops testify in support of amnesty

Joining the Evangelicals, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), one of the top ten refugee resettlement agencies, testified in support of amnesty for illegal immigrant workers at a Senate hearing last week.

Comprehensive immigration reform is needed to help bring undocumented immigrants “out of the shadows” and to reunite them with their families, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick told a Senate subcommittee on Thursday.

Addressing the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security on Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the cardinal said the United States requires an immigration system that links legal immigration with the country’s long-term economic needs, with family unity and with basic human rights.

Frankly, I never understand why the basic human rights and the economic needs of American citizens are always trumped by concern for the immigrants?  What about our own unemployed and low-income struggling families?

The cardinal urged that any immigration reform legislation help bring undocumented immigrants “out of the shadows” and give them the opportunity to achieve permanent residency and citizenship. He recommended that family-based immigration be strengthened in order to preserve family unity and that legal avenues be created to help migrant workers enter the country legally and safely.

As a Catholic myself I have many questions for the Cardinal.  First, how much is the USCCB receiving from the federal government now for immigration services they provide and will they then be expanding their taxpayer-funded services when 12 million illegal immigrants are legalized? (Note here that we don’t know how much the USCCB gets because they have no Better Business Bureau report on file). 

And, then when considering the flood of illegal aliens taking jobs from Americans, aren’t the Bishops one bit concerned about the thousands of legal refugees they resettle each year with only about 20% of them finding work now?  Aren’t the illegal aliens taking jobs refugees will do?

One last question.  If the 12 million are legalized what is to stop the next million illegals from coming across the border illegally and expecting to be legalized as well?

Readers are reminded of the USCCB’s ties to ACORN and the political Leftwing, here.