Canada slow to recognise and take action on immigration fraud

I won’t pretend to understand how Canada’s immigration system works, but I’m bringing you this column simply to bring to your attention that Canada has been slow to take action on fraud involving Somalis among others.  As a matter of fact, we’ve heard that Somali Omar Jamal, convicted of immigration fraud in Tennessee a few years back, and now the go-to guy for the mainstream media in Minneapolis (and everywhere!) came in through Canada.  Note we have 6 pages of posts that include references to Jamal, here.

The Canadian government has decided to go on the offensive and tell its side of the story in connection with allegations that its officials mishandled the case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud, the Canadian of Somali origin who was detained in Kenya on suspicion that someone else was using her passport to travel to Canada. Such a move by Ottawa is relatively rare. In the case of Maher Arar, who was awarded more than $10-million by the Canadian government on the grounds that it had contributed to his being imprisoned and mistreated by the Syrians, Canadian investigations focused on whether actions by our security and intelligence agencies had been appropriate and not whether there was any substance to allegations Arar had connections with possible terrorist organizations or their supporters.

What Ottawa should also do is let the public know just how massive a problem some of our missions overseas face on a daily basis when it comes to receiving fraudulent applications to come to Canada. The Americans have been more up-front in this regard. Last year they suspended their Priority Three (P-3) refugee resettlement program, which was administered largely from the U. S. mission in Nairobi and involved mainly Somali and Ethiopian applicants. After carrying out DNA checks on sponsors in the United States and relatives being sponsored for immigration from Africa, it was discovered that more than 80% of the latter were not, in fact, related to the sponsors at all and were trying to enter the U. S. under false pretenses.

That reminds me.  I wonder if we have reinstated the fraud-ridden family reunification program that the State Department suspended last year, here.   Hey, commenter ‘Knowing,’ do you know?

Rohingya Update: Muslim Bangladesh pushes Rohingya Muslims back across the border; meanwhile Burma builds a fence

No Muslim charity here.  From the Irrawaddy:

Bangladeshi authorities have increasingly cracked down on Rohingya refugees living illegally in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar* District in Bangladesh and pushed them back across the Burmese border, according to border sources.

Chris Lewa, coordinator of the Arakan Project, said, “At least 1,200 people have been deported to Burma since January, according to our research, and 190 people were deported in two weeks alone this month.”

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, Tin Soe, editor for the Bangladesh-based Kaladan Press Network, said: “I am not sure what the authorities are doing now. They have been arresting and deporting people almost every day this month.”

About 400,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees are living in two camps near Cox’s Bazaar, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

Lewa believes Bangladesh authorities will push back all Rohingya refugees who are not registered with the UNHCR before Burma finishes erecting the wire fence on its border.

I think its ironic that Bangladesh is worried about environmental destruction from so many refugees, while we (the Leftwing anyway) in the US don’t give it a thought when discussing immigration policy!

Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said Rohingya refugees are a heavy burden economically, socially, environmentally on Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government wants to finalize the repatriation of refugees as soon as possible. 

I first told you about Muslim extremists at Cox’s Bazaar here, in my first post in our Rohingya Reports category.  It’s only a matter of time before Rohingya will be coming to your town.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops cozy with Islamist group

Reader Robert alerts us to a meeting coming up this week in Milwaukee, WI between the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).  If you are in the Milwaukee area you might want to drop in.

The Midwest Dialogue of Catholics and Muslims will present the lecture “Faithful Citizenship: Catholic & Muslim Engagement in Civic Life” at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the Islamic Society School, 815 W. Layton Ave.

The presentation features Marquette University Theology Professor Irfan Omar, who specializes in Islamic thought, and Michael Hovey, assistant adviser for ecumenical and interfaith affairs for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

The Midwest Dialogue is a program of the Islamic Society of North America and the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops. To register, call (414) 769-3452.

This is an on-going series of meetings.  Here is some information from an earlier meeting in 2007.

Regular readers of RRW know that the USCCB is one of the top ten federal government contractors resettling refugees and the group also was entangled with ACORN for years.

For more on ISNA, a sister group to CAIR, visit Discover the Networks, here.  We most recently mentioned ISNA when they announced their intentions of not cooperating with the FBI, here.   Here is a post from Jihad Watch about ISNA’s most recent convention.

Attempt to block UNRWA’s terror ties stalled in Congress since January

FrontPage Magazine published an interview yesterday with  Asaf Romirowsky, a Middle East analyst and Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Forum, who brings our attention to a bill in Congress dealing with UNRWA. That’s the UN agency in charge of the Palestinian refugees; we’ve written about it extensively. Briefly, we give it a lot of money, much of which goes to funding terrorism. Romirowsky writes (somewhat inaccurately; see below):

 After much pressure from Congressman like Mark Kirk (R – IL) and Steve Rothman (D – NJ) and others we are now seeing a new bill entitled UNRWA accountability. It demands transparency and responsibility from UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency). The bill seeks to ensure that the monies funneled to UNRWA from the United States do not fund acts of terrorism in any way (bringing the funding into compliance with the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961).

The bill goes further, underscoring the need to evaluate the text books used in Palestinian UNRWA schools; to ascertain there is no “inflammatory and inaccurate information about the United States and the State of Israel, anti-Semitic teaching, as well as the glorification of terrorists.” Something that has been a constant problem in UNRWA schools which have acted as a catalyst for terrorist activities against innocent civilians in Israel.

This is rather sloppy reporting on a number of fronts. He does not give the number of the bill nor its entire title, nor report that it was introduced in January 28 of this year. After searching around I found information at Open Congress, a useful, searchable site which not only reports on bills in Congress, but collects comments from news sources about each bill. It says:

H.Con.Res.29 – Expressing the sense of Congress that the United Nations should take immediate steps to improve the transparency and accountability of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in the Near East to ensure that it is not providing funding, employment, or other support to terrorists.

The entire bill is at Thomas, the official government website.  I highly recommend reading it for its outstanding summary of the problems with UNRWA; it’s quite short. Its recommendations are excellent and to the point, but unfortunately do not have the force of law. It

(1) strongly urges the Secretary of State to take all necessary measures to certify that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) operates in full compliance with section 301(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act and therefore, no American taxpayer dollars are being directed to terrorists or to further terrorist propaganda;

 (2) calls on UNRWA to improve their transparency by publishing online copies of all educational materials used in UNRWA-administered schools; and 

(3) urges UNRWA to improve their accountability by implementing terrorist name recognition software and other screening procedures that would help to ensure that UNRWA staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries are neither terrorists themselves, nor affiliated with known terrorist organizations.

Apparently it hasn’t gone anywhere, since Thomas reports:

Latest Major Action: 1/28/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

I know the Democrats in Congress are routinely ignoring or defeating Republican legislation, but this is a bi-partisan bill, introduced by a Democrat, with many Democrat co-sponsors. A Concurrent Resolution, which this is, doesn’t have much force anyway; it only “strongly urges”  and “calls on” the State Department and UNRWA, with no power to compel. But I guess even these recommendations to prevent our money being funneled into Hamas aren’t as important as all that messing around with our economy, our freedom and our security that occupies the time of the House of Representatives.

I’m grateful to FrontPage for bringing the stalled bill to my attention, but some fact-checking would have been in order.

Wilders protesters: “Islam will dominate the world”

Readers should go to Atlas Shrugs and see the photos Pamela Geller posted yesterday from Muslim protests against Geert Wilders.  For background, see Judy’s post from earlier this week, here.

Besides “Islam will dominate the world. Freedom can go to hell,” see “Shariah for the Netherlands.  Islam will be superior,” and “Shariah the true solution.”   Plant those photos firmly in your mind and be sure to  send them to your friends.  Remember we are only a few years behind Europe with Muslim immigration.  These Islamic supremacists are not kidding.

Judy and I were fortunate to hear Geert Wilders speak in Washington, DC earlier this year, here.