Day: October 26, 2009

Why do we continue to resettle refugees in dangerous Chicago slums?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:   For the whole article from the Chicago Tribune that must have been published in segments, go here, to the Baltimore Sun.

This post was originally going to be about another bunch of Iraqi refugees being resettled in slums—in Chicago this time—but when I did a little research a name kept coming up and it rang a bell.  Where did I hear it before?

Here is the story from the Chicago Tribune:

Along the dingy hallways of a Rogers Park apartment building, the smells of fish soup, curry and other ethnic cuisine merge with the tinny scent of roach spray binding four floors of immigrants from around the world.

It was move-in day for Sattar Naama, a one-time mechanic who escaped Iraq to Lebanon in 2008 ahead of militants who killed a younger brother, who was an Iraqi soldier, and a sister who was with him. Naama and his wife arrived in Chicago in July.

[….]

What greeted them were roaches marching across their new apartment and a kitchen sink stained black. Such conditions illustrate one of the findings in the recent Georgetown University report on Iraqi refugees: Because of “insufficient” cash assistance, many of them land squarely into impoverished settings .

[….]

The math for refugees is unforgiving. In Chicago, the average cost for rent, a security deposit, food and rudimentary furniture is $1,550, according to state estimates. The State Department provides a one-time $425 grant per adult refugee.  [Edit:  They are always misleading reporters about the funding, it’s $425 per refugee and there is so much more each refugee family receives.]

Responsibility for the rest lies with local aid organizations.  [Edit: it always was supposed to be that way, it’s a public-private partnership afterall!]  In the last year, they scrambled to secure government benefits normally intended for the poor and worked hard to raise a relatively small $1 million by repeatedly approaching private donors contending with their own looming shortfalls.

[…..]

“The financing for all this is abysmal,” said Edwin Silverman, the refugee resettlement coordinator in Illinois.

Oh yes!  That is the name—Edwin Silverman!  Here is another story from the Chicago Tribune also yesterday about another Iraqi family’s trials in Rogers Park overseen by Mr. Silverman’s state office.

Then get this, just two days earlier than those articles, the Tribune ran this article about what a terrible time teens, especially from Africa, are having in the Rogers Park section of Chicago where they have been resettled.    Look who is quoted about the violence, it’s Mr. Silverman again!

They left violence-riddled countries like the Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sudan, only to move to neighborhoods in Chicago that were also beset with violence.

Teliane and Yoann Bakala were caught in the crossfire of bullets in Rogers Park; Prince Kannah was attacked inside the cafeteria of his Edgewater school; Ashal Yai always checks to see if gang violence is brewing on her street in Uptown before setting off on foot.

[….]

The refugees have contributed to a new documentary film, “A Fairyland of Violence,” that is being shown Saturday in Chicago. In the short film, the youths recall their personal experiences navigating a new, often-scary world where gangs and guns collide with their dreams for a better future.

Read the whole article for the litany of violent acts these teens have experienced.  Then here is what the “expert” had to say:

Experts say the struggle to fit in, which is always an issue for teenagers, gets blown out of proportion for many refuge kids. Indeed, the most vulnerable refugees are teenagers and the elderly, said Ed Silverman, director of Illinois Office of Refugee and Immigrant Services.

For African immigrants, Silverman said, there is the added difficulty of navigating race relations: “Getting caught in the middle between white prejudice and not being accepted by black Americans,” he said.

The clash is a reality for an increasing number of teens. The population of African refugees in the Chicago area has doubled in the last 10 years, he said. The region is now home to more than 50,000 African immigrants from 48 nations.

We are quite aware of the black on black violence in Chicago, afterall we just witnessed black young men beating another black student to death about two weeks ago.   So, why do we keep resettling refugees in crime-ridden slums.   One might think that Mr. Silverman with US State Department blessings is conducting some sick social experiment.  Frankly, as ludicrous as it sounds, what other logical explanation could there be? 

The only other reason I can think of is that progressives like Mr. Silverman (and Hillary at the State Department too) are purposely creating chaos and strife ala the Chicago/Alinsky strategy.

I remember now where I heard the name before—Ed Silverman.   It was here in a post about how Chris Coen formed the group Friends of Refugees.  He had gone to Chicago in 2001 to complain to the State Department and Mr. Silverman about how refugees were being brutalized in Chicago.   They obviously didn’t listen.

Please take a few minutes and read Mr. Coen’s report on how the State Department and Mr. Silverman treated Mr. Coen’s report on crime against refugees in Chicago.  And, consider that we have just seen Mr. Silverman speak as the expert about violence involving refugees in Chicago—what a joke!

Medicare fraud considered most profitable crime in America

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Apparently last night CBS’s 60 Minutes did a segment on how a massive fraud was being perpetrated on the American taxpayer by Medicare scammers.   I don’t watch 60 Minutes anymore because it had become so politically correct, but I wish I had seen this show.  Does anyone know if they mentioned how involved various immigrant groups are in the fraud?  Or, is that just one more area where 60 Minutes wasn’t brave enough to venture?

This is from Newsbusters about the program:

“60 Minutes” did a fabulous exposé Sunday on Medicare fraud that should be required viewing for all people who support a government run healthcare program in this country.

The facts and figures presented by CBS’s Steve Kroft were disturbing as were the details concerning how shysters bilk the system for an estimated $60 billion a year.

Kroft said:

In fact, Medicare fraud – estimated now to total about $60 billion a year – has become one of, if not the most profitable crimes in America.

We have on many occasions reported on how various immigrant groups, especially Somalis, have set up “home health care” services which then bill Medicare (Medicaid too) for fraudulent services and supplies.   See here, here, here and here for some of those posts.

This is from an article about Houston health care fraud which I reported on here, but I see the original link is now gone.  I’ll bet Eric Holder’s PC gang at the Justice Department had this removed!

Investigators say one reason Medicare fraud is on the rise in Houston is a steady influx of immigrants who, in some instances, consider gaming the government for benefits an acceptable practice, said one top Justice Department investigator, speaking on condition he would not be identified.

“There’s a real problem of health care fraud in recent immigrant communities — we see it everyday,” the official said. “One of the reasons is you’re looking at people who don’t come up through the educational system, they’re impoverished, they think this country is very rich, and they don’t view taking advantage of a government program as a crime.”

I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the medical transport service, whose poorly maintained van was involved in the death of Burundian refugees in Arizona, is involved in this medicare racket, here.

Also, I would like to know what connection SEIU has with this method of redistributing the wealth since they are so hot on expanding the number of immigrant home health workers and getting them signed up as members of SEIU, here.

There needs to be a  blog exclusively for Medicare/Medicaid fraud, maybe there is one, does anyone know?

Emerging Infectious Diseases: a useful site at the CDC

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Centers for Disease Control has an interesting section entitled ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases’ that you might find a useful resource.    I came across it just now and note this recent article and study about the health of Burmese refugees arriving in Australia.

As we consider the cost of health care in America, the health of refugees should be considered.

We have a category here at RRW called ‘where to find information’ and I’ll post this link there for your future reference.  I found that one need only use the sites search function for “refugees”  (presumably the search could be narrowed to specific refugee groups) to find all sorts of interesting studies on refugee health issues.

Book: CAIR covered up immigration fraud by their own “attorney”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I told you last week, here, I’m working my way through the hot new book about the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) entitled “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America,” and a chapter dealing with Muslim immigrants interests me.

CAIR hired a Muslim convert for its immigration law work at the offices of its Maryland/Virginia chapter by the name of Jamil Morris Days.   If you recall there was a big flurry in the news, generated by CAIR, a couple of years ago about how federal Immigration officials were slow to process citizenship papers for Muslim immigrants since 9/11. 

It turns out that one of the reasons was that this lawyer, who turned out to be a fraud, was taking thousands of dollars from poor Muslim immigrants to process their papers and then did nothing.   Days wasn’t even a lawyer!   The whole scam came to light only when about 30 victims of Days’ scam threatened to sue CAIR and CAIR responded by closing the office and basically tried to wipe out all records of the wrongdoing.

Here is a little passage from the book:

When CAIR discovered the fraud, it joined the fraud by covering it up and deliberately set out to conceal the truth about Days, not just from the authorities and the media, but from the clients he defrauded.  The only thing CAIR’s headquarters told his defrauded clients when they called was that he no longer worked for CAIR. That’s it.

Why?  In a word, money.  Immigration cases are big business for CAIR, a hook for bringing in fundraising revenue, which CAIR desperately needs.  Immigrants account for a large segment of the Muslim community.  If word got out that CAIR mishandles their cases, even steals from them, it would hurt donations from the community at large.

I would add that immigrants also account for large numbers of voters as well!

Read this book, it is jaw-dropping—thanks to young (brave!) Chris Gaubatz who infiltrated CAIR and came out with boxes of documentation about this supposed defender of Muslim civil rights.