Day: November 5, 2009

Gag order in Somali murder case in Ft. Morgan, CO

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update November 9th:  Gag order lifted, here.  Victim identified, same last name as murder suspect, here.

O.K. now things are really getting fishy.  Maybe Jerry Gordon writing at New English Review is on to something—do we have another* Muslim honor killing here?   I’ve written very critically of the Ft. Morgan Times and their editorial squishiness on the joys of multiculturalism, but notice here they are asking the judge to lift the gag order—good for them!

This is the latest on the stabbing death of a young “East African” woman (see post last evening) from the Ft. Morgan Times:

Two agencies involved in the investigation of a fatal stabbing in Fort Morgan have declined to release information on the case, citing a gag order.

After an initial news release reporting that an unidentified East African woman had been fatally stabbed Tuesday night and a suspect had been arrested in Greeley, Fort Morgan Police Chief Keith Kuretich
declined to further discuss the case Wednesday.

The stabbing occurred in a residence in the 400 block of West Kiowa Avenue, and another East African, Ahmed Abdi, 25, of Greeley was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and first- and second-degree assault, according to the initial FMPD news release.

The Morgan County Coroner’s Office declined to release the identity of the victim Wednesday afternoon.

Morgan County District Court Judge Douglas R. Vannoy issued a gag order Wednesday limiting what lawyers, legal representatives and law enforcement officials could say about the case.

The order granted a motion by public defender J. Brandeis Sperandeo to limit pretrial publicity.

The order prohibited lawyers and legal representatives from expressing opinions about character, guilt or innocence of the defendant; talking about admissions, confessions or contents of statements attributed to the defendant; making references to results of investigative procedures; and making statements about the credibility or anticipated testimony of prospective witnesses.

Law enforcement officers were prohibited under the order from discussing the existence or contents of any confession, admission or statement attributed to the defendant; discussing the possibility of the defendant entering a plea; discussing prior criminal records; discussing the performance of any examinations or tests; discussing the identity, testimony or credibility of prospective witnesses; and discussing information that an officer knows or has reason to know would be inadmissible in court.

The Times delivered a letter to the court Thursday morning requesting that the order be lifted.

I’m wondering if the murder suspect, Ahmed Abdi, is related to the Abdis who run the East African Community of Colorado Center in Greeley?

A little later:   I just remembered this post I wrote almost exactly a year ago about the church folks of Ft. Morgan getting together with their new Somali neighbors—the Somali men that is!  No Somali women could come out to the mixed-gender luncheon.

For new readers:

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US in the last 25 years and then last year had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.

* Iraqi woman died two days ago of her injuries in Arizona honor killing, here.

LA doctor accused of faking exams for immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Doesn’t this give you confidence in our immigration system? The Associated Press reports Officials: LA doctor faked immigrant medical exams: 

A Los Angeles doctor has been arrested for allegedly falsifying the results of medical exams for immigrants applying for visas.

Officials say 72-year-old Levon Tebelekian is charged with fraud and making false statements after a joint investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the California Medical Board.

ICE’s Miguel Unzueta says immigrants applying for permanent residency must undergo a medical exam to ensure they don’t have any medical conditions or diseases that could threaten public health.

Investigators say immigrants paid Tebelekian up to $150 to complete the medical examination form, but never saw the doctor.

If convicted, the physician faces up to 80 years in prison.

The local NBC station adds this charming anecdote:

In one case, he allegedly told an undercover ICE agent that he was not going to “disturb his blood” and that he “did not look like he had AIDS,” according to an affidavit.

But why should the doctor be prosecuted? Obama is lifting the ban on immigrants and travelers with HIV/AIDS anyway, as Ann reported last week.

Going bonkers in Britain over genetic testing of asylum seekers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

From the Associated Press:

LONDON — Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.

The United Kingdom Border Agency launched the pilot project in September amid suspicions there might be a large number of asylum applicants lying about their home countries. An agency spokesman said Britain was the only country using genetic tests in this way.

Experts, however, say the tests are based on flawed science and there’s no way genetic swabs can provide meaningful evidence regarding nationality.

[….]

The government argues such tests can provide valuable – although not conclusive – evidence in assessing whether or not asylum seekers are telling the truth about their country of origin.

So far, the tests are being used only on people who claim to be from Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan, though if successful, officials say the plan could be rolled out further.

Of course they want to find out if the African is from a country where they might be persecuted and in danger or not. 

Last year, nearly 26,000 people applied in Britain; of the more than 19,000 cases where decisions were made, 3,725, or 19 percent, were granted asylum. People from more repressive or chaotic countries, like Sudan or Somalia, often have a better chance of gaining asylum than those from more stable countries like Kenya.

Definitely read the whole story.  It also tells us that there is other testing that may be done and how the tests can be used to track terrorists.

Besides genetic tests, British officials are also performing isotope analysis of asylum seekers’ hair and nail samples. Scientists can look at the composition of certain elements like oxygen or strontium in hair and nails to see where a person has been.

How is this for a brilliant move?  NOT!

In a landmark decision, the European Court of Human Rights recently ordered Britain to destroy nearly 1 million DNA samples and fingerprints on its database – samples taken from children, people who had never been charged or people acquitted of crimes.

This is the most interesting section of the AP story.  Our very own Secretary of Homeland Security hasn’t given any of this any thought!   Doesn’t she know that the State Department suspended all family reunification  from Africa after discovering widespread fraud through DNA testing more than a year ago and that they are in the process of revising the whole program?  Most of us are expecting that DNA testing WILL BE EMPLOYED for at least family reunfication when the so-called P-3 program is reopened.  Napolitano acts like she doesn’t know about all this!

Concerned about potential fraud, the Bush administration launched a pilot DNA testing project in 2007 to vet applicants to a program that allows family members of African refugees already in the United States to join them.

The project, which wrapped up in March 2008, found an extremely high rate of fraud – 87 percent – among applicants claiming to be related to each other, the State Department said, and the resettlement program was suspended until those concerns could be addressed. The U.S. does not use genetic tests to try to prove nationality.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in London on Thursday that the U.S. has other ways of probing a person’s country of origin, such as testing language skills.

“I haven’t thought about it,” she said of the British attempt to match DNA to nationality. “We have a variety of ways we can use when we think someone is not telling the truth.”

Oh, and what might those be?

Burmese refugee workers strike, claim discrimination and turn to AFL-CIO

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I can’t resist saying, I told you so.   Here we have a case from Pennsylvania where recently resettled Burmese refugees have walked off the job with other American workers claiming wage discrimination and unsafe working conditions. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not disputing their claim, I suspect they do have miserable jobs and miserable living conditions, but who placed them in that situation—some do-gooder far left refugee resettlement agency/employment service in conjunction with the Obama State Department—NOT some evil conservative right-winger!

The article doesn’t tell us who resettled them, but like so many articles of this sort, the reader is left to assume they magically came to be in the vicinity of Pittsburgh on their own!      Here is a list of resettlement agencies in Pennsylvania, one of them brought the Burmese to this place of employment.

This is the story from the AFL-CIO News (what else!):

Aung Oo fled his native Burma with his family to escape the brutality, ethnic violence and repression of that country’s military dictatorship.

After being allowed to legally migrate to the United States under the refugee resettlement program, he faces another kind of oppression―working for an employer that pays him half what he should make and that forces him and his co-workers, both native and foreign, to work in unsafe conditions.

So on Sept. 8, Aung Oo and a U.S.-born employee, Tim Hand, went on strike against W&K Steel on behalf of all the other 35 workers in the plant, located in Rankin, Pa., just outside Pittsburgh. They are still on strike.

[…]

Several W&K workers described their experiences to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and spoke to a group of international labor leaders at the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh. The workers also will testify Nov. 13 at a National Workers’ Rights Hearing sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA). The hearing will be at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Talking with Trumka, one refugee told how he and his family of five live in a small two-bedroom apartment supplied by the company. He works an average of 50 hours a week and grosses approximately $25,000 annually, with overtime. Other workers say they are expected to run large presses and shears that cut steel beams, but have no guards to protect against severing fingers and hands.

The American-born workers at W&K don’t fare much better. They say they must endure unsafe working conditions, with workloads increasing and time to safely perform the tasks decreasing. They also say the company’s health plan is unaffordable and the pay is low.

Hand said he is on strike because the way workers, native and foreign, are treated is dangerous.

“… only to find themselves working in unjust conditions here!”   Who lined up the job for them?  Some refugee resettlement agency with the State Department’s help did!  And, they won’t be forced back to Burma—-it is maddening to see this type of distortion.  We don’t send refugees back when they don’t have jobs!  Heck, we hardly send them back if they have committed major crimes.

The Burmese refugees came to the United States to escape oppression, only to find themselves working in unjust conditions here, says Chad Rankin, an organizer with the Ironworkers and a member of the Three Rivers Coalition for Justice, which is assisting the workers.

“The refugees feared challenging the unsafe working environment, shoddy housing and substandard wages because they are afraid they will lose their jobs and be forced back to Burma,” Rankin says.

We are exploited!

Aung Oo says he is on strike because America is supposed to be a land of opportunity and equality.

I stood up and went on strike not only for myself but for all the refugee workers in the shop because our community is suffering. I know that we are exploited.

This is a strategy!  It has Alinsky (Rules for Radicals) written all over it!

I know for most of you its hard to comprehend, but I swear this is a strategy!   Far Leftwing progressives (or whatever you want to call them), bring in poor refugees and place them in horrible working conditions, then in a kind of ‘double-teaming’ the Far Left unions  (like the AFL-CIO and SEIU) ‘organize’ them, sign them up as members, and complain that evil capitalists are exploiting them!

Note to AFL-CIO:  In that upcoming hearing I hope you are honest and identify how these Burmese ‘came to be’ in that place of employment in the first place!  Name the resettlement agency!

Amherst, MA: Yes we will be happy to “resettle” Gitmo detainees…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…that is, assuming Congress lifts the ban on resettling (as refugees) Guantanamo Bay Muslims who were detained as enemy combatants.

Reported on MassLive.com:

AMHERST – After about 40 minutes of discussion, Town Meeting on Wednesday night approved a resolution supporting the resettlement of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the area if Congress repeals its ban allowing resettlement of detainees in this country.

Part of the resolution also urged Congress to repeal that ban.

The article, brought to Town Meeting by a petition campaign led by meeting member Ruth F. Hooke, received all kinds of national attention and nasty e-mails and calls to the Select Board, resulting in a police officer being posted at a recent Select Board meeting.

For more on this story, see my previous post here.