Day: January 12, 2010

Comment worth noting: the system is failing Iraqi refugees in Houston

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update January 17th:  For unhappy Iraqi refugees, here is where you can send your complaints.  Start with the Iraqi Embassy!

State Department!  What are you thinking!  The system is crashing.  Whether in Pittsburgh, PA, or Bowling Green, KY or Greensboro, NC or Ft. Wayne, IN and now Houston, TX, it cannot be sustained in its present form.  And, although they are contributing factors, it isn’t just about a lack of funds and scarce jobs—these volags appear to be completely unsupervised!   They surely aren’t following any Operational Guidance from the State Department.

Here is a comment we received today (to this older post) and the comment needs to be brought front and center; it is that important.  From Nicolinahawaii:

I work with Iraqi refugees in Houston, and one of our Houston refugees just had this awful experience.

The agency apparently didn’t have the money to pay his full rent, so they just kept telling him they were taking care of it, not to worry, until last Wednesday when they made it known that they hadn’t been and couldn’t pay the rent, so he was given a surprise eviction notice, three days to move out, and no leads on what to do next. All the agency would tell him is, “I’m sorry. We can’t help you.” Not, I’m sorry–we should have prepared you–or chosen for you an apartment that we could afford.

The Iraqi refugee in question told me that when he was in the agency office (Multicultural Alliance for Community Affairs), another refugee was in there. She arrived in the USA, and 16 days later, her husband died. The agency couldn’t pay her rent either, so now she is facing eviction.

And since the agency is not responsible for the refugees after 4 months, it’s not their problem if these refugees now have ruined credit histories because of these evictions, if they become homeless now, or if they succeed or return back to their war-torn countries.

It is truly appalling.

The same agency also apparently didn’t have the money to pay for the taxi ride from the airport to the apartments for one of our other new families, and so, in their first hour in America, the Iraqi family was asked to pay out of their meager personal cash supply just so they could get to their apartments. [Readers should know that this is a basic requirement of the volag—the refugees are to be met at the airport and taken to their apartment where food must be available.]

Something is wrong if the agency can’t even afford to get refugees from the airport to their housing.

Out of the 40 Iraqi families at just our apartment complex, probably half are unemployed and the agencies (except YMCA and Interfaith) seem to not be able to find employment for their refugees.

The refugees have told me, “We are destroyed.”

Note to readers:  I know we have readers with wildly varying views on the refugee program in general, but I am sure everyone reading this agrees, or I hope you all do!  We should have an open and vigorous debate about this program, how many refugees are admitted and from what cultures, but once they are here it is imperative that they be cared for until they get on their feet.  Afterall, they were encouraged to come to the US, and we can’t blame them for believing the promises.

I simply don’t get it!  How can this be happening everywhere (at least it seems like everywhere!)?  It is unconscionable!

Where is Matthew Lee—that is what I want to know!   For new readers Lee is (was?) an Associated Press reporter who reported every month during the end of the Bush Administration—bashing Bush clearly at the behest of his buddies in the refugee industry and bemoaning the small numbers of Iraqis being admitted to the US.  Well, the Iraqis are here and some of the same agencies that lobbied hard to get them here are now letting them down!

I’m reminded of the Iraqi boy wise beyond his years!    I told you about him in September of 2008, here.   He summed up his observations about the unhappy situation with Iraqi refugees in a letter to the editor to the Tucson Citizen with this line:

It is better to have 10 Iraqi refugees who are satisfied with their lives than having 100 angry ones with no life at all.

Frankly, the State Department should be readying airlifts home for any refugee profoundly angry or unhappy (paid for out of the funds of the volag that didn’t do its job)!

Tony Blankley on the elites’ denial of the Islamic threat

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Tony Blankley has an excellent column in the Washington Times today titled Governing class: Elites or idiots? His answer, unsurprisingly, is “idiots.” It begins:

Anti-anti-Islamic radical -ism is growing among Western elites. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood Islamist terror attack on our troops by United States Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan and the Christmas Day airline Islamist terror attack attempt, it is becoming ever more obvious that there is a widening gap between public common sense and governing class idiocy when it comes to spottingIslamist danger in our midst – and doing something about it.

Why are they such idiots? He explains that American and European elites in government, the academy, journalism and foreign policy believe that “radical Muslims are the victims of Western bigotry and cultural hostility — rather than, primarily, the other way round.” And the policies promoted by such elites are based on this idiotic belief.

It’s well worth reading the whole article. Blankley’s thesis certainly explains why we have let in 80,000-plus Somalis without a qualm as well as various other potentially dangerous Muslim refugees. He wrote the column in response to a spate of recent articles “that mostly sneer at even a discussion of the threat,” as one of the sneerees: His 2005 book, The Wests’ Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations?, predicted several subsequent events such as Muslim attacks and riots, and the growing acceptance of Sharia law in the West. It’s on our list of recommended books, which you can look at here.

The subhead of the article: Remember in November to vote for common sense. I second the motion.

Jamal is leaving for the UN; replacement chosen for MN Somali Justice Advocacy Center

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It is confirmed, the Somali ‘Jesse Jackson,’ Omar Jamal, is leaving Minneapolis to take a position at the United Nations.  This is one of those American (Somali “refugee”) rags to riches stories—you know—someone originally convicted of immigration fraud for getting into the US illegally and in a few short years he is representing Somalia at the UN. (Makes you wonder what citizenship he holds, doesn’t it?)

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has announced his replacement.

A Minneapolis social studies teacher who once served as a chief of staff to a Somali president has been appointed director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.

Dahir Mirreh Jibreel, 56, replaces Omar Jamal, who has taken a job with the Permanent Mission of the Somali Republic to the United Nations in New York City.

Jibreel will begin work immediately.

The Somali Justice Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization whose primary role is to advocate for the local Somali community “on a variety of issues,” Jibreel said.

He takes over as Minneapolis police continue to investigate last week’s triple homicide, in which two of the victims were Somalis and the two suspects arrested over the weekend are believed to be Somalis.

An estimated 50,000 to 75,000 Somalis live in the Twin Cities area, making it home to the largest concentration of Somali immigrants in the U.S.

“We will start our own mission and our own program and our own goals for the organization and we will start fresh,” Jibreel said.

Readers who wish to peruse all of our coverage of Jamal’s career need only type ‘Omar Jamal’ into our search function for your reading pleasure.  Jamal has been  involved in talking to reporters on so many issues I can’t name them all.  He dashed off to NYC to defend the Somali pirate, he was right there in Denver talking to the authorities about the Canadian Somali who was found dead in a hotel room with enough cyanide to kill hundreds just before the Democratic National Convention in 2008.  Not a terrorist, just a nut, Jamal told the FBI.  And, and he was right in the middle of the Somali missing youth case (gone to Jihad every one) from the beginning.

Funny thing is, I don’t find any record of The Somali Justice Advocacy Center being anything more than a one-man operation.  Granted it is filed with the State of Minnesota as a non-profit, here.  Looks like $35 and a simple form will get you filed.  But, Guidestar lists the address as Jamal’s and has no supporting documents—no IRS Letter of Determination, no Form 990’s.  So what is up with that?  Who funded Jamal? Who is funding the  new guy?  Does anyone know?

Bottomline, come up with a group name, file with the state and then tell reporters , law enforcement, etc. that you represent your community.  It is as simple as that!

I wonder if the new guy is planning on applying for an Ethnic Community Based Organization grant from the ORR?   Those federal grants are not available to anyone who has been convicted of a crime!