Day: April 24, 2010

Canada: Immigration judge found guilty in sex for refugee status determination

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That’s what the headline in the National Post tells us, but something doesn’t seem right with this story.  I think the judge may well have had inappropriate designs on this South Korean woman seeking asylum in Canada, but there’s a line in here that sounds fishy.

TORONTO — A former immigration adjudicator and Toronto city councilor has been convicted of offering to write a favourable refugee claim in exchange for sexual relations.

Steve Ellis, 50, was found guilty Wednesday morning of one count of breach of trust under the Criminal Code and also of illegally seeking a benefit contrary to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman concluded that it was clear that Ellis was seeking to trade sex for a positive ruling when he met with Ji Hye Kim at a Toronto coffee shop in September 2006.

I was planning to just post this as straight news, but here’s where the story starts to smell.

The central piece of evidence at the trial was an audio and video recording of the meeting, made by Ms. Kim and her boyfriend (now husband) Brad Tripp.

The pristine quality recording was played in court during the trial and showed Ellis talking about how he wanted to help Ms. Kim, even though refugee claimants from South Korea are rarely successful.  

There seems to have been no overt proposition.

She obviously married the Canadian guy (I’m guessing Tripp is Canadian) and thus got her immigration status secured.  Why did she need to go through this judge to seek asylum from of all places, South Korea?  Was this a sting from the beginning?

Then notice the couple went to the media with their “pristine” tape recording before seeing the police.  Hmmmm?

Ms. Kim was accused by Mr. Rosen (the lawyer for the judge) during the trial of being willing “to do anything” to get her status as a legal immigrant in Canada, which she adamantly denied. He noted that the couple approached the media with the recording of the meeting, before speaking to police.

There is surely more to this story!

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Will he or won’t he?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update April 28th:  Good op-ed here on the Arizona law. Author suggests to counter boycott of Arizona that everyone who supports the law should visit or spend money in Arizona.

In light of the measure signed into law in Arizona yesterday which allows police officers in that state to arrest illegal aliens, President Obama seems on the verge of pushing the on-again-off-again amnesty legislation this year. 

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday warned that without federal immigration reform the door would be open to “misguided efforts” such as a new Arizona law that has raised questions of civil rights.

Obama pressed for immigration reform at a White House Rose Garden ceremony in which 24 members of the U.S. military originally from China, Mexico, Ethiopia and other countries became American citizens.

“Today we celebrate the very essence of the country that we all love — an America where so many of our forbearers came from someplace else,” said Obama, whose father was Kenyan.

“And so on a day like this, we are also reminded of how we must remain both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” he said. “This includes fixing America’s broken immigration system.”

Just hours after Obama singled out the Arizona measure as threatening “to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans,” the state’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer signed into effect the toughest immigration law in the United States.

Meanwhile, Gateway Pundit tells us that by a large majority Arizona voters approve of the strong measure.

To our critics who wonder what this has to do with legal refugees, here is my answer.  All of the federal contractors whose job it is to resettle refugees and find them homes and jobs are busy lobbying for so-called Comprehensive Immigration Reform (and were involved in the recent open borders march).  Are they also using our tax dollars earmarked for refugee resettlement for their politcal activities?

And, would someone please explain to me how giving amnesty to millions of illegal aliens will help legal refugees find jobs.

Update:  Here we go!  A bunch of agencies that have federal contracts to take care of refugees are blasting the Arizona law that is all about coming into the country ILLEGALLY.   I don’t know why they don’t focus on taking good care of their legal refugees! The only thing I can figure is that they figure if millions are legalized overnight they will be getting more of your tax dollars for programs for the newly legalized.  I’m sorry to say, that old axiom—follow the money—seems to apply here too!

Forget South Africa! White nationalist lawyer murdered in Mississippi by black neighbor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Note to readers!  I am not relating this to anything involving refugees (except maybe white ones)!  But, because I have written about the trouble on-going in South Africa, about the Brandon Huntley case, a white South African seeking refugee status in Canada, and most importantly because I have written about Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and his recent campaign to ‘out’ racists, you should see this story from Mississippi.

Although the murder happened two days ago,  I haven’t seen it in the national news yet, have you?

From AP:

PEARL, Miss. — A white supremacist lawyer known for riding his bicycle around his quiet, rural neighborhood was stabbed and beaten to death by a black neighbor who had done yard work for him, police said today.

A preliminary autopsy showed Richard Barrett, 67, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and bashed in the head, Rankin County Sheriff Ronnie Pennington said. He had burns over 35 percent of his body, though investigators believe he was killed Wednesday night and his house set on fire Thursday to cover up his death.

Pennington did not disclose a motive but said neighbor Vincent McGee, 22, was charged with murder Thursday and deputies charged three other people in the case Friday. Albert Lewis, McGee’s stepfather, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, while Vicky and Michael Dent, who live nearby, are charged with being accessories after the fact and arson.

Barrett had founded an organization called the Nationalist Movement.

Then here is the most interesting part of this article as far as I’m concerned.  Check out who AP goes to as the expert—-Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center!  I just this week listened to him railing against the Patriot movement on the Laura Ingraham show where he charged that what he called their hate-filled language was going to cause violence.   Here is the big question, does the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate-filled language against certain white groups and its attacks on individuals cause violence on those they ‘out’ as racists?

If this weren’t such a horrible case, what Potok says here is funny.

Barrett traveled the country to promote anti-black and anti-immigrant views and founded a supremacist group called the Nationalist Movement. He had a knack for publicity but little real influence, one expert said. [AP–get another ‘expert’]

“Richard Barrett was a guy who ran around the country essentially pulling off publicity stunts,” said Mark Potok, who monitors hate groups for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. “He really never amounted to any kind of leader in the white supremacist movement.”

I don’t know if Barrett had any influence or not, but it looks like Potok is trying really hard to say he was just a bit player so therefore his murder couldn’t possibly be linked to any words coming from the SPLC.  Huh?

By the way, Potok says Barrett pulled off “publicity stunts”—I guess Potok knows full well how to spot those.

But, interestingly, in just a minute or two I found two places where the SPLC took Barrett pretty seriously—here on their website in an essay about how the nationalist movement was serious and in a lawsuit they participated in against him.  From the wikipedia page:

In 1987, the Nationalist Movement won a lawsuit in which the Southern Poverty Law Center alleged that it had violated the Civil Rights Act.

I bet a little research would turn up many such confrontations between the SPLC and Barrett or his organization.

Believe me, I am the last person who would point a finger at someone using words to make their argument.  I don’t believe the ‘words create violence’ theory being thrown around by the SPLC or Bill Clinton against Tea Partiers and Patriots or anyone, but what drives me insane is the hypocrisy of people like Potok who espouse the theory —but don’t you dare charge them with the same crime!

Oh, and on that hypocrisy thing.  Imagine if this was the murder of a black lawyer at the SPLC  by a white neighbor  in  a Southern town, the  mainstream media would have 24/7 coverage for a week or more and Potok would be parading from one news show to the next from morning till night with a sanctimonious I told you so attitude!