Month: April 2010

St. Cloud, MN again!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Trying to dash through a backlog of posts this morning here are two more stories from troubled and apparently immigrant-overloaded St. Cloud, MN.   For new readers wishing to learn more about St. Cloud’s problems, use our search function for ‘St. Cloud’ or if you just want to read one earlier post, read this one from two weeks ago.

The first article you should see today is posted here at Jihad Watch.  A young man faces civil charges for posting a sign considered anti-Islamic.  Read about it at Jihad Watch. No wonder people are riled up in St. Cloud!

Update:  Maybe the poster maker could be let off the hook to join “Everybody draw Mohammed day!” May 20th!  Update April 26th:  Cartoonist chickens out, but others pick up the baton and continue plans for that special day.

Sudanese refugee woman arrested for killing toddler son

Whew!  I repeat, no wonder some of the citizens of St. Cloud are upset with the influx of refugees.  From the St. Cloud Times.

The father of a 22-month-old boy who died in what has been ruled a homicide said he saw the child’s mother beat the boy in the past and has expressed concern about the mother’s mental health status.

Gatluak Kuan Jerweng, who lives and attends school in Iowa, told investigators Nyachuol Lungdicok Poch had beaten Duach Makuach on numerous occasions, according to a child-protection petition filed after the April 12 death of Makuach. Jerweng told investigators he was unable to stop Poch from beating Makuach and he “compared her to Andrea Yates,” the Texas woman who killed her five children by drowning them in a bathtub.

Poch is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of her son. Stearns County District Court Judge Thomas Knapp ordered Poch held in lieu of $1 million bail at her first court hearing Monday. Poch is next due in court April 26.

Get this, the father, Jerweng, lived in another state (what! so she and the kids would get welfare?), claims she frequently mistreated the kids (where was he every day, oh yeh, in another state), claims she threatened him, claims she killed the boy because he looked like him, Jerweng.  And on top of it all—she is 8 months pregnant.

In cities with high immigrant populations calling 911 becomes a problem

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have this massive backlog of stories I should have posted, so I’m going to try to dash through a bunch of articles in my queue this  morning.  Here is an article from Ft. Wayne, Indiana a city we reported on just two days ago here, about how challenging it is for local law enforcement and emergency people to understand what refugees, in this case the Burmese, are asking.

From the Journal Gazette:

Dawn McGahen doesn’t remember taking calls from Burmese-speaking people when she was hired as a Fort Wayne police dispatcher in 1995. Dispatchers now take dozens of these calls each year.

As the number of Burmese refugees in the city has grown, so has the need for Burmese-speaking police officers and dispatchers. But the department has no officers who speak Burmese, and all dispatchers speak only English.

Read on.

I’ve heard some incredible stories over the last few years of the things refugees call 911 for, and wonder if this isn’t a role for the resettlement agencies.  Shouldn’t they be teaching the basics, including dealing with an emergency, in the early months of a refugee’s resettlement?  This responsibility shouldn’t fall completely on the city.  Or, is this another of those unfunded mandates coming down from Washington?

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!