Month: May 2010

Somaliland Press: A Canadian and an American are involved in planning attacks in Somaliland

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Somaliland is an autonomous region of Somalia that has been relatively stable (as I write that I don’t want to give readers the impression that everything is peachy there).  Late last week the Somaliland Press reported that Somalis who are naturalized Americans and Canadians are involved in planning attacks to disrupt elections in Somaliland.  This is a really complicated story and I have no intention of wading into the morass of East African political turmoil, but I found this of interest when the author charges Americans (and Canadians) of being involved.

From Somaliland Press:

A Canadian and an American of Somali nationals, among other nationalities, with al-Shabab terrorists plan a massive violent campaign against Somaliland polling stations in June 2010. A Canadian and an American! Hard to belief, isn’t it? Not only is it hard to swallow that some of the individuals gearing up for a showdown with Somaliland security forces live in the heart of Canada and U.S., but also these warmongers would slip back to Canada and U.S. without any problems. What is more upsetting is that both Canada and U.S. hypocritically scream about terrorist threats against their nations while they remain oblivious of their citizens fomenting a destructive campaign in Somaliland and elsewhere.

[….]

How unfair and cruel is it for the people of Somaliland in general and for the victims of Buhodle town in particular that these American and Canadian individuals to inflict destruction in a region that is already destitute and then slip back to their comfort zones: U.S. and Canada?

I hope our Homeland Security officials have enough sense to stop them as they enter the US.  As a matter of fact, they should stop any American Somali who travels back and forth to Somaliland.  If they are here because they have escaped persecution, then they shouldn’t be zipping back and forth to East Africa!

Canada will decide if Bosnian murderer will be deported

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a long convoluted story from “welcoming” Canada.  A man claiming to be a persecuted Bosnian Muslim was granted refugee status in Calgary, Canada more than a decade ago.  Now evidence has surfaced that he likely murdered business associates in his home country in 1992.

From the Montreal Gazette:

Pobric (Elvir Pobric) arrived in Montreal as a fearful Muslim escaping the bloody civil war erupting around him in Bosnia in 1999.

Clutching a letter from the Red Cross documenting his internment camp release, Pobric asked Canadian immigration officials to save him from religious and ethnic persecution at the hands of Serbians by granting him refugee protection.

Canada has stripped him of his refugee status saying essentially that the country seeking his extradition is a Muslim country and so he is not being persecuted for his religion.

The arrest warrant was issued by Bosnia-Herzegovina, not Serbia, Bosnia’s wartime enemy, board officials said.

“There is no basis to suppose or conclude that those ordinary civil authorities . . . would seek the arrest and return because he is Bosniak or a Bosnian Muslim,” board officials ruled.

The government of  Bosnia-Herzegovina will get him as soon as Canada gives the final deportation order.

Now, after spending a year in custody, Pobric is stripped of his refugee and permanent residency status. Officials at the Bosnia-Herzegovina embassy said they will issue travelling documents within two weeks of being asked.

Read the whole story about this fake refugee.

Here we go again! This time it’s Ansonia, CT

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I had completely missed this story back in March and only learned about the problems developing in Ansonia, CT while reading Friends of Refugees blog yesterday.

I’m incensed for two reasons.  First, this Connecticut town was obviously not told in advance that the International Institute of Connecticut was bringing Bhutanese (not that it matters that they are Bhutanese) refugees to their town (see also my post yesterday about the tens of thousands of Bhutanese brought to the US this year already).  And, secondly, I’m livid because there is no mention in these stories that the International Institute in Waterbury, CT was closed by the US State Department  a couple of years ago for leaving mostly Burmese refugees living in squalor and their needs not attended to until church people in Waterbury stepped in to rescue the refugees.

I’ll get to the latest story from Ansonia shortly, but here is the first story I missed in March.  I have been ranting for years that towns need to be included in the planning process BEFORE refugees arrive.  This obviously did not happen in Ansonia.

Why was Ansonia picked?

One political leader in Ansonia is concerned that having the families relocated here will mean more strain on already tight resources in town.

“Why was Ansonia, when we need so much help here ourselves, why was this picked as a place to bring other people who need help?” said Republican Town Committee Chairwoman Joan Radin. “I don’t understand how you can bring people into an area where people are already depressed.”

Radin said she isn’t against helping people, but she’s concerned that valuable job training programs would be directed toward the refugees instead of Valley residents.

Radin is also concerned that the children in the families will put a strain on the school system, which is already struggling to meet state demands for student achievement levels.

“I think it’s wonderful to help people — don’t get me wrong,” Radin said. “But when you’re already in a position when you can’t help anymore, what do you do?”

Dear Ms. Radin, your town was picked in a secret process just outside of Washington, DC where these government contractors like the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (the parent organization of IIC) sit around a table and literally put pins in a map.

There is no apparent rhyme or reason for their choices of resettlement cities (except that some are working directly with employers to bring them cheap labor, others want to add to the Democratic voter roles).  They just obviously hope to slip in the refugees before anyone gets wind of it, then they will call you and your town “unwelcoming” for saying just what you have said.  They are required by law to consult with your town (see Manchester, NH post) and maybe in Ansonia they found a couple of  social justice churches and a few Far Left political leaders with whom to “consult.”  But consultation is a sham!

And, then this is really disturbing!   They wanted a small town feel!

IIC has resettled refugees in Connecticut before, Mackwell said. Through experience, the organization has determined that a big city like Waterbury or Bridgeport is not always the best place for resettlement.

They were just not good places for refugees,” Mackwell said. “We were looking for a small town feel.”

THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CONNECTICUT WAS CLOSED BY THE US STATE DEPARTMENT IN WATERBURY FOR NOT CARING FOR REFUGEES  IN THE MANNER REQUIRED BY THEIR STATE DEPARTMENT CONTRACT (yes, that is me shouting!). Thanks to a sympathetic church community, a dogged willingness to investigate by the Waterbury paper, The Republican-American, and one tough brave reporter, the scandal was exposed.  See my post on the closure here two years ago in May 2008.   We had learned by experience we needed a small town feel—what a bunch of bunk!  They were shut down in Waterbury!

You know what else is stunning?  Ansonia and Waterbury are 16 miles apart and the scandal in Waterbury is only two years old but it seems that the people of Ansonia don’t know what happened in Waterbury with refugees and you can bet the IIC isn’t going to inform them!

Now to the May 7th Valley Independent Sentinel report from Ansonia.  We have no room in our schools and our community cannot afford it!

Ansonia —School officials are worried they won’t be able to adequately educate a group of refugees that have arrived in Ansonia from Nepal.

This week the city’s tax board recommended a zero-percent increase for the school district.

At a school board meeting Wednesday, school Superintendent Carol Merlone worried about the combination of low funding and refugee students in the district.

School officials said the school district only has one English as a Second Language teacher per school. They’re worried about the ESL teachers being overwhelmed due to the arrival of the refugee students who do not speak English.

While the new students have been welcomed with open arms into the district, “We don’t want to overburden the school system,” the superintendent said. “I’m worried about children getting gypped.”

Refugee families have been arriving in the lower Valley since March. In all, about 10 families are expected to arrive by June.

Why aren’t refugees going to nearby larger and richer towns? Because the political powers-that-be will make sure they aren’t in their back yards.   Ted Kennedy created this program in 1980 and none have been resettled in Hyannis Port in the three decades since!

School officials wanted to know why it seems all the families are arriving in Ansonia, where the school district already faces a number of challenges, including large class sizes.

To date, no refugee students have been placed in the neighboring Derby school district.

Marshall (IIC spokesperson) said there is an oversight committee has strict criteria in deciding where to place refugees.* Number one on the list — “Housing rates have to be low,” he said.

Representatives from Marshall’s organization told the Valley Indy in March that they were looking to place people outside major cities. The refugees assimilate better in smaller communities that have accessible public transportation.

“There is an overflow of refugees already set up in Waterbury and Bridgeport,” Marshall told the school board.

While there is another refugee family due to arrive in Ansonia next week, Marshall said it is unclear whether more families will be coming to Ansonia.

About four members of the public spoke on the refugee issue. Most of the speakers expressed concerns about the situation.

* This oversight committee is just a bunch of non-profit types setting the agenda for your town.  There is NO FEDERAL REQUIREMENT for a town to take refugees.  This is just a lie that they try to sell to unsuspecting communities where people want to be kind and welcoming, but question the logic behind placing refugees in their financially overburdened towns.   The federal government could be slowing the flow of refugees right now as our economy struggles, but the Obama Administration is aiming for the highest number of refugees this federal year since 9/11.  Does that make any sense to any thinking person?

Ansonia, you can say NO! You should be aware that other towns have done so already.  For more on overloaded cities saying NO, contact me, Ann@vigilantfreedom.com

Courtroom outburst in Utah refugee murder case halts proceedings

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I had wondered what ever happened in the case of the little Burmese girl murdered in March 2008 by a fellow refugee in a Salt Lake City housing complex for refugees.  Hat tip: a friend from the UK.

Yesterday, all those assembled in the courtroom, expecting to hear the accused murderer plead guilty and be sentenced, were shocked and dismayed by his outburst in which he claimed he was innocent.

From the Salt Lake Tribune*:

A Burmese refugee accused of killing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo two years ago angrily denied his guilt in court on Friday.

“I was forced by the authorities here to say that I did it, but I didn’t kill,” said Esar Met, according to an interpreter for the girl’s family, who translated the statement for The Tribune .

Hser Ner Moo’s family, who traveled from Iowa for Friday’s hearing, had been told Met would plead guilty and be sentenced, the interpreter said.

But when Met’s attorney told the judge they had reached a resolution in the case, Met, whose legs and hands had been shaking, shook his head to the contrary. Met then spoke passionately in Burmese, after which his attorneys requested a break so they could confer with Met.

About an hour later, 3rd District Court Judge Judith Atherton returned to the bench and defense attorney Michael Peterson said, “There are inquiries we need to make and then report back.”

I’m not surprised to learn that the little girl’s parents had moved from Salt Lake City where their lives had taken a tragic turn.  See my post of October 2008 about the family’s grief 6 months after the murder (links in here to original postings also).

Following Met’s courtroom outburst, Hser Ner Moo’s parents, Pearlly Wa and Cartoon Wah, wiped away tears. They moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, last fall, overwhelmed with frustration about the stalled case.

Met, believed to be 23 years old, is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping for allegedly beating, sexually assaulting and strangling the girl at his South Salt Lake City apartment on March 31, 2008.

I am assuming from this segment of the article that Hser Ner Moo did not know her killer before arriving in the US.

Esar Met and Hser Ner Moo lived in separate parts of the same refugee camp for Burmese refugees in Thailand before immigrating to the United States, where both lived at the South Parc Townhomes…

Read the whole article. There are many more details than we have seen previously.

* The Salt Lake Tribune is one of the few newspaper in the country willing to do thorough and careful reporting on the refugee resettlement program and we have cited articles from it on many occasions.  Search RRW for ‘Salt Lake City’ for many articles on the difficulties there with too many refugee.

Saudi Arabia throws out more Somalis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That bastion of Muslim charity, Saudi Arabia, has deported another 100 Somalis—they just fly them back to Mogadishu and drop them off—bringing total numbers of deported fellow Muslims into the thousands.   So where is Michael the Apologizer  Posner now?  He was busy badmouthing Arizona to the Chinese, but is surprisingly silent on Saudi Arabia.

The double standard drives me nuts! Just remember it was the UNHCR that was saying here in June of last year that the historic tradition of charity toward refugees comes from Islam!   Sorry but that is just B.S. as Saudi Arabia demonstrates AGAIN!

The United Nations refugee agency is calling on all states to stop forcibly deporting Somali asylum seekers whose lives might be in danger if they are returned home. Officials with the refugee agency say they are very concerned about Saudi Arabia’s recent deportations of Somalis.

The U.N. refugee agency says it is not safe to send Somali asylum seekers home. Agency officials say all deportations to Somalia must stop given the precarious situation in the country.

[….]

Fleming (UN Spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming) notes Saudi Arabia has not ratified the 1951 International Refugee Convention. But, she adds, this does not absolve Saudi Arabia of its international obligations to protect people in distress.

[….]

We have been undertaking a very intense diplomatic effort with Saudi Arabia,” she said. “This has not been the first deportation. In fact, this has been ongoing for several months. We are talking about numbers that could be as many as 4,000 who have been returned by Saudi Arabia over the past year.”

I repeat, where is Posner?