Columbus, Ohio Somalis: we want stuff from taxpayers

Update October 27th, 2012:  Questions raised about Somalis arriving by the busload to vote in Ohio, here.

Obviously assimilating very well to the dependency culture promoted by the political Leftwing in US politics, Somali leaders in Columbus, Ohio said they supported Obama but didn’t get enough stuff yet so they are out shopping their votes to those candidates who will cater to their community’s ‘needs’ rather than for the good of  the country as a whole.   It sure sounds like they have been well-trained by the ‘victim-centered’ ideology of governance promoted by ‘community organizers’ everywhere.

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The number of Somalis who have become citizens and are registered to vote in this area might be small – perhaps 11,000, maybe less – but candidates are reaching out to the growing voting bloc.

On Friday, Democrats including Ohio auditor hopeful David Pepper and local judicial candidates visited a candidates’ forum for the Somali community.

A similar forum was held on Saturday for Republicans, including Rep. Pat Tiberi and congressional candidate Steve Stivers.

In 2008, Somalis overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama, said Hassan Omar, who leads the Somali Community Association of Ohio.

But they haven’t seen their vote pay off for them, he said. Persistent unemployment, rising dropouts among Somali students and a declining level of social services and job training continue to harm the community, Omar said.

We are shopping our votes to the highest bidder.

“We want someone doing something for the Somali community.”

[….]

Some of the issues have festered for a while. Somali leaders said youths need more after-school programs. Also, leaders said it is still too difficult to wire money home to needy family members.

More afterschool programs?  Why not have a family member watch the kids after school, surely there is someone at home—not everyone is working.  Aren’t there afterschool programs like the Boys and Girls Clubs offer in most cities, or, do they want programs funded by taxpayers specifically for Somali kids?  For older ‘youths,’ don’t high schools in the area have clubs and sports after school?   And, to readers who don’t know, the reason it’s so hard to send money to Somalia is that there is ample evidence the money goes to terrorist activities whether advertently or inadvertently.

Columbus Somali population is growing.

Estimates of the area’s Somali population have ranged from 15,000 to 80,000. Hassan Omar’s group pegs it at 45,000.

That low number(15,000) has to be incorrect if they say there are 11,000 registered Somali voters, unless there are a lot of underage voters and a lot of non-citizens voting.  But, then again we heard in Kansas City that there may be more than a few Somalis voting who are not citizens.  Come to think of it, has anyone heard if there has been a ruling in that KC vote fraud case?

For new readers: We have admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US.   To check out the numbers visit this post, probably our most widely read post over the last few years.   In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you.

Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008.  See the latest on new regulations, here.

Surprise! One Lewiston, ME elementary school swamped with new Somali students

Montello Elementary School is in need of additional English language teachers to handle a wave of new immigrant students according to this article in the Sun Journal.   The “welcoming” city of Lewiston, Maine must be attracting even more secondary migrants (refugees resettled elsewhere who then move usually in order to be in enclaves with their own ethnic group).  

Which reminds me, last night on Fox News, panelists were discussing the comment by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in which she said multiculturalism wasn’t working in Germany because Muslims aren’t assimilating.  They mentioned France too.  Charles Krauthammer who I normally respect said the problem wasn’t happening in the US becuase Muslims are assimilating just fine.  Problem is, people like Krauthammer are living in the Washington, DC cocoon.   He doesn’t know about Lewiston, ME, Shelbyville, TN, Grand Island, NE, St. Cloud, MN, Jamestown, ND, and the other Somali Tuulas.

Back to Lewiston and the Sun Journal

LEWISTON — The number of immigrant students learning to speak English and who are behind their peers academically has grown this year at the Montello Elementary School.

That prompted the Lewiston School Committee on Monday to approve hiring a sixth English language learner teacher at Montello and one English language learner ed tech.

[….]

In asking for more help to teach immigrant students, mostly Somalis, Levesque (Superindentent of schools) said Lewiston has “a number of new ELL students who have arrived at Montello who are at a level one, who need more intensive instructional assistance.”

[….]

At Montello there are more English language learner students needing help compared to other elementary schools. At Montello there’s a total of 258 English language learner students, with 119 of them at level one (two or more years behind their peers).

[….]

Overall, Lewiston’s total English language learner elementary population is 661, up from 622 one year ago. The percentage of immigrant students at Montello is more than 20 percent.

They just showed up!

When asked why so many English language learner students attend Montello, Levesque said students typically go to school in the neighborhood where they live. “That’s where they live.” The students “are new kids to us, new arrivals,” he said.

[….]

Martin (Director of ELL) said the students were unexpected and “new to the district.”

We have dozens of posts on Lewiston, ME, please use our search function to learn more.

Update:  If I had know how widely read this post would be, I would have added this below initially.

For new readers: We have admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US.   To check out the numbers visit this post, probably our most widely read post over the last few years.   In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you.

Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008.  See the latest on new regulations, here.

Thirty arrested in Oklahoma food stamp fraud busts

Unfortunately the article only tells us about two of the thirty busted in the scam.  Maybe they are the big fish—an Ethiopian immigrant ripped off US taxpayers to the tune of $1.2 million and the Pakistani got $650,000 before they were busted.

From NewsOK:

A massive food stamp fraud investigation culminated this week with the arrest of about 30 people from 22 stores in the Oklahoma City metro area.

Law enforcement investigators and officers swept through the metro area Wednesday and Thursday making the arrests, said Sheree Powell, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

Details of the investigation remain sketchy, but the names of two of the individuals charged were made public Thursday after the unsealing of multiple-count indictments in Oklahoma City federal court.

Store owners Muluneh Zeleke and Muhammad Zahid are accused of defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program out of more than $1.8 million.

The program is commonly referred to by its former food stamp program name.

Zeleke, the 54-year-old owner of Z&Z Convenience Store at 2445 N Martin Luther King Ave. in Oklahoma City, is accused of conspiring with clerks and food stamp recipients to defraud the federal food stamp program out of more than $1.2 million.

[…..]

Also charged in a federal indictment was Zahid, 28, of Edmond, who was identified as the owner of Ghani Mart at 2719 NE 23 in Oklahoma City.

Zahid, who was born in Pakistan, is accused of using an almost identical scheme to defraud the food stamp program out of more than $650,000.

Where are the investigative reporters!  This is one more in a long and sorry line of these food stamp fraud busts and they all follow a similar pattern involving legal immigrants.   I’m convinced the starting place is the E-2 Treaty Investor program which I most recently highlighted here back in April.   Both Ethiopia and Pakistan are on the allowed countries list for this special visa, here.

Meanwhile food stamp use is way up in Oklahoma.   Remember too that there is the other side to this crime—the seller of the stamps to the convenience store is also a criminal!  I bet the use goes up when people realize they can turn their stamps in for cash with the help of the convenience store fraudsters.

For new readers, I’ve posted dozens of stories like this one.  Use our search function for ‘food stamp fraud’ to find more.  And, by the way, for those of you who think I’m selecting the immigrant cases on purpose, I’m not.  In three years I have seen this type of big food stamp fraud involving exchanging cash for stamps perpetrated by someone with a traditional American name only possibly once.   I truly believe there is some sort of international network that establishes these convenience store rip-offs.  That’s why some enterprising investigative reporter should jump on this—-if there are any such investigators left in the journalism profession.

Handy resource: National Governors Association policy position on immigration…

….and on refugees.

Since we are about to elect a new bunch of governors this is a good time to mention again that the National Governors Association has a lengthy and quite good policy statement on immigration and on the refugee program.  Of course, two of the biggest concerns involving refugees are consultation with local communities (very rarely happens) and unfunded mandates.

See the latest version that I have (there may be a 2010 document now too, so if you are aware of it, let me know).

This is filed in our ‘where to find information’ category.

Merkel: Multiculturalism has failed in Germany

Thanks to three readers for forwarding me this piece from the BBC yesterday in which Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, says that lack of assimilation by mostly Turkish and Arab immigrants is the cause of growing social unease in Germany.

Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have “utterly failed”, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

She said the so-called “multikulti” concept – where people would “live side-by-side” happily – did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate – including learning German.

The comments come amid rising anti-immigration feeling in Germany.

A recent survey suggested more than 30% of people believed the country was “overrun by foreigners”.

The study – by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank – also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany’s immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for its social benefits.

In typical politician fashion however Merkel goes on to tell her audience of mostly younger members of her political party that immigrants are still welcome—they just need to learn German quickly and not separate themselves from society by creating the well-known Muslim ‘no go zones.’    Good luck with that.

Read the whole story.