Day: February 9, 2011

Omar Sufi gets five years for food stamp scam….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..and must pay $400,000 in restitution for ripping off the US taxpayer and sending your money around the world. I guess he must have thought Obama was too slow in redistributing the wealth.  This is an update on a story I posted here in October.

From Michigan’s News Channel 3:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A Grand Rapids business owner has been sentenced to five years in prison for food stamp fraud.

29-year-old Omar Sufi will also pay more than $400,000 in restitution.

Omar and his brother Mohamed owned Halal Depot in Grand Rapids. Both admitted to purposely defrauding the food stamp program for their personal gain.

A judge sentenced Omar on Wednesday. Mohamed will learn his sentence on Monday.

Prosecutors say the two men redeemed electronic food stamps and took 30 percent commissions.

The Sufis are also accused of sending thousands of dollars overseas to businesses not licensed to receive money transfers.

So what do you think the odds are that he will ever pay back the $400,000?

In light of that 2001 Supreme Court decision I told you about this a.m.,  in five years he will be back on the street.

Use our search function for more information on Food Stamp Fraud—lots of similar stories.

Where do I voice my concerns about the refugee program?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s probably been two months since a couple of readers asked me where they could voice complaints and concerns about the refugee program.  Sorry, I’m finally getting around to answering (this isn’t so much fun to write about compared to some other stories!).

You can forget about complaining to the Volags (the supposed voluntary agencies that are funded with your tax dollars).  They will not listen.

Although he should be part of your repertoire for filing complaints, the US State Department, Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration won’t listen either—he is a hardcore Leftist ideologue on George Soros’ team—and won’t likely answer your concerns.

Most states have state coordinators.  You can let them know how you feel.   And, of course don’t forget to try to get your local media involved—an uphill battle because most are now so politically correct and raising any question about this program will get you labeled a racist, but don’t be deterred that is their tried and true strategy to silence good questions.   [An aside:  one of the reasons we write RRW is to balance the media puff pieces we see so frequently about anything to do with refugees—you know, we gotta balance the ‘refugees see first snow’ type of stories. You can’t make good policy decisions unless all the facts are known.]

But….

The State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement in Health and Human Services will sit up and listen if a Member of Congress or a US Senator is on their case (your tax money is the lifeblood of refugee resettlement and Congress holds the purse strings).  So readers with concerns about the program must reach your own Representative or US Senators.  As a matter of fact, there is a new report out from the Congressional Research Service seeking to answer the many concerns voters have already expressed to their members of Congress.  It is dated January 4th and you should write and request a copy (US Refugee Resettlement Assistance) from your Congressman.   Unfortunately after addressing a litany of questions that must have been going in to the Congressional Research Service, one glaring omission in its final recommendations is the option of severely cutting the number of refugees entering the US in a recession!

One of the big concerns mentioned in the report was the virtual non-existence of any consultation with local governments about refugees being resettled in large numbers in some locations.

And, this is very important.  If you write to the Asst. Secretary of State, be sure to cc: your letter to your Member of Congress and both of your US Senators.

Find your Representative here.   Find your US Senators here.

More important than just writing to your elected officials (write to governors too), is to put pressure on them otherwise. Visit them at home offices, write letters to the editor, contact influential campaign donors and others who share your concerns about large numbers of immigrants entering the country.

Keep on top of the issues in Congress.

A good place to check in daily is MicEvHill (a pro-migration blog, but a good source of what they are thinking and what is happening in Congress).   Here is the February archive (you have to scroll down the whole month).   Note that the open borders gang are not happy with the direction of the “immigrant restrictionists” in the House Judiciary Committee now that the Republicans control the House.

By the way, if your Representative or one of your Senators sits on the Judiciary Committee, its especially important for you to contact them with concerns and reform suggestions for refugee resettlement. 

House Judiciary Committee

I see the Senate Judiciary Committee doesn’t have its subcommittee assignments.  But the full committee is here.

Hope that helps.  Take those comments you are sending my way and turn them into letters to your elected representatives. 

ND case shines light on 2001 Supreme Court decision

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The bottomline of the Supreme Court decision in Zadvydas v. Davis is that an alien who has committed crimes that would normally require an order of deportation cannot be held in custody for more than six months awaiting deportation if there is no prospect for a location where he or she may be deported to.   We don’t send Somalis back to Somalia.  Although as one reader pointed out, why don’t we if the Saudis do and as Canada has done.

This Star Tribune article argues that Somali refugee, Omar Mohamed Kalmio, would have been deported by now and not implicated in the murder of four in North Dakota (as of this moment, I do not think any charges have been filed against the ‘person of interest’) had we sent him back to Somalia (or somewhere).

Under usual circumstances involving an immigrant with a violent criminal record, the man — suspect or not — would probably not have been in the United States when the killings happened.

He has an extensive criminal record in Minnesota. His most serious offense occurred in January 2006, when he stabbed another male during an altercation in an apartment building entry near Cedar and Riverside Avenues in Minneapolis.

According to the charges, several others were involved in that assault, which left the victim with a collapsed lung, a concussion and stab wounds to his right eye, right shoulder and back.

In June 2006, the man pleaded guilty in Hennepin County to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, a felony. He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison with credit for 143 days served. He finished his state prison term in January 2007.

It is the practice of immigration officials to begin deportation proceedings immediately after an alien offender is released from local or state custody. But that gets dicier when dealing with offenders from countries that either refuse to take them back or do not have formal relations with the United States.

Somalis can still be under deportation orders, but those orders are not acted upon.

When asked whether officials obtained a deportation order regarding the man, immigration officials referred to a June 2001 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In that ruling, a Lithuanian man with a long criminal record who had been ordered deported could not be deported because no country would accept him. Yet, the high court ruled, U.S. officials could also not keep him locked up indefinitely. Generally, the court ruled, such offenders cannot be detained for more than six months.

This also means that the Seattle Somali who was sentenced to six years for the beating and torture of a white teen will be out on your streets (anywhere in America) in six years.

Is your county a “secure community?”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Secure Communities is the name of a federal program to identify criminal aliens.  When someone is booked into your local jail, fingerprints are taken and sent to ICE to determine if the person is in the country illegally, or I assume a legal immigrant would be identified who is wanted in another jurisdiction (like the Somali guy in North Dakota recently).

To see if your county is participating, check out “Deportation Nation.”

I see no counties in North Dakota participate.

From time to time readers ask what they can do.  This is something you can do politically and locally—push your county government to enroll in Secure Communities.