Month: February 2011

Another way for “refugees” to get to the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been reporting on the “refugee” issue facing Europe in the wake of that much ballyhooed revolution going on in the Arab world (recent posts are here and here).   World Net Daily has suggested another problem to guard against and that is that terrorists getting into Europe pretending to be refugees could easily get a fake passport in some European country and just come on over to the US:

Tens of thousands of people from the North African Arab countries affected by demonstrations and revolts are migrating to the open borders of Europe, creating the threat that terrorists could hide among the migrants and infiltrate host nations, according to security analysts…

The potentially dramatic influx of refugees into countries of the European Union – which have no border restrictions – also is posing an increasing security concern for U.S. officials.

Many of the countries in Europe which will be receiving the refugees are under a visa waiver program with the United States. This means that potential terrorists posing as refugees could obtain false passports that will allow them to gain entry into the U.S. without a visa, thereby making it more difficult to have any record of their entry or whereabouts.

Illinois immigrant agitators want their cut!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars!

The other day I told you about the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and how they were working with the radical Left and Unions to “organize” in Egypt while living off American taxpayer dollars, here.

Now, it appears that the state of Illinois (not unlike its neighbor Wisconsin) is broke and looking to cut its budget.   Immigrant “SERVICES” are on the chopping block and the ICIRR is crying foul—-waaahhhh!  They want to be sure to keep their millions coming from Illinois taxpayers.

So, they are now agitating at their website (I sure hope we aren’t going to see them drag out poor refugee pawns to protest like the immigrant agitators did in Washington State a week ago, here.)  They want people to write and call the governor.

From ICIRR:

On Wednesday, February 16th, Governor Quinn presented a proposed state budget that cuts immigrant services by 74% over the budget two years ago, with a 56% cut proposed for next year alone. Refugee services are scheduled for a 69% cut next year.

Every Governor in Illinois from Governor Jim Edgar forward has supported increases in the Immigrant Services Line Item within the Illinois Department of Human Services. This line item is the only part of the State of Illinois budget that specifically assists immigrants to become full contributors in Illinois, with U.S. citizenship assistance; emergency food, healthcare, and domestic violence assistance to immigrant families in crisis; and economic development, English, and welcoming, and volunteerism programs.

This year the State proposes to slash the immigrant services line item 74%: from $8.6 million in FY10 to a proposed $2.5 million in FY12.

By the way, ICIRR notes that funding for the generic (genuine) poor was not cut.

Immigrant SERVICE agencies may go bankrupt, moans ICIRR.  But here is my question, why do we need immigrant services geared to various ethnic groups in the first place? Or, is ICIRR (and its compatriots) afraid they will lose some of their funds that are used for political activism (maybe they won’t get to go to Egypt in September and meet their friends with the Muslim Brotherhood)?

With the proposed cuts some 11 small immigrant-serving agencies will collapse in bankruptcy, and another 34 immigrant service agencies will be crippled.

Then ICIRR has the audacity (gee, someone else from Illinois has that too) to make the claim that the high number of immigrants in Illinois (US Census showed a dramatic 32.5 increase since 2000 in the Hispanic population in Illinois) has helped the Illinois economy and kept it from collapsing as the population of the state declines and American born residents move elsewhere.

Josh Hoyt (agitator in chief at ICIRR) then throws in this line:

Immigrants are 50 percent more likely than native-born Illinoisians to start their own businesses.

Readers, that is because immigrants and refugees get special treatment through government grants and micro-loans with banks to set up businesses.  Did you ever wonder how all those Somali trinket and food shops are popping up in places like Lewiston, ME while in the back room they send money abroad.  You helped with their start-up funding.  It is a lucrative business.

So then my question is this:  IF IMMIGRANTS ADD SO MUCH TO THE ECONOMY OF ILLINOIS, WHY DO THEY NEED TAXPAYER FUNDED SERVICES SPECIALLY FOR THEM?

This isn’t about helping the poor, this is about getting your money for their political purposes.

Some countries calling for emergency EU meeting on illegal immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As unrest continues across North Africa and the Arab world, some European countries are worried enough to call for an emergency meeting next week to discuss defending Fortress Europe.

From RIA Novosti:

Europe’s pain is even worse[the author said America’s pain is its split personality on the uprisings]. It is worried that the instability across the Mediterranean will unleash a flood of illegal immigration to the Old World. They fear a repeat of what happened right after the collapse of communism in1989.

The first alarm bell went off when Italians detained 4,000 Tunisian refugees on a boat in the Mediterranean in early February.

Italy and Malta were the first to respond to the alarm. They are now calling for an emergency EU summit on illegal immigration and defending Fortress Europe from an onslaught from the south. A conference of foreign ministers is scheduled for February 24-25 in Brussels, although EU officials insist that it is all but impossible to prepare a summit so quickly. Moreover, Berlin, Paris and London are not as worried as Rome about the scale of the “invasion.” Silvio Berlusconi demanded that Italy receive an additional 100 million euros for “processing” the detained illegals and sending them home, or 25 thousand euros per capita so far, which seems a tad excessive. But Rome and Valetta are now supported by other countries on the front line, such as Spain and Portugal, which are the closest to Africa. The EU has already outlined measures to protect its borders.

Imagine if we started talking about defending Fortress America!

New York Times reports sob story on Virginia’s “anti-immigrant mood”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is just one problem with this SOB STORY—the guy had no right to be in the US in the first place!

In typical fashion for the Leftwing media (see CBS rape story too), the New York Times left out a key fact in its bash Virginia story.  This is how the reporter sets up the reader (get out your box of tissues):

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — When Mohamed Mejri, a Tunisian immigrant with a limousine business here, first learned that the State Department of Motor Vehicles had refused to issue him a new driver’s license, he thought it was a mistake. After all, he had been a licensed driver in Virginia for years.

But last fall, the department stopped accepting his federally issued work permit, a document that was his main proof that he was in the country legally, because he does not have a green card.

Now, five months later, his business is collapsing, and bill collectors are calling.  [Are you crying yet?]

Remember the story where the drunk illegal alien killed a nun in Virginia (I posted it here), well, Virginia changed its policy (good for them) to make it harder for those in deportation proceedings to use a work permit as proof of address to get a drivers license.

Back to the NYT:

Virginia changed its policy in September after an illegal immigrant from Bolivia was charged with hitting and killing a nun while driving drunk in Prince William County.

Her death hardened what was already a strong anti-immigrant mood in the state. Virginia’s governor, Bob McDonnell, announced that work permits would no longer be accepted as proof of legal residence because they could be held by people who, like the Bolivian immigrant, are in deportation proceedings. The governor said other documents would still be accepted.

The permit, called the employment authorization document, allows foreign nationals to work in the United States. Asylum seekers, refugees and students are among those who have one.

Here is Mr. Mejri’s story as reported by the New York Times (emphasis mine).  Hey, NYT, is this the best story you could find?

For Mr. Mejri, who is 54, the permit is all he has. He fled Tunisia in 1992, and after living in Canada, where he had been granted political asylum, he came to the United States in 2000. American immigration authorities rejected his application for asylum, over an unpaid fine in Canada. By the time it was paid and processed, several years had passed, [sounds fishy to me–ed] and he received notice that it was too late to reapply. He then received an administrative order to leave the country, but a federal judge ruled in his favor that he not be deported [so why wasn’t his deportation order rescinded?–ed]. Now he is in limbo, in the country legally but without any path to citizenship.

You should be wailing for Mohamed by now!

But, here is the kicker!

You can’t be granted asylum in Canada and then just hop on over to the US and stay!   Heck, a Canadian citizen can’t just decide he wants to leave Canada and be an American citizen!  Asylum law requires that you ask (and hopefully receive) asylum in the first country in which you land.  Having been granted asylum in Canada doesn’t grant you the right to then go shopping for a better country!

Get ready Marylanders!  What has Mohamed done?  He set up a temporary residence in Maryland!

A month ago, Mr. Mejri rented a room in Rockville, Md., and got a driver’s license in that state. But his monthly insurance payments have tripled, and for now, he has put his business aside.

The way I see it, the worst thing that will happen to Mr. Mejri is he will be sent back to that horrible (LOL!) country Canada.  (I bet there is more to the story about the “fine” in Canada, he was probably going to be deported from Canada.)  But, most likely none of that will happen now that the New York Times has christened him a poster boy for Virginia’s “anti-immigrant mood.”

One last thing.  We don’t deport anyone to a country that has an unstable government and the recent revolution (oops democracy movement) in Tunisia will likely be his American lawyer’s ace in a hole.

Bulgaria bracing for refugees from Arab turmoil

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Add Bulgaria to the list of freaked-out European countries (see Italy here).

From the Sofia News Agency:

As many illegal migrants move on from Italy, Bulgarian analysts have stoked fears about a refugee wave trying to reach the country because of turmoil in the Arab world.

“Bulgaria, being a border country in the European Union, risks to be flooded by a wave of illegal migrants from Northern Africa or other Arab countries,” Kiryak Tsonev, a specialist on the Arab world and Chavdar Charvenkov, Bulgaria’s former ambassador to Tunisia, warned on Thursday in an interview for Darik radio.

They called on the Bulgarian government and the European institutions to brace for a large influx of migrants due to turmoil in the Middle East, warning the continent’s policies on immigration and the world’s fledgling anti-smuggling efforts will be put to the test.

“Egyptians will be fleeing to Greece, Libyans will be fleeing to Italy and it is highly likely that Bulgaria may become a focal point for refugees. Europe will not accept those people and they will have to stay in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian solution—solve the social problems in those African and Arab countries (good luck with that!).