Month: February 2011

Vancouver: Confirmation that Tamil Tigers were on the MV Sun Sea

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update of the story I first reported here last August.

Seems that investigators in Canada have identified at least 32 Tamil Tigers among the “asylum seekers” who arrived in Canadian waters claiming to be refugees last summer.

From the National Post:

A fog bank cloaked the MV Sun Sea when it entered Canadian waters off Vancouver Island last August carrying 492 Sri Lankan asylum seekers.

Six month later, things are more clear.

Federal investigators have been interviewing those on board and chasing leads in Southeast Asia. The passengers have been telling their stories at refugee hearings and in court.

The evidence is shedding new light on the bold migrant smuggling operation that has cost taxpayers $25-million and led the government to draft a new anti-human smuggling law.

“At this time, the majority have declared that they wish only to live peacefully in Canada with the hope of eventually sponsoring other family members,” reads a Canada Border Services Agency analysis of interviews with the Sun Sea migrants.

But the investigation has also identified 32 so far with suspected ties to the Tamil Tigers rebels, organized crime and war crimes. Also on the ship were “prominent figures” who played “primary roles in the smuggling venture,” the CBSA report says.

Read on, its a very interesting report.

Think this doesn’t effect you in the US, think again, we have actually resettled Tamil “bachelors” to Oakland, CA who managed to get to Australia and we (helpfully) took them off the Aussie’s hands!

Dragging out the refugees to protest in Washington State

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No sooner had I written this short post earlier today on Washington State cutting taxpayer-funded benefits for refugees, when I came across this piece by the Associated Press about refugees going to the state house to demonstrate against the cuts.   Oh brother, have these groups like the International Rescue Committee (IRC) no shame—using the refugees for their own political and financial gain. This sort of gambit only makes Americans less “welcoming” to refugees when they see they are out demanding stuff from government (from taxpayers)!    If fewer refugees are sent to Washington State then the IRC loses bucks for their salaries, offices etc. and the Far Left loses reliable leftwing voters.

Note that no where do these volags (federal contractors) EVER say we need to slow the flow of refugees until we can better afford them.

Let’s talk about the demonstration (community!) organizer, the IRC, before we get into this story.

According to the IRC’s Form 990 for 2009, the organization is a nearly THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR A YEAR organization ($281,328,534) which pays NO taxes.  It received in 2008, $175,150,651 from YOU (the taxpayer). Take note Kansas lady! (By the way, the government grants have now been hidden on Page 9 of the Form 990, thanks to the IRS, it is no longer at the top of Page 1.)  The IRC’s CEO, George Rupp, made $429,705 in salary and benefits in that year and he was one of ten employees with salaries in the 6 digits.  Maybe they could share some of their largesse with the poor and struggling refugees!

Now back to those refugees the IRC brought to Washington State (they were paid by the head to do so) and the demonstrations at the state capitol.

From KLEWTV-3 in Lewiston, Idaho:

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – For 18 years, Devi Prasai lived in a packed refugee camp after fleeing from ethnic tensions in his native Bhutan. Prasai waited for a chance at a better life for himself, his wife and children. It finally came, when the United States agreed to welcome thousands of Bhutanese and Prasai was approved to come to America.

But now in Washington state, he’s struggling to keep a roof over his head.

Prasai’s monthly state cash assistance has decreased from $662 to $561. Rent for the one-bedroom apartment in Kent – where he, his wife and two children live – costs $599 monthly.

“No job,” Prasai said through an interpreter. “Both of us have no English, so we have not found job.”

Prasai is one of thousands of refugees who have resettled in Washington state over the years, with many struggling with a tough job market and decreasing assistance from the state.

And it may get worse.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed wiping out completely programs that subsidize English classes, job search and pathways to naturalization. Those proposed cuts also go along with budget reductions to other programs that serve refugees, such as waivers for dental exams.

It’s a drastic change in how this state treats refugees. Historically, Washington has been one of the most welcoming. It’s one of a handful of states that provide significant money to refugee programs, on top of what the federal government provides. [Hello! Kansas lady]

“Historically, Washington state has been very generous in providing dollars,” said Bob Johnson, executive director at the Seattle office of the International Rescue Committee and a veteran in refugee resettlement. But, he said, “Everybody’s got a problem. It’s not like moving (money) around, there’s nothing to move anymore.”

Prasai and Johnson joined hundreds of refugees this past week as they lobbied lawmakers in Olympia in an attempt to stop more proposed cuts. Many carried white poster board signs calling for “equal access to jobs” and boasting that refugees are “legal” immigrants.

The narrative now is that Washington State is bad and unwelcoming!   There is more, read on and note near the end there is this revelation.

The welcoming environment soon ushered other private resettlement agencies and the refugee community here boomed.

The lesson for taxpayers:  generous welfare=welcoming=more immigrants.  Cut welfare=unwelcoming=mean and greedy taxpayers, BUT less immigrants!

Here is the basic strategy:

The Far Left (and the IRC is definitely in the George Soros one-worlder sphere of influence) is to create the classic Alinsky war of the have-nots against the haves.  Cloward and Piven (here and here)  understood it well.   Give the people lots of government goodies, then foment unrest if it’s taken away.  The poor refugees understand that the Democrats distribute stuff and the mean Republicans take away their stuff.  They don’t know that they are pawns in the grand socialist scheme to bring down our form of government.

Oklahoma immigrant food stamp scammer pleads guilty

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an update of the story I told you about here back in October.  Muluneh Zeleke, a likely Ethiopian, admitted to ripping the taxpayers off to the tune of $1.2 million.  That beats the Somali the other day who only got $400,000.  But, you’ll see when you read the story that this scammer was pocketing 50 cents on the dollar, while the Somali took only a 30 cent cut.  The more generous Somali didn’t know I guess that the going rate is 50 cents on the dollar (I know because I have followed these stories for years and the take is always 50 cents.)

From NewsOK:

An Oklahoma City convenience store owner has pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud.

Muluneh Zeleke, 55, of Oklahoma City, will be sentenced later. Prosecutors say he owes $1.2 million in restitution to the federal government.

He was indicted in October. He was identified then as the owner of Z&Z Convenience Store at 2445 Martin Luther King Ave.

He pleaded guilty Thursday in Oklahoma City federal court. He told a judge, “I want to take responsibility for my actions.”

This guy could have gotten into the US in any of several legal immigrant programs.  He could be a refugee or an asylee.  Maybe he even won the diversity lottery.  Or, he is an E-2 Treaty Investor.   Do you know we allow immigrants into the US if they have a certain amount of money and promise to open a business that employs as few as a couple of people?  Ethiopia is an allowed country.  The list is here.

I’m amazed that no enterprising investigative reporter ever looks into this program (if there still are investigative reporters!). There are even immigration lawyers in the US teaching would-be immigrants how to use this program and helping them buy convenience stores—surely you have noticed that your local convenience store is most likely owned by an immigrant.

I wonder if the immigration lawyer gets a cut of the food stamp scam money?

By the way, this is how you find the truth—-disallow the use of food stamps at convenience stores!  Then we will see who can afford to own one!

ORR, where is the annual report to Congress?

Refugee food stamp use is probably going through the roof, but we don’t know that because the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is sitting on the numbers and hasn’t sent an annual report to Congress since the 2007 report, here.  They are required by law to send one each year and Eskinder Negash (head of ORR), and a former Ethiopian refugee who came up through the volag ranks, is now three years behind!

Note to investigative reporters and other curious readers:   From one end of the country to the other, we have dozens of posts here at RRW on ‘food stamp fraud.’    Here is our archive.   For a complete list you may also have to search for ‘food stamp scams.’

 

Washington State to cut refugee benefits

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: There is lots more on this story here as the IRC organizes a demonstration to shame and pressure legislators in Washington State.

Your tax dollars:

Here is another answer to the woman in Kansas who wanted to explode what she called the “myth” that taxpayers pay for refugee resettlement.   Let me be clear, taxpayers pay for refugee resettlement or there wouldn’t be a cut in the Washington state budget for refugees, right?

From the Seattle Times:  “Washington state’s generous treatment of refugees may end after this year as a tough economy and a state budget deficit force lawmakers to consider cuts to many aid programs.”

Washington state’s generous treatment of refugees may end after this year as a tough economy and a state budget deficit force lawmakers to consider cuts to many aid programs.

Historically, Washington has been one of the most popular states with resettlements. According to State Department figures, Washington ranked sixth in the past six years, with about 24,500 refugees resettling here.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed cutting key programs that provide English classes, job search help, and naturalization orientation to refugees.

The state has already imposed a 15 percent reduction in monthly cash benefits refugees receive.

“Please dispel the myth that taxpayers pay for refugee resettlement!”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

That is what a woman in the audience asked Mohamed Abdurahman, the regional refugee coordinator for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, at a public forum recently in Kansas.  He can’t dispel the myth because taxpayers do pay for refugee resettlement.

I just saw this story at Friends of Refugees and it reminded me to remind you to read that blog from time to time.  Mr. Coen is on top of many of the problems affecting the refugee program—and many I miss!

In this case, Mr. Coen wonders if the questioner was a refugee agency worker.  As a matter of fact, I am just now reading about Communist meeting strategies in the US in the 1940’s and this was an important part of meeting preparation—to have one of their own plant the question that the average person would ask and the speaker would be prepped to answer it.   But, it looks like Mr. Abduraham did not get his talking points.  He didn’t lie, but skirted the question altogether.

From the Dodge City Daily Globe:

A woman in the audience asked Abdurahman about dispelling myths concerning refugees, including the notion that taxpayers’ dollars pay for their resettlement costs.

“How do we communicate this information to our community in that way?” she said. “Because I’ve encountered so much misunderstanding, and I think that so many Americans do not know this information here.”

Abdurahman said he agreed that it was difficult to convince Americans of the truth concerning refugees.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there,” he said, “And people need to know the right things.”

It would be funny (how he doesn’t answer the question) if it weren’t so serious.  By the way, here is a story from 2010 from the Garden City Kansas Telegram where Mr. Abduraham (a Somali if you hadn’t noticed) is quoted on the limitations of “resources” in Kansas.  “Resources” is a code word and really means taxpayer funded welfare and other assistance programs.

Public/Private Partnership—NOT!

The Refugee Program envisioned* by those who set it up in 1980 (Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, and Jimmy Carter, to name three key actors) was supposed to be a Public/Private partnership where the so-called Volags (federal contractors) would share the cost of resettlement.  As the decades have gone by, the program is almost exclusively funded by you through taxes and NOT through charitable donations of church-going people and others.

The truth is that the refugee program is a $2 billion plus taxpayer funded program!   That figure does not include the state and local costs of education, crime, healthcare and other “assistance” provided by state and local governments.

* Come to think of it, maybe those voting for the program in 1980 “envisioned” the program as a shared program that would not be almost completely reliant on taxpayer money, but I think Kennedy, Biden and Carter probably “envisioned” it just the way it has turned out.