Day: June 24, 2011

Canada: Catholic School trustee not off the hook yet for “insensitive” remarks

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You can tell by the rage expressed by Canada’s Open Borders activists that this story isn’t over yet.  A Catholic school official apologized, but I assure you grovelling is not enough for these people and I predict he will be gone soon.

From the Toronto Star:

Rookie Catholic school trustee Frank D’Amico ate a large piece of humble pie at a board meeting Thursday night, but refugee advocates are disappointed that it wasn’t followed by disciplinary dessert.

D’Amico read a statement at the start of a Toronto Catholic District School Board meeting in which he said he regretted statements that have been “reported in the media.”

“They were insensitive” and the comments did not reflect board policies on the admission of students, he said.

Comment about September 11th is beyond the pale

D’Amico said he understood board policy does not deny admission to students based on their parents’ immigration status and this reflects provincial law.

The trustee’s apology was in response to a furor created after an email he sent to social work student Nadia Saad, who is currently out of the country. Saad had written him about a woman whose nephew was denied enrolment at three Catholic high schools because he didn’t have immigration papers.

D’Amico replied that the student’s aunt was “lucky I didn’t answer the phone because my first call would be to Immigration Canada.”

He said in the email he wanted to remind her of “911. September 11, the day that changed the world” and he added “I am (sic) forward your concern to the RCMP and to Immigration Canada.’’

At the meeting, Trustee Maria Rizzo said the board is “accepting of all students, no matter what.’’

Apology not enough!  Never enough!

And that incenses refugee advocates, who spoke at the meeting Thursday. Farrah Miranda, an organizer with No One is Illegal — Toronto told the Star D’Amico’s “forced apology” is not enough.

So far the Catholic school is sticking with their man, but for how long?   I don’t know enough about Canada’s Catholic Church to know if they are as deeply infiltrated by the hard Left as the American Catholic Church, readers might want to check out this relatively new US website on the matter—Exposing Marxism in the Church (here).

Oh, and be sure to check out the comments to the story in the Toronto Star.

Tennessee Khat investigation wraps up

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Conclusion:  Users of the drug in the same class as heroin mostly Somalis and Ethiopians.

From News Channel 5:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An investigation into an illegal substance has resulted in convictions for people dealing in a drug that’s well known in the rest of the world, but relatively brand new in the mid-state.

A six-month investigating against local users of “Khat” are wrapping up in a local courtroom, after the arrests were first made a couple of years ago.

NewsChannel 5 spoke with an undercover officer about the connection between the drug, and some of the area’s immigrant communities.

“Most of the individuals that were ingesting these drugs were from Somalia and Ethiopia. It was more of a cultural drug, is what we found. And it was mostly found in that community,” said the officer.

Khat is a stimulant that can be mixed with a liquid substance like water or tea, then ingested into the body by mouth. It can stay in the body for up to two or three days.

Khat is a schedule one narcotic, which puts it in the same category as heroin.

Just last month we reported in a ‘diversity is strength alert’ about a massive drug bust in Virginia and Maryland involving Somalis and Yemenis.

Waukegan wife tried to run with the loot! Food stamp fraud again

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we go again, I could have a story every day (and so could some blogger who wants to take on immigrant food stamp fraud as the subject of an entire blog)!

This bust reported in the Chicago Sun-Times happened in Waukegan, Illinois and they ripped us off for a half million dollars this time.

After a north suburban couple’s grocery was searched during a food stamp and nutrition program fraud investigation, the woman was caught trying to flee with more than $350,000 in a suitcase, federal prosecutors claim.

The couple, who own and operate Sunset Food Market in Waukegan, allegedly defrauded the federal food stamp and nutrition programs of more than $500,000 over the last two years, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

So how did Khaled and Fatima happen to be in the US?  Are they Muslims (like all the Mohamads we told you about just 5 days ago, here)?  Most of these stories don’t tell us, but their names give us a hint.

Khaled Saleh, 46, and Fatima Saleh, 35, of Waukegan are charged with one count each of conspiracy to defraud government programs and one count of Agriculture Department program fraud in a two-count indictment returned Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Chicago.

The complaint alleges they exchanged cash with customers who made falsely inflated purchases using food stamp cards and nutrition coupons. They also allegedly purchased items, typically infant formula, that customers bought at other stores using program benefits, paying half of the value and then re-selling the items in their store at a higher price.

The charges followed an investigation in which a USDA Inspector General’s office agent, acting undercover, used program benefits to buy formula at a discount store, then sold it for half the price in cash to the Salehs on several occasions, the release said.

Fatima tried to run with mom and the money (funny, other news outlets reporting this story left the mom out)!

Agents executed a search warrant at Sunset Market on April 26. After the search, Fatima Saleh went to her apartment and agents observed her leaving a short time later with a suitcase and her mother, the release said.

Agents found more than $350,000 cash and more than 800 coupon vouchers for the WIC supplemental food program in the suitcase, the release said. Agents later found another $25,000 in cash in the apartment.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of about $377,000 seized on April 26, as well as more than $14,500 seized from Sunset Market’s bank account.

$500,000 obtained through fraud in less than two years, good work if you can get it!

Between August 2009 and April 2011, the defendants redeemed more than $1.175 million in LINK food stamp and WIC coupons, with more than $500,000 being obtained through fraud, the indictment alleges. The store’s participation in the programs has been suspended [let’s hope so!—ed]

Just a reminder to everyone, not just the purchaser of the benefit can be prosecuted, but so too can the seller of the food stamps in this redistribution of your (taxpayer) wealth scheme.