Month: September 2011

Shelbyville, TN police and local officials blamed for “racist” raid

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 30th:  ICE confirmed that the arrests were part of a nationwide sweep and not as retaliation for any report or meeting that took place a week or so earlier.

Update September 23rd:  More news from Shelbyville on this story, here.

Those law enforcement and other officials in Shelbyville, TN never seem to be given any slack by the pro-migration activists operating with taxpayer funding in Tennessee.  I’m convinced that the propaganda film I just mentioned again in my previous post is being used to whip some people into a frenzy (but then that is what propaganda is for, right!).

The federal agency tasked with dealing with illegal alien criminals in the US—ICE—arrested some known criminals in Bedford County and the local authorities were heaped with blame (tarred and feathered! you might say) through some “report” they had never heard of.

Here is how the story from the Times-Gazette begins:

Officials are denying that a federal raid targeted community activists who claim a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination in Bedford County against Hispanics.

The accusations came after the reported arrest of three residents by federal immigration officials and the publication of a report calling for a Department of Justice investigation.

Last Monday, members of several organizations held a hearing in Shelbyville during which Hispanic residents complained they were the victims of illegal detention and racial profiling by local law enforcement. A report was generated entitled “The Forgotten Constitution – Racial Profiling and Immigration Enforcement in Bedford County, Tennessee.”

The 16-page report was produced by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), with input from Latinos Unidos de Shelbyville (United Latinos of Shelbyville), and Bill Geissler of Shelbyville, who is a member of SOCM (Statewide Organization for Community EmpowerMent). The document was authored by Sarah White and Salmun Kazerounian, who both work for the Legal Aid Society in Tullahoma.

The report makes the claim that “(t)o be an immigrant or refugee in Bedford County is to be treated with suspicion or outright hostility by one’s own government, whose offices still exhibit vestiges of the overt racial apartheid of years past,” also leveling a variety of accusations at Shelbyville police, the sheriff’s department and jail, as well as the court system.

However, neither Sheriff Randall Boyce, Shelbyville Police Chief Austin Swing or Circuit Court Clerk Thomas Smith were aware of the report, or the claims, until copies were provided to them by the T-G on Monday.

The report is available online here.

Read it all!

LOL! They just love that word “apartheid” don’t they (it just means to keep separate), but funny it is never used to describe how most immigrants self-segregate themselves in their various clans and neighborhoods where it is considered normal (good apartheid).  Only those of white European ancestry are never allowed their own neighborhoods (bad apartheid).

Come to think of it, Obama’s ICE couldn’t have been helping with the timing of all this—-nahhh!

Propaganda United

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Between that Shelbyville film being shown around the country and the communal reading of the book—-Outcasts United, the refugee advocates of the migration industry are very very busy and it would be kind of fun (if one had the time) to study these two initiatives as examples of modern-day propaganda.

Now, I see in the wake of the graffiti incident in Concord, NH, that the good folks there can join in reading and discussing Outcasts United (just as Marylanders did last year) and as the folks in Roanoke, a refugee overloaded city in Virginia, are also doing now.  (Some federal agency must be giving grants for this reading project!)

But, it might be a good idea for a balanced look to visit this post about what things are REALLY like in Clarkston,Georgia—home to the “outcasts.”

In case the story disappears, here is a description of a dilapidated, crime ridden refugee community in Clarkston where they have graffiti too:

The graffiti-adorned sign and boarded-up guard shack at the entrance of Brannon Hill Condominiums are symbolic of the rest of the residential community just off of Memorial Drive near Clarkston.

Just past the entrance, rubble from a condominium building leveled by the community’s homeowners association in 2006 has weeds growing in it. Another building, devastated by a fire in May, is in need of demolition.

Scores of units have been uninhabitable for years and are boarded up. But in many of those condominiums, residents say the boards have been removed by homeless people seeking shelter.

One problem is the lack of money in the community, which is populated mostly by Somalian refugees.

“There is very little income here,” said property manager Haji Said.

The 30-acre site in 1973 was once a vibrant community with 31 buildings, 368 residential units, a pool and two tennis courts.

Now, due to the cost of ongoing maintenance and liability insurance, the pool is filled in with grass growing on top. Grass-filled cracks cross the tennis courts—now converted to basketball courts surrounded by a rusty, dilapidated chain-link fence plagued by holes and weeds.

I doubt you will hear this part of the story at the book club meetings.

CIS: Most new jobs in Texas went to immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

[This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report with some minor modifications.]

The Center for Immigration Studies released today the shocking results of their analysis of Governor Rick Perry’s claims about the economic “success” of his home state of Texas.  Most new jobs in the state went to immigrants!

Here is the introductory section of the news release from CIS (emphasis mine):

Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) has pointed to job growth in Texas during the current economic downturn as one of his main accomplishments. But analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data collected by the Census Bureau show that immigrants (legal and illegal) have been the primary beneficiaries of this growth since 2007, not native-born workers. This is true even though the native-born accounted for the vast majority of growth in the working-age population (age 16 to 65) in Texas. Thus, they should have received the lion’s share of the increase in employment. As a result, the share of working-age natives in Texans holding a job has declined in a manner very similar to the nation a whole.

Among the findings:

*Of jobs created in Texas since 2007, 81 percent were taken by newly arrived immigrant workers (legal and illegal).

*In terms of numbers, between the second quarter of 2007, right before the recession began, and the second quarter of 2011, total employment in Texas increased by 279,000. Of this, 225,000 jobs went to immigrants (legal and illegal) who arrived in the United States in 2007 or later.

*Of newly arrived immigrants who took a job in Texas, 93 percent were not U.S. citizens. Thus government data show that more than three-fourths of net job growth in Texas were taken by newly arrived non-citizens (legal and illegal).

*The large share of job growth that went to immigrants is surprising because the native-born accounted for 69 percent of the growth in Texas’ working-age population (16 to 65). Thus, even though natives made up most of the growth in potential workers, most of the job growth went to immigrants.

*The share of working-age natives holding a job in Texas declined significantly, from 71 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2011. This decline is very similar to the decline for natives in the United States as a whole and is an indication that the situation for native-born workers in Texas is very similar to the overall situation in the country despite the state’s job growth.

*Of newly arrived immigrants who took jobs in Texas since 2007, we estimate that 50 percent (113,000) were illegal immigrants. Thus, about 40 percent of all the job growth in Texas since 2007 went to newly arrived illegal immigrants and 40 percent went to newly arrived legal immigrants.

*Immigrants took jobs across the educational distribution. More than one out three (97,000) of newly arrived immigrants who took a job had at least some college.

*These numbers raise the question of whether it makes sense to continue the current high level of legal immigration and also whether to continue to tolerate illegal immigration.

This is a devastating report, please read the whole thing.  The results of this report also help explain Perry’s instate tuition for illegal aliens law in Texas—they are an important voting block for him.

Texas is the third largest recipient of refugees in the US after California and Florida.  Indeed, just a couple of days ago I reported on how your federal tax dollars were going to Catholic Charities of Fort Worth for job training for immigrants, here (most likely taught in CC’s Taj Mahal of a building taxpayers also paid for!).

I feel like a broken record, but urge everyone to stop saying “legal immigration is o.k., it’s illegal I have a problem with”—our legal immigration system is filled with fraud and abuse and must be reformed and the numbers admitted to the US reduced!

And, once again, establishment Republicans, and of course Democrats, continue to fail to see the huge impact the immigration issue will have on this election.

Boy those Lutherans sure are busy distributing diversity in the Dakotas

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

First we heard (last week) that more refugees are going to South Dakota, and now this week it’s North Dakota thanks to the Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services (LIRS)* headquartered in a very nice building in Maryland (It might even be fancier than the Catholic Charities building in Fort Worth I told you about yesterday, here.  BTW, did anyone get over to Billy Bob’s for some fun at the Poverty Summit?)   I guess LIRS figures the pickens are better in the Dakotas because Maryland is in immigrant overload right now with El Salvadoran Sandinistas and they can be pretty rough when it comes to their territory.

Here is the latest from Grand Forks where a community-wide meeting was held to help calm down the local folks who want to know how their kids are going to be educated in over-crowded schools.  LIRS has likely worn out its welcome in the two larger cities in the state—Fargo and Bismark—so now they have moved into fresher territory.

About 100 people attended a two-hour panel discussion in the Empire Arts Centre this evening with 13 people involved in refugee and immigration issues in the community.

It’s the second event aimed at addressing concerns about and the needs of the growing numbers of immigrants in Grand Forks, said Hal Gershman, president of the city council.

“We have to show tolerance for each other, no matter what our views are,” Gershman said.

Most of the questions from the audience were from mothers concerned about what they said are crowded conditions in Century Elementary School, on the city’s southwest sector. That’s the designated “magnet” elementary school for English Language Learner (ELL) students, most of whom are immigrants.

Assistant Superintendent Jody Powell said the district is confident that staffing levels are adequate but that a demographic study of the district is being done that could re-draw school lines.

Without a doubt, here is one of the best questions I’ve ever heard some cheeky citizen ask!

A man asked the panel pointedly “what is the ideal level of ethnic diversity,” and whether the refugee resettlement program was aimed at any certain number of immigrants in Grand Forks.

Sinisa Milovanovic, state refugee coordinator for Lutheran Social Services which is the only official refugee resettlement agency in North Dakota, said it was the needs in other countries that drove refugees here.

“Our agency is not in the business of increasing diversity.”

He! He! He!  Of course he wouldn’t dare tell them they will keep bringing refugees until the citizens of Grand Forks are ready to blow up and tell them ENOUGH!

* I forget that some readers may be new and don’t know that there are ten or so major federal refugee contractors (called volags) and LIRS is one of those.  Your money goes to LIRS who then subcontracts these Lutheran agencies in the Dakotas.  The whole tangled business of hundreds of subcontractors to the big contractors  makes it hard to track taxpayer money or to guarantee accountability.  And, since refugee agencies are paid by the head there is quite a bit of competition between contractors for refugee heads.  However, as far as the Dakotas are concerned, it looks like LIRS has a monopoly.

Addendum:  Ahhhhhh! It is worse than I thought!  After I posted this I thought I should check LIRS most recent available Form 990, here.    LIRS gross receipts for that year were $31,017,941 and $29,907,281 came from YOU!  That is 96% of their funds came from the taxpayers!  Their past president received over $200,000, for what?  And, adding insult to injury, you likely paid for that fancy building in an “eclectic” Inner Harbor neighborhood.

Muhammad pleads guilty in Wichita food stamp fraud case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is really not much new in this story that I haven’t reported from the dozens of other similar convenience store food stamp fraud cases I’ve posted, but…

….Note that a seller of stamps was also charged and plead guilty.  I’ve only seen that happen in a couple of cases over the last four years.

From KWCH-12 Eyewitness News:

The U.S. District Attorney’s office announced that a Wichita couple that owned a grocery store and a food stamp recipient have pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud.

Entering guilty pleas were:

Muhammad Qadeer Akram, 46, Wichita, Kan., the former owner of Alnoor Grocery Store, 5220 E. 21st in Wichita, one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, one count of food stamp fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Shama L. Qadeer, 38, Wichita, Kan., Muhammad Qadeer Akram’s wife, who was a co-owner of the grocery store, one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, one count of food stamp fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Tequita L. Higgins, 28, Wichita, Kan., one count of food stamp fraud. [She is a seller of her food stamp privilege–ed].

In their pleas, Muhammad Qadeer Akram and Shama Qadeer admitted to entering into a conspiracy with others to defraud the United States Department of Agriculture by giving cash to recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, in exchange for SNAP benefits.

The District Attorney’s office said the scheme was to give SNAP recipients cash for their benefits, about 50-to-60 cents on the dollar, and keep the rest of the benefits for themselves. They would run SNAP transactions to make it appear SNAP benefits were being used to purchase approved food items at their store.

In one instance, on Nov. 5, 2010, they gave a SNAP recipient about $150 in cash in return for SNAP benefits totaling $308.79. In another instance, $503.33 was credited to their account for a SNAP transaction. They gave the SNAP recipient $250 and falsified reports to make it appear the recipient had purchased approved food items. The indictment alleges $450,000 in similar transactions.

In her plea, Higgins admitted using her Vision card at Alnoor Groceries. She received about $150 in cash in return for a $308.79 SNAP transaction.

By the way, I don’t see any mention of ICE being involved so I suppose these fraudsters are here legally.