New Hampshire: Trial of Rwandan “refugee” costing the government millions

We previously told you the story of  Beatrice Munyenyezi, here, who is being charged with lying to get into the US by lying about her alleged role in the Rwandan genocide.   Two weeks ago her trial ended in a mistrial, but the government will retry the case beginning in September.

From the Union Leader (hat tip: Jeanine):

One of the attorneys who defended a Manchester woman accused of lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide to gain U.S. citizenship estimated her recent prosecution and trial in federal court in Concord cost taxpayers between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Manchester attorney Mark Howard, a former federal prosecutor who represents Beatrice Munyenyezi, 42, said taxpayers will bear the cost of both her defense and her prosecution because the court deemed her to be indigent.

The three-week-long trial in U.S. District Court ended in a mistrial two weeks ago when jurors couldn’t reach a verdict, but the government said Friday she will be retried.

That trial will likely cost an additional $1 million, Howard said.

If to this point in the story you are thinking maybe it isn’t worth it (the re-trial), read on.  So much for the much vaunted screening we supposedly do on refugees entering the US:

Munyenyezi came to the United States with her three daughters in 1998 as a refugee and had worked for the Manchester Housing Authority for $13 an hour.

Munyenyezi has been jailed since her arrest in June 2010.

At trial, the government alleged Munyenyezi controlled local militia in the area of Butare, Rwanda, and oversaw roadblocks being constructed. The government further asserted she controlled those roadblocks and directed others to identify people who were Tutsis, then segregated them to be raped and killed.

Two witnesses testified she killed people, including a nun, shooting the nun herself after ordering her to be raped.

In earlier reports on this case we had learned that Ms. Munyenyezi had been resettled in the US by Catholic Charities.

A quarter of a million “temporary refugees” seek permanent resident status now

I’ve mention the Temporary Protected Status program on many occasions on these pages.  Readers need to know that a quarter of a million Central American illegal aliens living in the US are now making a push to be granted permanent resident status.   Here is a post I wrote two days ago at Potomac Tea Party Report explaining the political agitation for amnesty campaign launched yesterday in DC.

Also, you should visit Mark Krikorian (Center for Immigration Studies) writing on the topic here at National Review Online.

Uncle Omar gets to drive anyway (as well as stay in the US)

Uncle Omar of course is President Barack Obama’s illegal alien uncle (and brother to Aunt Zeituni) “discovered” living in Massachusetts for decades.  We told you about his bust for drunk driving last August and here is more on whether he was ever lost at all!

Just a week or so ago we heard he lost his Massachusetts drivers license (not really!), but not a word about whether he will be granted asylum (Aunt Zeituni had good lawyers and did get asylum, here).

From the Boston Herald today:

Just a week after he copped a plea in a drunken-driving rap, President Obama’s illegal-alien uncle has landed a hardship driver’s license from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, making it perfectly legal for him to drive in Massachusetts — even though the feds say he doesn’t belong here.

Onyango Obama, 67, who lost his regular license for 45 days last week, scored his limited license yesterday from the Registry’s Wilmington branch, after convincing a hearing officer that life without wheels would have posed an undue hardship on his livelihood as a liquor-store manager. Obama bolstered his case with a letter from his employer, Conti Liquors, as well as proof that he’d enrolled in an alcohol-treatment program.

[…..]

Of the state’s decision to award Obama a license even though the federal government considers him an illegal alien, Lavoie would only say, “Registry business is based on Registry records.”

[…..]

The license award drew fire from one advocate of tough enforcement on illegals, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

“Our democracy is predicated on law,” Hodgson said. “When we start to interpret these laws differently and manipulate them the way we want them to work for certain people, we start to send a mixed message to people that the law doesn’t really matter. Its subject to interpretation. You don’t have to follow the law. They find ways to justify it. We need the laws to be very clear. We need ‘no’ to mean ‘no’ again.”

Hodgson, along with sheriffs in Plymouth and Worcester counties, stood up for Secure Communities, a program that feeds local police fingerprint checks into federal databases to check the citizenship status of accused criminals. Gov. Deval Patrick has refused to enroll the state in the program.

What no public transportation in Boston?

We sure don’t want any illegal aliens experiencing an “undue hardship” now do we?

Watch for it—Onyango’s lawyers will probably  base an asylum claim on the very real possibility that if he is sent back to Kenya now he will be a marked man by the many enemies his nephew has created.