Day: April 18, 2012

US gives UN refugee program more than a half billion dollars in recent months

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The largest recent cash installment was announced last week (LOL! a month after an audit revealed massive waste and fraud in the program).

From the US Mission to the UN:

The United States is pleased to announce a second contribution of $482.05 million toward the 2012 operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  The United States’ initial contribution of $125 million was announced on December 29, 2011 along with subsequent funding of $28.2 million toward emergency appeals this fiscal year for vulnerable populations from Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, and Mali.  These contributions are funded through the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and help advance UNHCR initiatives worldwide.

There is more, read on.

I guess the funding wasn’t “imperiled” by that devastating audit after all.  Maddening isn’t it!  The UNHCR gets paid big bucks by you (the taxpayer), wastes a lot of money, and on top of it all they get to pick the refugees coming to your “welcoming” towns.

Somali sex trafficking trial underway in Nashville

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update April 21st:  More sordid details from the on-going trial, here.

Case is complicated by lack of accurate birth dates for the former refugees.

From AP at the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Forensic experts testified about DNA evidence during the second week of a federal trial involving several defendants accused of using a young Somali female for forced prostitution.

The trial being held in Nashville includes nine out of a total of 30 people who have been accused in an indictment of involvement in a child sexual trafficking ring that prosecutors say was run by Somali gangs and that included sexual acts in Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee.

The key witness testified last week that she was used as a prostitute by members of Somali gangs starting in the 6th grade. But the trial has been complicated by the fact that both the alleged victim and many of the defendants are from Somali families who fled to the United States as war refugees and who don’t have accurate birth records. The other defendants are expected to face trial at a later date.

Go here for all of our previous coverage of the case.