Month: April 2012

Bowling Green again: Burmese can’t get drivers licenses

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why?  Because they can’t speak or read enough English!  So, they travel to Arizona or Colorado where it’s easier to obtain a license.

A couple of years ago we posted a whole series of stories about the trouble Burmese refugees were having in Bowling Green, KY—mostly because there were too many being resettled there.   Here is our Bowling Green archive (those Iraqi refugee terrorists were from Bowling Green too).

Now here is the drivers license story from Jenna Mink writing at the Bowling Green Daily News:

When Bu Reh came to Bowling Green from the jungle of Myanmar, he wanted a quality life for his family – a home, education, jobs and a car.

He didn’t know how difficult that would be.

While many encounter problems when adjusting to life in America, more than 50 refugees from the country, also called Burma, gathered last weekend at Holy Spirit Catholic Church to voice problems getting their driver’s licenses – issues that seriously affect their quality of life, they say. An estimated 1,600 Burmese refugees live in Bowling Green, according to the International Center, and more than 200 attend Holy Spirit.

After failing his driver’s permit test multiple times because he couldn’t understand the badly translated questions, Bu Reh invested about $1,000 to take his test in Arizona, which has better Burmese translation.

He got his driver’s license in Arizona, giving authorities the address of relatives who live there. After returning to Bowling Green and using it for awhile, the license was suspended and taken away.

His story is one example of how language barriers hinder communication and cause problems for international residents. Because of a lack of good translation, many refugees are unaware that it’s against the law to provide a fake address to get a license in another state. [Where was their resettlement agency?  Isn’t this part of their orientation to America (understanding our laws)?—ed] It’s also difficult to understand driving rules and pass the written and driving tests. Many refugees walk and ride bicycles, and they often rely on others to shuttle them, they say.

When the Rev. Steve Hohman asked the refugees how many had a valid Kentucky driver’s license, three out of about 50 raised their hands.

When he asked how many had traveled to Arizona or Colorado to get a license, nearly half raised their hands.

Other complaints?  (We are familiar with many others, here)

During the meeting, refugees spoke about housing problems, particularly broken items they claim their landlords will not repair. They also highlighted problems with discrimination on the bus system – one refugee said he often sits on the floor because no one will move over for him to sit down. Others complained about a lack of medical care because some doctors will not see them due to language barriers.

But, the majority of complaints focused on the driver’s license issue.

Waahhhh!  And, we have to shuttle them!

“The number one biggest need is transportation … it affects Americans, too, because a lot of us are shuttling them,” Bell said. “That’s the absolute biggest issue.”

What!  If you bring refugees to the US—you need to take care of them.  I’ve seen this lots of other places and it reminds me of the child who wanted a puppy, but then mommy and daddy had to take care of it!

It is simple!  Get enough volunteers to teach them English, and drive them until they are safe legal drivers!  Not enough volunteers?  Then you’ve resettled too many refugees.

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

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

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

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

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)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

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.

Is coming to America a “tragedy” for refugees?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Yes, for some it is.   And, that is something you rarely hear.  The media spin on the Refugee Resettlement Program of the US State Department is a gushy paternalistic one—oh, how wonderful!  We Americans have opened our hearts to a poor person from another culture who is just dying to be here.  Aren’t we wonderful!  Aren’t they all so grateful.

Not always!

Here is a statement you won’t often hear (posted at the Episcopal Leadership Institute):

“I think that, in general, it is better for a refugee to stay in a camp than to resettle. If you stay in the camp, you have the opportunity to return home. Some people hope that their life will be better if they resettle, and other people hope that the problems in their home country will end.” This is one of the complex and seemingly paradoxical statements I heard today. When we were discussing our tour of RRISA [Refugee Resettlement and Immigration Services of Atlanta], my new friend Marco said, “I think that part of growing up is realizing that sometimes you have to choose between one kind of tragedy and another kind of tragedy.

It was a “complex and seemingly paradoxical statement” to this writer because he/she had likely only ever heard the media spin on refugee resettlement.   He/she probably never heard that some refugees on arriving here—want to go home!

I have proposed the following reform for this program—if within say 6 months a refugee wants to return to wherever they were living, the resettlement contractors should be required to pay their airfare HOME! (but not on the taxpayers dime).