Month: September 2012

Somali terror funding trial opens in Minneapolis tomorrow

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update October 2nd:  Here is an AP report published in the Washington Post today on the opening of the terror funding/jihadist recruitment trial of Mahamud Said Omar.  Here is the same story in the Miami Herald if the WaPo won’t let you open it.   I just noticed that the article never uses the word “refugee.”  I am sure the average reader is wondering how all the Somalis got here in the first place.

This trial isn’t for the two Somali women, they’ve already been convicted and are awaiting sentencing.  Tomorrow’s trial is for the former refugee who sees ghosts.  We told you about him here last week.

US Attorney:  This is the government’s only opportunity, to date, to tell the public what is going on in the Somali community.

From AP at Fox News (the story is breaking into the national news for a change):

MINNEAPOLIS –  A Minnesota man accused of helping to recruit and finance U.S. fighters for an overseas terror group heads to trial Monday in a case that’s expected to show how some young Somali expatriates in Minneapolis were persuaded to risk their lives for insurgents back home.

Mahamud Said Omar, 46, faces five terror-related counts as part of a much broader investigation into recruiting by al-Shabab, a U.S.-designated terror group at the center of much of the violence in Somalia.

Since 2007, more than 20 young men are believed to have left Minnesota for the East African nation, presumably to take up arms with al-Shabab. The departures shook the Somali community in Minnesota — the largest in the United States.

While prosecutors don’t consider Omar a mastermind in the Minneapolis pipeline, they allege that he was far more than a bit player: They say he encouraged young men to fight, helped some get tickets for travel to Somalia and helped pay for weapons.

“We believe it’s a very important case because it will be the government’s only opportunity, to date, to explain to the public what has been going on in the Somali community, and how these recruiters have been going after these young men,” said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney. “I think it will go a long way in explaining how these cases tie together.”

There is a lot more!  Read it all.

We have posted dozens of times on the story, use our search function for the words ‘Somali missing youths’ for our complete archive.

Court of Appeals: Are pretty, single, Albanian women persecuted?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, should they then be granted asylum in the US?

Immigration lawyers have been working overtime to expand the definition of “asylum.”  Earlier this month we told you about expanding the definition to include women who were the victims of domestic violence anywhere in the world, now its pretty women!

Here is the story from Seattle PI:

NEW YORK (AP) — They were two young women living alone and in fear in Albania, where they say they were ripe targets for sex traffickers notorious for kidnapping their victims and forcing them into prostitution in other countries.

Both fled to the United States, and now appeals courts in Chicago and New York are confronting a vexing question about their fate: Should their claim that all young single women living alone in Albania face persecution qualify them for asylum?

So far their answer is no.

But, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals is considering one of the cases.

To win asylum in the United States, someone who has fled another country must establish a well-founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Appropriately defining a social group is where the Albanian women have fallen short in the courts’ eyes.

[…..]

Although fewer than 10,000 asylum applications were granted from 1990 through 1993, they have ranged between 20,000 and 30,000 in the last decade, with about 25,000 being granted in 2011. The number of Albanian applicants granted asylum has fallen from 894 in 2002 to 156 in 2012.

By the way, a large number of asylum seekers actually come into the US illegally (as one woman cited in this story did) or overstay a visa and then come up with some reason to ask for asylum.   An abundant supply of US immigration lawyers are waiting to help them with their claims.

Once granted asylum, these new immigrants get all the benefits (welfare goodies) available to refugees.

Sweden to get Djiboutian consulates to better serve “its people”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Only in Sweden!

On September 1, we told you that thousands of Djiboutians (7000!) had pretended to be Somali refugees (legit refugees by UN standards) and flooded into Sweden for the good life—you don’t even have to work!

Are they going to get the boot?  Apparently not, instead Djibouti will be setting up consulates in Sweden to better serve its people!

From Mareeg (a Somali publication in need of an English language editor):

 (24.09.2012)–Dejibouti will open two cansulates in sweden according to well informed Dejibutian deplomatic sources based in Sweden and Dejibuti.

The main reason behind this step is said to be the sharply rising numbers of Djiboutian citizens living in Sweden, Sweden has received the largest number of Djiboutian asylum seekers since 2007, many young Djiboutians flocked to Sweden in search of better and easy life.

According to Farhan Abobakir who works at the Djiboutian ministry of foreign affairs who spoke with our corespondent in Djibouti with thick french accented Somali , Sweden has became the favourite country for many young Djiboutians due to its relaxed immigration rules and checks and the physical appearance similarities between Somalis and Djiboutians, many young Djiboutians got their permanent residence permits by claiming to be from Somalia says Mr.abobakir, we don’t agree with such malicious practises but at the end of day the government has to serve its people anywhere irrespective of their legality.

New York Times discovers Malta’s illegal immigration problems

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum!  Not much in this NYT article that we haven’t discussed relating to Malta (and Southern Europe) as waves of Africans come ashore and have to be detained for long periods of time because governments don’t know what to do with them!

Here is one refreshingly honest line from a human rights activist in Malta regarding the detention policy:

 “The Maltese are not happy with unknown Africans left to run around.”

I was looking for one thing in this story that is only touched upon.   I had hoped to see some mention of the fact that the US State Department is contributing to Malta’s problems by turning some of the illegal aliens into “refugees” and sending them to your towns.  The practice has made Malta a much sought-after landing site for boats coming from North Africa.

This is all the NYT tells us about the US role there:

Several hundred refugees have been relocated to the mainland, and the United States has also helped, relocating more than 1,000 families over the last five years.

It is interesting to me that only a rare mention is ever made in the media connecting Europe’s economic woes (especially Greece’s) to its overload of illegal aliens flooding their countries.

For dozens and dozens of posts on Malta, type ‘Malta’ into our search function.  We’ve been writing about it for five years.

Canadian government considering electronic bracelets for failed refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

By failed refugees they mean asylum seekers who have been denied asylum.   And, Canada has 44,000 of them roaming free in the land!   But, oh well, only a few of them pose any threat!

From Canada.com:

The House of Commons’ public safety committee has issued a report recommending the government consider the use of electronic ankle bracelets as a way to curb the number of denied refugee claimants who fail to comply with removal orders.

Opposition critics, however, say expanding the use of such technology for immigration purposes would be a waste of money since most rejected immigrants and failed refugee claimants pose “little or no risk” to the public.

I guess they don’t consider mooching on social services and competing for jobs a threat to the public!

The committee’s report cited the testimony earlier this year of Peter Hill, director general of post-border programs at the Canada Border Services Agency, which has the responsibility of enforcing the removal of people deemed inadmissible to Canada. Hill testified that there were 44,000 individuals in the country with outstanding arrest warrants and whose current whereabouts were unknown.   [of course one flaw in this idea is that they can’t find the 44,000 to put bracelets on them!—ed]

“By and large, the majority of them — 80 per cent of those cases — are failed refugee claimants without any criminality or security concerns,” he told the committee. “They have absconded — they have not shown up for an immigration process or they have not shown up for their removal — so we have warrants for their arrest for removal.”

There is another way to look at those numbers —- 20% (8,800) are criminals!

The article at Canada.com goes on:

Still, the committee, which is chaired by Conservative MP Kevin Sorenson, went ahead and recommended that the Canada Border Services Agency “review the use and cost effectiveness of electronic monitoring with the aim of reducing the occurrence of inadmissible individuals who are not presenting themselves for removal.”

Makes me wonder how many failed asylum seekers are wandering around the US!

This is our 99th post on Canada.  For our whole Canada category, go here.