Lewiston, Maine’s Mayor in hot water over remarks about Somalis

Update September 28th:  Thanks to reader ‘riveratlantic’ for alerting us, but it seems that the Mayor is saying different things to different people, here.

And, can you imagine it!  Lewiston, Maine is one of the Nation’s twenty five LEAST diverse cities, that in spite of the 6000 plus Somali refugees living there.

So what did the Mayor say that has brought  the wrath of Maine’s Global Institute down upon him?

Lewiston’s present Mayor told the BBC on 9/11 that first the Somalis were costing the city a lot of money and that they and other immigrants should leave their culture at the door and accept American culture! 

Ahhhhh! Get out the tar and feathers!

From Somali Multi-media:

Lewiston Mayor Robert MacDonald is once again facing criticism for remarks he made about Somali refugees in Maine’s second-largest city. In a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mayor MacDonald said immigrants are “costing us a lot of money” and they should “accept our culture and leave your culture at the door.” Last year the mayor apologized for comments he made on election night when he said the wanted to make the city less attractive to deadbeats, many of whom don’t speak English. As Susan Sharon reports, members of the Maine Global Institute are now requesting a meeting with the mayor.

Mayor MacDonald’s comments were first broadcast by the BBC on Sept. 11 in a segment focusing on the resettlement of nearly 6,000 ethnic Somalis and Somali Bantus to Maine’s second-largest city over the past decade.

“If you want to become a citizen, that’s fine, welcome to America,” MacDonald said. “But you know what? When you come here, you come and you accept our culture and you leave your culture at the door.”

Read it all.

So, what is this Maine Global Institute I wondered?    I couldn’t find a website for it and only a directory listing at the Portland Chamber of Commerce that says they:

Support public and private efforts to help make Maine and Portland a more welcome place for inevitable demographic change.

I did however find this interesting article about a diversity study from Brown University that places Lewiston in the bottom twenty five cities for diversity in the US.  I’m thinking that if the city has 6000 Somalis and the rest of the people are native Mainers, yup, not enough diversity—only two colors!  Who knew!

From the article in The Forecaster we learn that the first meeting of the Maine Global Institute just happened and how lucky that Mayor MacDonald should say such politically incorrect things for them to blast just at this time.  And, what a coincidence that Lewiston’s former Mayor, who was gung-ho for more refugees, is Chairman of the Board of the Maine Global Institute!

Larry Gilbert, former mayor of Lewiston, is chairman of the board. Gilbert is also involved in the Lewiston-based Welcoming Maine, which works to integrate new Mainers into the city.

We’ve written about Mr. Gilbert on previous occasions.  Here in 2010 he was feted by none-other than John Podesta’s Hard Left Center for American Progress, a George Soros spawn, when the Mayor told Congress that Lewiston was a multicultural nirvana.   But, apparently not multicultural enough according to Brown University.

And readers, don’t be fooled, these little groups that appear to spring up locally, like the Maine Global Institute, are all part of an international organized network of new world order types shepherded by Soros and others of his ilk to ultimately erase borders.

We’ve written many many posts on Lewiston, so use our search function and just type in ‘Lewiston’ for all of those posts.   However, be sure to read one post in particular because almost every day this post from 2009 about Maine as a welfare magnet for Somalis ranks in our top most-read posts.

An afterthought!  You might want to contact the Mayor and give him some words of support, here.

Migration Policy Institute reports on the status of Refugee Resettlement program

This is an article of the sort that screams—we should be doing more!  However, you will find it a useful summary of where the Refugee Resettlement Program stands today.

I told you about the Migration Policy Institute here in February of 2011, they are one of those Leftist Open Borders advocacy groups masquerading as a think tank.   But, they are still useful as you will see in this summing-up of the modern-day resettlement program for refugees and asylum seekers which came into being in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter and Senators Kennedy and Biden created the monster.

Below is one of the opening paragraphs of their latest report.  And, by the way, the 2012 fiscal year ends effectively on Sunday and at any moment we should see the Presidential determination letter which officially asks Congress for the number of refugees to be admitted in 2013.

In 2012 Obama asked for 76,000 refugees  (MPI says 80,000 every year since 2008, so I don’t know where the discrepancy is?) and we admitted ‘only!’ 56,000 plus in 2011.  According to WRAPS, here, as of August 31st (one month short of the end of the fiscal year for 2012, we were just shy of 50,000 admitted).   Two things happened to reduce those numbers—a couple of Iraqi refugee terrorists were nabbed in Kentucky and all those cities getting refugees are completely overloaded with unemployed and needy refugees and contractors are scouring the country for fresh territory in which to drop off the refugees.

MPI:

The United States grants humanitarian protection on a limited basis to refugees and asylees from diverse countries throughout the world (see Definitions box) This Spotlight examines the data on persons admitted to the United States as refugees and those granted asylum in 2011. It also provides the number of refugees and asylees who received lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in 2011.

Check out the report for the summary and pay attention to the growing number of asylum seekers granted legal permanent residency status.  Asylum seekers are people who arrived on our borders illegally and say they were being persecuted somewhere in the world (never mind that most traveled through many ‘safe’ countries where they should have asked for asylum, but its the US they are aiming for).   Refugees are screened by Homeland Security before they are admitted to the US.  Asylum seekers waltz right in!

Have a look at this interesting table about those granted asylum and where they came from in 2011.  It gives you some idea of who those OTMs (other than Mexicans) are coming across our borders.  However, some asylum seekers are those with student or tourist visas who then ask for asylum rather than return home.

One more thing, when you visit WRAPS, and see the Refugee Admissions report up to August 31, note that we admitted over 4000 more Somalis this year.

For new readers:  We have a category entitled ‘where to find information’ and this post will be archived there.  You might want to visit that category from time to time for basic information about the program.

Minnesota Somali on trial for terror funding wants spiritual healer

….he says he is seeing ghosts.

I wonder a couple of things, do Minnesota judges get tired of demanding Somali Muslims on trial there?  Just a couple of days ago we heard about the Somali women from Rochester, MN convicted of sending money to Al-Shabaab in Africa (one of them refused to stand for the judge) and now we learn that this guy, on trial for supplying the money for some of the twenty plus refugee youths who returned to Somalia to get Jihad training, wants out so he can see a special faith healer.  [LOL! Watch for CAIR to ride to his rescue!]

And, incidentally Mahamud Said Omar whose trial begins next week, was a ‘homeless’ man from Rochester.  We nabbed him in the Netherlands back in 2009.   He was subsequently extradited to the US.

The other thing I wonder about is how come the national mainstream media NEVER talks about these Somalis on trial in the US.  Have any of you ever seen a story about these terror-funding cases on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or even Fox News?  Hmmm!

Here is the AP story (reporter Amy Forliti) posted this time at The Republic in Indiana:

MINNEAPOLIS — A Somali man accused of helping finance fighters for the terror group al-Shabab in Somalia asked a judge on Monday to let him out of jail while he awaits trial, saying he has a “sickness of the devil” in which he sees ghosts and needs a spiritual healer.

Mahamud Said Omar, 46, made the statements during a routine hearing in advance of his trial on terror charges, which starts next week. Omar, who collapsed during a hearing last year, said he is also in pain.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis acknowledged that he is aware Omar has a history of seeing ghosts and other problems. But he denied Omar’s request, saying the court is making sure he gets the best medical care possible while in custody. He added that Omar’s attorneys may submit information on cultural or spiritual healers, and Davis would view their credentials and decide whether they may visit Omar.

Omar has been in custody since 2009, charged as part of the U.S. government’s investigation into the recruitment of at least 21 men who authorities believe left Minnesota to join al-Shabab in Somalia, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida. He faces five counts, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

There is more, read it all.

Who resettles refugees in Rochester?

It looks like it is Catholic Charities, so some of these Somalis on trial now likely came through the door of Catholic Charities Diocese of Winona.   In fact, looking back in our archives I see I wrote about problems Catholic Charities was having in Rochester where some of its citizens were not so happy to see the huge influx of refugees there.

Indeed if Mr. Omar, who is having visions of ghosts while incarcerated, was in fact homeless in Rochester, what does that say about Catholic Charities work in that city?

Come to think of it, I saw somewhere that those two Somali women who face 30 years in prison have between them 11 kids, is Catholic Charities going to take care of the kids?  They should. They won’t.  The taxpayer will.

With new bill, Muslim Congressman Ellison takes the lead to loosen restrictions on refugees….

….and to direct more of your tax dollars to so-called non-profit voluntary agencies (aka federal contractors).

Update and reminder:  Rep. Keith Ellison has the dubious distinction of having the most Somali constituents who left the country to join Jihadists in Africa, here.

So the powerful lobbyists for federal refugee contractors couldn’t find anyone other than Minnesota’s hot head Rep. Keith Ellison who called the Republican Party a “basically bigoted party” only a few weeks ago to carry their water in expanding refugee resettlement and getting more of your dollars into their coffers?  Really!

Readers, I have been suggesting for years that the real driving force behind the refugee program in recent years is to get more Muslim immigrants into the US, and you know with Ellison, a Muslim, now taking the lead on the program in Congress it’s the closest we’ve come to seeing that truth.

Way back in 2007, I wrote a post about an Imam from Maryland (Yahya Hendi) visiting Saudi Arabia and telling a Saudi audience that they had elected the first Muslim to Congress (Ellison) and that Muslims would control a number of US cities by 2015 (he is wrong on the year, it will take longer).  He admitted that Muslim conversions weren’t happening fast enough, so immigration is the ticket to swelling the US Muslim population.

Now here is Ellison introducing the “Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act” last week.

Get’em in faster (speed up the security checks?), get them job training to compete against Americans in our weak job market, and make sure they get a green card right away (presently they must wait a year).

Ellison’s press release:

WASHINGTON–Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-05) today introduced the “Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act,” which increases coordination and provides much-needed resources for new Americans fleeing war, persecution, or natural disaster.

The bill streamlines refugee processing abroad, while taking advantage of that processing time to provide refugees with English classes and work orientation training. It also allows refugees to be admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents, saving scarce government and non-governmental organization (NGO) resources. [Do you find this as annoying as I do—these contractors just don’t want to be bothered with this extra work a year later.  They want to get their $$$ and be done with the refugees within 3-6 months and bring in another batch!—ed]

More money for the contractors!

 The bill strengthens refugee integration into local communities. In particular, it expands the public-private Matching Grant program, which has been highly successful in helping refugees become economically self-sufficient.

Brings more of your tax dollars to Ellison’s district where Ellison got elected with the help of the huge Somali population in his district.

“America’s refugee program should reflect our values of generosity and inclusion for all Americans—new and old. The ‘Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act’ achieves this by making sure refugee families have the resources they need to be self-sufficient as quickly as possible. Strengthening support not only helps the 34,000 refugees who have come to Minnesota since 2000, but improves America’s image abroad.”

According to the University of Minnesota, Minnesota has historically had the highest number of refugees per capita. Between 1999 and 2007, over 34,000 people were resettled in Minnesota, from 30 different countries. Over 50,000 Somalis alone—many of them refugee–currently live in Minnesota.   [They are all refugees or illegal aliens—ed]

Ellison has kindly listed for us the hit-parade of federal contractors and immigration and open-borders lobbyists who support his bill:

Refugee Council USA  (this is the lobbying arm for refugee organizations)

Then he lists seven of the top nine major federal contractors who are on board with his bill.  These organizations receive millions of tax dollars to resettle refugees to your towns and cities while expending very small amounts of their own money.  These ‘church’ groups are not passing the collection plate to help refugees in any major way!

World Relief

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. (ECDC)

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Church World Service

The Episcopal Church

Interestingly, the two largest contractors: the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the International Rescue Committee are not listed.  I wouldn’t be quick to chalk that up to any policy concerns with signing on with Ellison but more likely just a bureaucracy problem as they are so big they probably couldn’t get approval through in a timely manner.

Watch for it!  By the end of the week we will see Obama’s refugee wishlist for 2013 which if all goes the way it always does, Congress will rubber stamp it!