Boston Bombing blowback: Senator Graham has an amendment or two to S.744

Who said politicians can’t learn?  Here we apparently have Senator Lindsey ‘Amnesty’ Graham attempting to fix S.744 (the Gang of Eight plus Grover bill) which as we reported addresses our refugee and asylum program right along with the kitchen sink, in response to the Tsarnaev family’s asylum fraud.

What do ya’ think, Chuckie? AP Photo

Everyone is asking, how persecuted were the Chechens if they were traveling back and forth to Russia?  Indeed!

Remember there is absolutely no need to make changes to the Refugee Resettlement Program within this “comprehensive” bill.  Don’t misunderstand what I am saying, the program needs a complete Congressional review, but it should be a review SEPARATE FROM the Gang’s bill.

Since the Gang (which includes Graham) does make it easier for more refugees to enter the US for flimsier reasons (if they belong to a particular ‘special’ group or are a certain nationality), Graham’s proposed amendments are of interest.  Thanks so much to reader John for wading into this and alerting us.

Go here for a list of amendments to S.744.

Graham’s Amendment #1

The purpose is:   To provide for termination of asylum or refugee status in cases of country return.

Then below are the guts of it.  Refugee industry advocates will go nuts!  It basically says, if you go ‘home’ (with certain exceptions), you will have your refugee status TERMINATED!  Which means that right now a very large group of “refugees” and “asylees” would presumably get the heave-ho!  (Of course, assuming we had an administration with any guts to do it!).

… any alien who is granted asylum or refugee status under this Act or the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.), who, without good cause as determined by the Secretary, subsequently returns to the country of such alien’s nationality or, in the case of an alien having no nationality, returns to any country in which such alien last habitually resided, and who applied for such status because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution in that country on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, shall have his or her status terminated.

Of course there are exceptions.  They can seek a waiver from the Secretary of State (big potential loophole there).  And, now I am rolling on the floor laughing—it does not apply to Cubans!   We don’t want to p*** off Rubio—NO! NO! NO!

I’ll tell you about another of Graham’s amendments tomorrow.

Minnesota will be heard at the State Department refugee hearing next Wednesday

Minnesota resident:  “Why in the world would you import this very dangerous ideology called Islam?”

Readers!  You have a little more than two hours (it is just about 2:40 Eastern time) to take your one opportunity to tell the US State Department what you think they should do in fiscal year 2014—how many refugees will be coming to your town and from where?

We have heard from Texas, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Montana, Maryland, North Carolina and now Minnesota.  See our archives for the hearing here.    (Arizona!  Are you out there? I think I got one from Arizona too, please resend!)

Here then is Debbie Anderson writing from Minneapolis (emphasis mine):

Anne C. Richard
Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration
US State Department
Washington, DC.

May 8, 2013

Re: Federal Register Public Notice 8241

Dear Ms Richard,

I am writing to comment on the President’s FY 2014 U. S. Refugee Admissions Program as part of the upcoming May 15 public hearing to be held in Washington, DC.

‘Refugee Resettlement’ that was once promoted by politicians as an honorable humanitarian effort has degenerated into a very expensive, corrupt industry that seems to serve only those who are enriched by it – politically and/or financially.  Plus, this program is destroying the fabric of American society, helping to bankrupt the country, and is endangering our citizens and our national security.

MN has received so many Somali ‘refugees’ that Minneapolis is aka ‘Little Mogadishu’.  Hardly a compliment considering their decades of civil war and their Islamic hatred for America.  Who can forget the pictures of the rabid, cheering crowds dragging our dead sons through their dusty streets?!

The large influx of Muslim ‘refugees’ has greatly empowered notorious groups such as CAIR-MN, MAS-MN, ISNA-MN – groups with well-documented links to terrorism – that are working hard to change MN into another sharia compliant state.  Because of the aggressive efforts by these Muslim groups I am increasingly seeing Minnesota called Minnesotastan.

These ‘refugees’ and their criminal leaders and radical Imams are a direct threat to America’s national security.  I stood on top of the South Tower only four months before Muslims felled them.  How many Americans have to be savagely maimed or killed before this madness is stopped?

Are you not aware of Islam’s 1400 year history of jihad against the ‘infidels’?  Are you not aware of the savage global jihad that is occurring throughout the world today?  Are you not aware of the plight of Western Europe with the aggressive Islamization of their countries?  Why in the world would you import this very dangerous ideology called Islam?

Here are some of the documented consequences of this harmful program called ‘Refugee Resettlement’:

Minnesota Sheriff Reports to Congress on Growing Somalia Muslim Gang Threat Another Indictment Brought to MN Al-Shabaab

Now Muslims have set up child prostitution rings in the U.S.

Feds assist terror-linked CAIR to force mosque on Minn. town

Man from Coon Rapids, MN found guilty of honor-killing his daughter

Suspicion about Flying Imams grows as terror links pile up

The mosqueing of our neighborhoods – Bloomington, MN

Plus, the 36+ mosques in MN have hosted radical Imams such as Siraj Wahhj, Dr Jamal Badawi and Omar Shahin.

As a citizen I am fed up with the staggering costs of this program and I am fed up with overwhelming influx of those who are hostile to Americans and our way of life.  And I am fed up with politicians and kumbaya ‘church’ leaders who are fulfilling their own agendas rather than looking out for the welfare of the American people.

Please stop the immigration of all Muslims.  Islamic ideology is not compatible with the American Constitution.

I ask that all refugee admissions be dramatically cut back to less than 5000 annually.  And, finally, I ask for a citizen review board to oversee this mammoth corrupt industry.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Debbie Anderson
Minneapolis, MN

cc: Congressman Keith Ellison
2244 Rayburn Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2305

cc: Senator Amy Klobuchar
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

cc: Senator Al Franken
309 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

cc: Attention: Senator Amy Klobuchar
US Senate Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

cc: House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security
2138 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515

Go here for instructions on faxing or e-mailing your testimony today!  If you send me testimonies to publish, I’ll post them in the days ahead.

Ft Wayne health commissioner: greatest fear is increasing generational poverty

This is a story from the week the Boston terrorist attack happened and like so many it became lost in my stack as all of my attention became fixated on the fact that “refugees” were responsible for the marathon bombing.

The US State Department Director of Admissions, Lawrence Bartlett, visited Ft. Wayne, the Burmese capital of America (where they produce diversity wheelbarrows), along with a UN Representative to assess the damage there.  LOL!  that last part is my assertion!   However, I have noticed that the State Dept. does send out people when cities have problems, it must be to smooth feathers.

Lawrence Bartlett, State Department Director of Refugee Admissions visited Ft. Wayne, Indiana last month.

In this case, I felt sorry for the mayor who has blinders on to what this refugee overload has done to his “welcoming” city.

Here is the story from the Journal Gazette (emphasis mine):

Burmese refugees will continue to resettle in Fort Wayne, although in smaller numbers, an official for the U.S. State Department predicted Thursday.

The decline might be offset by an increase in refugees from Congo and Iraq, according to Larry Bartlett, director of refugee admissions for the State Department.

About 60 Congolese refugees have arrived in Fort Wayne in recent years.

“I would expect the program in Fort Wayne to remain strong,” Bartlett told a gathering of local, state and federal government officials at Citizens Square. “We certainly do not want to overwhelm a community.”

Mayor Tom Henry said that “for a while, we were being overloaded. … We just did not have the resources.”

Henry was referring to 2007-08, when Catholic Charities of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocese resettled more than 1,400 Burmese refugees in Fort Wayne.

This year’s local cap for refugees is 170.

Bartlett acknowledged that the 2007-08 influx “probably is not the right model for how we manage a program.”   [Excuse me!  The State Department could easily have reined this in, there was plenty of controversy in the newspapers in Ft. Wayne at that time.—ed]

[….]

More than 2,700 Burmese refugees have come to Allen County since 1993 to escape military rule in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Democratic reforms taking shape in the Southeast Asian country are expected to slow and perhaps reverse the exodus.

Fort Wayne is home to at least 5,000 Burmese, Henry said.

“To me, it’s a good problem to have,” the mayor said about challenges to both the city and its refugee population. “They wouldn’t come here if we didn’t have something to offer them.”

Henry said Fort Wayne adheres to a “welcome mat” philosophy. In addition to Burmese and Congolese, the city is home to refugees from Bosnia, Darfur and Somalia.

[…..]

The new arrivals tend to lack the education, job skills and English-language proficiency needed for quick assimilation and advancement, service providers said. Some have to travel out of state to find work. There are Burmese mothers who are raising children while their husbands remain in overseas refugee camps.

I think they call this “burying the lead!”

“My greatest fear is that we are increasing the generational poverty,” said Dr. Deborah McMahan, city-county health commissioner.

Read it all.

Don’t forget!  You have until 5 p.m. today to tell Lawrence Bartlett what you think about refugee admissions for fiscal year 2014 because he will likely be presiding over the hearing on May 15th.  Go here for instructions.

Testimony already submitted by others is archived here.

Almost forgot, former Indiana Senator Richard Lugar is responsible for getting this critical GAO report done on the Refugee Resettlement Program because he saw what is happening in Indiana.

Boston bomber pal gets out on bail with help from “refugee” mom’s elite friends

Robel Phillipos is charged with lying to federal investigators after he and others went to Dzhokar Tsarnaev’s room after Phillipos recognized his friend on the videos released by the FBI in the days following the marathon terrorist attack.  He did not call the police to report that he recognized the bombing suspect as his buddy.  A shouted question from a reporter yesterday as to why he didn’t alert authorities is heard at the end of this interview with his lawyers (as they walked away).

Mom outside court house. Phillipos lawyer is on the right. Photo Boston Globe

From the Daily Caller:

Robel Phillipos, the 19-year old classmate of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsarnaev who was charged with lying to federal investigators, gained release from custody with the help of a number of supportive affidavits from Boston-area academics and humanitarians close to his mother, according to a copy of his bond request obtained by the Daily Caller.

Mom is Ethiopian refugee who has important Boston “humanitarian” friends:

Phillipos’ mother Genet Bekele — an Ethiopian refugee who holds a master’s degree in social work from Boston University and worked for a refugee resettlement agency and as the director of the emergency shelter at the nonprofit battered women’s shelter Transition House — provided an affidavit in support of her son.

Transition House executive director Risa Mednick also provided an affidavit supporting Phillipos, claiming that she knew Phillipos’ mother when they both worked at Transition House and on the Cambridge Domestic Violence Task Force. Mednick claimed that Phillipos had a “surprisingly nuanced understanding of how social issues impact families and youth.

Wellesley College art professor Salem Mekuria also provided an affidavit defending Phillipos.

“Robel’s mother is one of the most humanitarian and generous beings I know. Having experienced hardship as a refugee after escaping from an oppressive military regime, she has been working tirelessly to help others with similar experiences,” Mekuria said in an affidavit.

Martha Goldberg, a sponsored programs administrator at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, also defended Phillipos and stated that many employees of the International Institute of Boston knew the young man.

“I met Genet fifteen years ago as a coworker at the International Institute of Boston. I knew all about Robel as she would talk about him and many of the other staff members knew him. We were all proud of him because he was a really sweet, smart kid,” Goldberg testified in her affidavit.  [Smart?—ed]

For my critics!  I do have sympathy for Mom!

Readers, if you are having trouble finding the International Institute of Boston that’s because it is now “doing business as” the International Institute of New England.  It is another of the 300 plus subcontractors resettling refugees and providing services to “new Americans.”  I believe they are still a subcontractor of USCRI (remember them here yesterday).

Some of these contractors (top nine who have a monopoly) and subcontractors have changed their names over the years, why?  I assume it’s because somehow they got in trouble with federal grant money, but who knows, it could be innocent name changes.  Here in 2009, I reported that USCRI itself changed its name.  In any case it makes it harder for the average taxpaying citizen to keep up with them!

All of our posts on the Boston Marathon Bombing are archived here.

Today’s State Department refugee testimony comes to you from North Carolina

But before we get to it, be sure to visit VDARE where Paul Nachman has penned an excellent piece urging readers there  to send in testimony by close of business tomorrow, May 8th.  He has some information from years before I followed this program that I found very enlightening. I think you will too.  Mr. Nachman shared his testimony with us here, yesterday.

Go here for instructions on how to send your comments (and don’t forget to copy them to your elected officials in Washington and you can throw in some state and local officials too for good measure).  Tomorrow is the deadline!  E-mail or fax instructions:

Persons wishing to present written comments should submit them by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2013 via email to spruellda@state.gov or fax (202) 453-9393.

The comments below are from Jon Sobieski of North Carolina (emphasis mine):

North Carolina is in the top ten resettlement states in the US (surprised?).  Type ‘North Carolina’ into our search function for more.

(See previous testimony from Texas, Tennessee, New Hampshire and MontanaWe have an archive here for all posts relating to this meeting.)

Mr. Sobieski wrote to his Senators and included his testimony.  In a P.S. he asks the Senators this question:

PS I would also like to know why the State Dept. has banned any camera or recording devices at their 1 day public comment hearing?  Isn’t that my tax money that is paying for that meeting?  What are they afraid of that they refuse to allow recording at the public hearing?

Readers should know that last year a serious effort was made to get the State Department to allow recording of the meeting but it was denied.  Good question Mr. Sobieski!

Ms. Anne Richard
Asst. Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration
US State Department
Washington, DC. 20520

April 27, 2013

Re: Federal Register Public Notice 8241 Comment Request

Dear Ms Richard:

I am writing to submit written comments on the President’s FY 2014 U.S. Refugee Admissions Program as part of the upcoming May 15 public hearing in Washington, DC. Sadly, the refugee and asylum resettlement programs have become overtly corrupt and harmful to America.   Below I outline only a few examples of the negative effect these programs are having.  For a nation that is broke, why are we financing huge numbers of inassimilable and dependent people into America?  Why do we allow family chain immigration for the initially approved refugee?  While I want to end the refugee and asylum programs due to their corruption and negative effects on communities, that request will likely be denied.  Therefore, I ask that a full scale audit of the performance of refugees and asylum seekers and the NGOs placing them in the US be completed before any further immigration is allowed.  There are so many questions that demand answers.  What percentage of entrants continues to use welfare after 1 year, 2 years, 5 years?  Can we ban Muslim immigration due to the inherent hatred and preaching of violence toward nonbelievers demanded by Islam and its teachings?  If no outright end can be considered, I urge that the government dramatically reduce refugee and asylum entries to less than 3,000 per year total including family resettlement (if family resettlement is not banned outright ).

The following are only a few of the many reasons that refugee and asylum entry must be stopped or drastically curtailed:

1)    The Boston marathon attacks were committed by jihadis allowed into the US as part of family repatriation.  What is more disconcerting is how their parents were able to easily attain asylum.  Just like that.  They were here on tourist visas and through the father’s sister, were able to get asylum status.  Who checked on these people?  Why do asylum seekers get unlimited welfare access?  Forever?  They did not pay a dime into the system and milked it for all it’s worth.  If their homeland was so terrible, why did they go back on ‘tourist’ visits and now live there permanently apparently.  Now we learn the mother was a shoplifter and skipped back to southern Russia to avoid trial for a $1600 theft (shoplifting) at Lord and Taylor’s.  Are they still on welfare?  Are we depositing welfare payments in their bank accounts in Russia?  America is a sucker and the State Dept. is the biggest sucker of all.  What about the hundreds of thousands of Somalis that the State Dept. has imported?  Is the State Dept. even aware of the criminal behavior Somalis are notorious for in Minneapolis?  Entire communities have been destroyed.  They don’t call areas of Minneapolis ‘Little Somalia’ for nothing.  There is truly a perverse agenda at the State Dept. as they bring in more and more inassimilable groups and dump them in American communities. And who pays for this folly?  We do, the struggling taxpayers.

2)    Who audits these NGOs like the IRC, Catholic, Hebrew, and so many others?  Is anyone looking at the long term ramifications of allowing these NGOs to have free reign to import thousands of inassimilable groups and dump them in our towns?  Why do officers of these NGOs make more than the President? David Milliband was just  hired as CEO of one group (International Rescue Committee) with a $430,000 salary!  Over half of their funding is paid by US taxpayers, others are over 90%!  Does anyone care about the citizens who have to deal with these NGOs and the inassimilable people they dump into our communities?

3)    The State Dept. is failing at screening evil asylum seekers, you appear to only be concerned with import quotas and spending all the money the foolish Congress allots to you.  Damn the American citizens.  Who cares about them and their communities?  To me, the State Dept. was right there in Boston helping these Muslim jihadists build and place these bombs so that they could slaughter the infidels they so despise.   Meanwhile, the stealth jihadists collect welfare and laugh at the stupid infidels in the US.  But it is the State Dept’s failures in managing this corrupt program that is the true evil.  It is as if the State Dept.  is a sponsor of terrorism against the American people.

4)    Why are we importing evil and inassimilable groups when we are broke and suffer from high unemployment?  Due to these groups low IQs and extremely low education levels, the only jobs they can get are the same jobs that our own poor and low IQ citizens are fighting for.  On top of that,  these NGOs provide free training and financial incentives to employers to hire these people over our own citizens.  This has to stop.

5)   Why are we financing NGOs?  Aren’t they supposed to be voluntary and charitable enterprises.  Instead, they are BIG BUSINESS feeding at the taxpayer trough.

6)    The refugee program, like all govt programs, started out small with a tightly targeted purpose and benevolent intentions.  Now it is a monster devouring billions of dollars and destroying our communities.  Indeed, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

7)    In conjunction with the above, U.S. admissions policy has become subsumed to the demands of the UNHCR. The UN is not our friend.  We should not allow a foreign agency to dictate policy to the U.S., especially when it causes adverse effects to local, often small, communities in rural areas. We owe the UN nothing, we owe the world nothing.   We should no longer acquiesce to the UN’s demands and sharply and I mean sharply curtail all asylum and refugee admissions.

The State Department should declare a one year moratorium on settlement and take a critical look at how this program has been corrupted and how adversely it is affecting American communities.

To fully understand the corruption and incompetence in America’s refugee and asylum program, I recommend you study at length the rich and insightful Refugee Resettlement Watch website.

Sincerely,

Jon Sobieski

CC:  Senator Richard Burr, Senator Kay Hagen
Representative Mel Watt
Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security
Additional CCs to Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Lindsay Graham Senator John McCain

For your faxing enjoyment, Mr. Sobieski has included this list of fax numbers for Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  (you will probably need to put a ‘1’ in front of each number.

Handy numbers to have if you have comments to fax on S. 744 as well!

Sen. Charles Schumer US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-3027
Sen. Patrick Leahy US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-224-3479
Sen. Diane Feinstein US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-3954
Sen. Dick Durbin US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-0400
Sen. Amy Klobuchar US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-2186
Sen. Richard Blumenthal US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-224-9673
Sen. Mazie Hirono US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-224-2126
Sen. John Cornyn US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-2856
Sen. Chuck Grassley US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-224-6020
Sen. Orrin G.Hatch US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.202-224-6331unsuccessful fax, Hatch office investigating – update: his office gave me his direct email address  senatorhatch@hatch.senate.gov so I could deliver my comments 5/6/13
Sen. Jeff Sessions US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-224-3149
Sen. Jeff Flake US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-0515
Sen. TedCruz US Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.US 202-228-0755