Month: August 2013

Tennessee legislators want answers about fiscal impact of refugee resettlement

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a report from Bobbie Patray of the Tennessee Eagle Forum about the first meeting of a select committee of the Tennessee legislature to address  the 10th Amendment of the Constitution and the encroachment by the federal government on states’ rights in regards to the resettlement of migrants in the state by Catholic Charities (through the US State Department).

Holly Johnson, Catholic Charities TN, with her Idaho counterpart at 2010 Refugee meeting. In Tennessee, Catholic Charities calls the shots on resettlement.

See our earlier coverage here.  (You will find links there for reports from The Tennessean and Nashville Public Radio.)

Patray:

It was an exciting day to be at Legislative Plaza and see history being made yesterday.  The first official meeting of the Joint Legislative Advisory Committee was convened. This creation of and mission of this committee grew out of the increasing concern of both legislators and grassroots activists about the ongoing encroachment of the federal government on the constitutional rights of the sovereign states.

Members of the committee are: Rep. Judd Matheny, Chairman, Rep. John Ragan, Rep. Joe Carr, Rep. Josh Evans, Rep. Mike Turner, Sen. Mike Bell, Sen. Janice Bowling, Sen. Ferrell Haile, Sen. Thelma Harper, Sen. Jim Summerville.  All members were present except Sen. Harper.

There was enough interest in this important issue that other legislators attended: Rep. Jeremy Faison, Rep. G.A. Hardaway, Rep. David Alexander, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, Rep. Shelia Butt, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., Sen. Frank Niceley.

It was that concern that drove the motive for taking up the first issue of this committee:  The Federal Cost Shifting of the Refugee Resettlement program.

As one article stated: “A newly-created legislative committee met for the first time Wednesday to investigate the indirect fiscal impact of refugee resettlements. They were given an unsatisfying answer: no one is keeping track.”

That is the problem.   Each year, lawmakers are responsible for passing a budget and certainly have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayer to know where these dollars are going.  Except….in this case…they don’t!!!

Chairman Judd Matheny CLEARLY laid out the parameters of the discussion:  It was ONLY about the COST SHIFTING to the states.  It was NOT about the value of the refugee resettlement program, it was NOT about what the refugees bring to this state, it was NOT about the work that the providers or participants do.

It is not just Tennessee lawmakers that  have these concerns.  Two years ago, the National Governors Association stated: “The federal government’s unwillingness to provide adequate funding for costs attributable to migration and resettlement services has resulted in a dramatic shift of program costs from the federal government to state and local taxpayers.”

The first speaker, Kasar Abdulla,  started telling her personal story, which, of course, was compelling. However, as was stated earlier, the value of the program was NOT the subject of the hearing.  Chairman Matheny asked her a couple of time to please stick to the topic, but she did not and, in fact, clearly was not prepared to do that.  So the Chairman called for the next speaker, Holly Johnson, State Refugee Coordinator, Tennessee Office for Refugees, Catholic Charities of TN, Inc.  After Miss Johnson spoke, Don Barnett and Joanne Bregman, Esq.  addressed the committee.  Bregman’s testimony was incredible as she revealed the cold, hard facts and figures.  The last speaker  Stephen Fotopulos, with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition was totally out of line with his testimony.

Just as a snapshot, Sen. Mark Green, M.D., observed that using the two numbers provided in the testimonies, the refugee program would be costing TennCare between $7.2million  and $12.1million over a four year period.  This is the kind of information that is desperately needed for budget purposes and that we have not been able to get hard figures on.  The committee passed a motion to ask the Fiscal Review Committee to do a comprehensive study of all aspects of this program with emphasis on any cost shifting, expenses incurred, what enabling legislation they are acting under, including a proportionality of refugees coming to TN versus other states to present at the November 12 meeting.

Click here to watch the proceedings.  For more on Tennessee and refugees, click here.

Photo is from this story about a Wilson-Fish (Office of Refugee Resettlement) meeting in Washington, here.  When you click that W-F link you can see if your state refugee program is now being run by a non-governmental agency.

Oops!  Depending on your screen size, in an earlier version of this post, the TEF logo blocks Johnson’s face… should have checked that first!

Albanian ‘refugee’ racketeers busted in Philly

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is strength alert for Saturday, August 24th!

Our unofficial crime reporter, ‘pungentpeppers’ has sent us another refugee crime story (yesterday it was this one from Dayton, OH) and today it’s ‘Feds charge 9 in loan-sharking, gambling operation’ (seven of the nine are Albanians who arrived in the Philadelphia area in the late 1990s).  

Gee, I wonder if they could have been on that 1999 airlift—the one where the Clinton Administration brought in thousands of ‘refugees’ to South Jersey, including Albanians, that was the subject of this National War College Report?

And, remember the terror plotters known as the Ft. Dix Six—the group had Albanian members.  One of them knew the military base because his father ran a pizza parlor in a South Jersey suburb of Philly.  When you read the FBI report on the bust yesterday, note the pizza connection!  One of the would-be Muslim terrorists had arrived at Ft. Dix as a refugee several years earlier.

Here is how I began my 2010 airlift post:

I just came across this report from the National War College about how the volags (supposedly voluntary agencies but really federal contractors*) were basically in need of warm bodies to resettle (for $$$) in the US in 1999 so they pushed Gore and the National Security Council to go against professionals in the State Department and even against the wishes of the UN and airlifted tens of thousands of Kosovar “refugees” to the US during Bill Clinton’s phony baloney Bosnian War.

I was going to give you some more links on those lovely Albanian refugees, but realize we have too many!  So, before, or after, you read today’s news you might want to review our Albanian archives.  One of the most recent stories we have on Albanians was about the dog rapist, here.

Back to today’s news.  ‘Pungentpeppers’ sent us the FBI press release from yesterday which begins with this:

WASHINGTON—An indictment was unsealed today charging nine people in a loan sharking and illegal gambling ring allegedly run out of several Philadelphia businesses.

The charges were announced today by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

Ylli Gjeli, 48; Fatimir Mustafaraj, 41; George Markakis, 43; Gezim Asllani, 34; Rezart Rahmi Telushi, 40; Eneo Jahaj, 26; and Ardit Pone, 35, all of Philadelphia; Erion Murataj, 35, of Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania; and Brian Jackson, 35, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, were arrested this morning. The defendants are named in an indictment charging racketeering conspiracy, racketeering collection of unlawful debt, making extortionate extensions of credit, collections of extensions of credit by extortionate means, operating an illegal gambling business, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Read it all, it is very detailed.

Then this is from the Philadelphia Inquirer story:

Pizza parlor loan-sharking and gambling headquarters in Philadelphia.

Nine members of an Albanian-run gang from Northeast Philadelphia that specialized in loan-sharking and illegal gambling – backed by intimidation with a gun and a hatchet – were arrested Friday morning, federal officials said.

Only the alleged ringleader, Ylli Gjeli, had a lawyer present when those arrested appeared in Federal Court yesterday.  The Inquirer mentioned this amusing (sort of) exchange between the US Attorney and Gjeli’s attorney:

The only defendant with a lawyer present was Gjeli. Before the judge appeared, the lawyer, David Glassman, asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Salvatore Astolfi about various aspects of the case.

“No human trafficking, right?” Glassman asked.

“Right. You want us to add it?” Astolfi responded.

“Oh, no, no,” Glassman said.

Hmmmm?  Human trafficking possibly going on along with the pizza delivery business?  I wouldn’t be surprised.

See also, the FoxNews coverage here.

The open borders pushers keep telling us about how refugees/immigrants bring an entrepreneurial spirit to America and add to our economy because they open small businesses.  Every time I see a story like this one, I wonder if this is what they are talking about!

Rwandan refugee accused of raping 90-year-old on Ohio bike trail

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a dreadful story from Dayton, OH (good catch by reader ‘pungentpeppers.’)

From ABC22  (be sure to watch the news clip, but this, below, is basically the text of it).

The crime occurred on July 14th on the Creekside Bike Trail, but Jean Paul Mpanurwa, 26 was not arrested for the crime until a few days later.  DNA tests link him to the crime and bail was set at $500,000.  There was early confusion about his nationality (Congolese or Rwandan) and whether he was on a student visa or was a refugee.

Jean Paul Mpanurwa arrested for allegedly raping 90-year-old woman.

This account concludes he is a refugee from Rwanda.***  Because he committed an earlier crime in Utah, the chances are good that he was resettled in “welcoming” Utah and that refugee contractors there know him (in case any investigative reporter wants to search further).  I checked and the State Department did send both Rwandans and Congolese, although in small numbers, to Utah.

Update: Here is another story that says his relatives are Congolese?

ABC22:

DAYTON — We have learned much more about the 26-year-old immigrant who is accused of raping a 90-year-old woman along a Dayton bike path.

Our team spent hours on the phone with several federal agencies and learned Jean Paul Mpanurwa was here legally. Sources tell us he’s a refugee from Rwanda, but since he committed a sexual offense in another state, we wanted to know why he was allowed to come to Dayton.

“I get incensed, and then I get irate. And I’m like in my neighborhood? In my neighborhood?” said neighbor David Messer as he explains the sense disbelief and fear that lingers over his neighborhood near Radio road, even though Mpanurwa is locked up.

“I won’t go out at nighttime anymore… my husband goes with my at night time if I have to go to the store,” said a neighbor who only wanted to be identified as Mary.

She and other neighbors want to know why Mpanurwa was able to join his family in Dayton in the first place.

“Who would really in truly do that to a 90-year-old woman?” asked Mary.

We searched through pages of court documents, and found Mpanurwa admitted to groping a fellow student at a Job Corp in Utah last Fall. His conviction of sexual battery was only a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor crime, even sexual in nature, is not grounds for deportation.

On Monday, we heard Mpanurwa was here on a student visa; but sources now tell us he would never be granted a student visa for nine years, and he was living here as a refugee. Neighbors we talked to today are outraged that more wasn’t done, and want lawmakers to revisit the books.

“Look at the laws on it, you know if he was supposed to be here as a refugee, you know, why is he still over here, really?” asked Mary.

“This is a serial person, he fits a pattern,” said Messer who knows that will help the Prosecution’s case. And as they build their case, Immigration and Customs enforcement already have a federal hold on him. That means if he’s convicted of this rape, they have already started the deportation process.

The comment by Mary above shows just how little the general public knows about the US Refugee Resettlement Program that is now over three decades old.   Refugees never are expected to go back ‘home’ even when things improve in their country.  They are here permanently!   People like Mary (not that she would be expected to know!) think we give refugee status just so someone can get out of harms way for a little while!

***New readers might want to check out this story about a costly Rwandan war criminal who was recently convicted in New Hampshire and sentenced to ten years in prison (her trial(s) cost taxpayers millions).   Surprise! She lied on her application for refugee status.

And, just to cover all bases, note that we are bringing in another 50,000 Congolese refugees over the next couple of years, here.

One more thing, last year in my MD county citizens fought and defeated plans for a “bike trail” that would have wound through 24 miles of peoples’ yards and farms.  Biking hobbyists said that  the people using bike trails are “good people” and we shouldn’t fear crime on those public paths.    Hmmmm!

Handy data on your state/city and refugee admissions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One of the stories on the Tennessee meeting this week, linked this handy chart (click here) for you to see how many refugees and from what country came to your state in fiscal year 2012.   The Obama Administration/feds and their contractors were shooting for 70,000 refugees last year but resettled 58,238.

Check the numbers here (Refugee Admissions Report as of Jul 31, 2013 ) at WRAPS (Refugee Processing Center) and note that again Obama wants 70,000 and they may come close to that for FY2013.  As of July 31st they had resettled 57,030 with two months to go until the fiscal year ends on September 30th.  (These numbers do not include asylees)

You should open some of the other data tables at WRAPS, they are very informative.

I often forget about it myself, but we have an entire category entitled “Where to find information” that you might find useful.

“Fake” gays and lesbians getting asylum status in Europe

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Less than two weeks ago, here, we predicted that the latest cool excuse for asking for asylum/refugee status is to claim discrimination due to one’s sexual orientation.  I wondered then how authorities would know if someone was lying or truly a homosexual (and truly persecuted).  Looks like the fraudsters are already hard at it in Europe!

Lesbian activist in South Africa which has legalized gay marriage and might be a good place for West African gays and lesbians to seek asylum—rather than in Europe!

From Radio Netherlands Worldwide (Hat tip: Joanne):

In Belgium, posing as a homosexual is the latest trick to get refugee status or benefit from the subsidiary protection by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA).

Originally from Ziguinchor, Fatouma* now lives in Liège near La Batte. The Senegalese woman, who moved to Belgium just over two years ago, obtained her residence permit in a rather unorthodox fashion. Fatouma was called in for an interview at the CGRA, the office that assesses refugee applications and ultimately grants refugee or subsidiary protection status to various foreign immigrants.

“I bought a made-up story from a Guinean man in Brussels. He told me to pose as a lesbian who was abused in her home country,” says Fatouma. The subsidiary protection status she enjoys was granted to her in five months.

[…..]

Lucrative fake stories

Selling fake life stories has become a lucrative business. A group of professional story-makers hang around refugee shelters. The hub of this business is in Petit-Château in Brussels.

A storyline can cost up to 200 Euros. Senegalese and Guinean nationals are the “go-to people”, as they like to say. “They coach each other through emails. I know many Senegalese nationals involved in this business. They support each other. Guineans are now taking over,” explains one asylum seeker.

They are the uncontested kings. They guide newcomers from West Africa: those whose applications were rejected in Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal, and who come to Belgium or France for a second chance at obtaining refugee status.

Islam hates gays!   Here is another somewhat-related story where the message to all LGBT (HIV infected) people is to stay out of Somalia where the hardliners would like to kill you.   For the life of me I can’t figure out how the Hard Left reconciles having the Islamists in their political tent alongside Gay political activists.