Month: September 2013

Open season begins Oct. 1 for FY2015 Diversity Visa Lottery

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I bet most of you reading RRW don’t know about this ‘ingenious’ (not!) lottery program the US State Department has been running for years (Congress made them do it!).  You see we don’t have enough diversity in America’s immigrant population so each year the State Department selects 55,000 people (through a lottery system) who can legally come from around the world to live and work in America .

Cool graphic from 2009 Diversity Visa Lottery, most winners come from Africa and Middle East

However, once the number of immigrants from a certain country tops 50,000 in the previous 5 years, that country’s citizens are cut off from putting their name in the hat.

The program, sometimes called the Green Card lottery, began in 1995, see history here.

The State Department website is here.  The countries and number of ‘winners’ for FY 2013 are here.

Nigeria (others) has been cut off for FY2015 and that is the subject of this short article at
Afrique Jet Actualité en Lignesubject.

BTW, I’m pretty sure the Gang of Eight’s Senate bill on “immigration reform” drops this program, but at the moment I can’t remember and am too lazy to go look it up (especially since the bill may be dying in this Congress).  Supposedly the entrants under the Diversity lottery program are somewhat educated and come with some job training/experience (because Congress thinks we need more foreign workers to compete with Americans along with bringing the joys of multiculturalism to your towns and cities).

Nigeria barred from US visa lottery – Nigeria has been barred from the 2015 US Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme, according to the US State Department.

It said Nigeria was excluded from the DV-2015 because over 50,000 of its citizens have immigrated into the US in the last five years on the strength of the programme.

‘For DV-2015, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam,’ the State Department said on its official website.

The DV 2015 Programme will begin 1 Oct. 2013 and run through 2 Nov. 2013.

PANA reports that the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme, which is administered annually by the  Department of State, provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US.

The next time you hear someone (especially a Republican) say “legal immigration is fine, it’s illegal immigration I have a problem with” remember this LEGAL program and know that they don’t know what they are talking about!

Some miscellaneous housekeeping items

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
That’s me at the January 2013 MD CAN conference introducing columnist/author Diana West.

From Ann:

First, we might soon be changing the e-mail address for RRW, so watch for that change.

Then a reader asked me to be sure we have a “print” option on each post and I think we do now!  Honestly, I am terrible at keeping up with the technical side of blogging.  I love researching and writing the content, but not the tech-stuff!

However, while making sure we had a “print” option, I did make some changes to the ‘widgets.’  I added one (right-hand side bar) for recent posts and one for Tag “clouds.”  We only just started using tags this year so they may not be as accurate as if we had used them from day one.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I find the ‘top posts’ each day to be very informative as well as the categories.  Also, our search function is great and since we have written 4,973 posts, I use it all the time to see if we have written about a subject previously.  Just type in a few key words and you will likely find something you are looking for.

At the beginning of September, I said in a post that we would be thrilled to get one new subscriber a day and I see we are right on target—we need one for today, the 16th, to continue toward that goal.  Just a reminder that the subject of RRW is something most people in the world know little about (most people know nothing!) and so we can’t expect to have millions of readers yet!

Social media:  We have a facebook page here.  I stink at visiting it (will try harder!), but it does post every post if you prefer that way of being informed of new posts (rather than subscribing).

And, I do tweet.  I am AnnC@RefugeeWatcher and I would love to get more followers!

Oh, and one more thing.  I don’t know anything about the advertisements wordpress is putting at the bottom of our posts.  I need to look into it because we make no money from writing this blog, it is purely a charitable enterprise by blog partner Judy and myself.

St. Cloud, MN: Somalis want more access to the court system

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For what?

Seems to me that Somalis have been very busy in the Minnesota courts.  Judy reported the settlement in 2009 of an over $1 million pay-out in a religious discrimination suit where Somalis claimed persecution because the chicken plant didn’t let them have special time off for religious observance.  Then more recently, also in Minnesota, CAIR sued a dessert maker which objected to the long clothing worn by Somali workers (safety issue, claimed the company).

Bringing hundreds of Somalis to St. Cloud. Photo: Lutheran Social Service St. Cloud facebook page.

We can’t forget that Somali terror-related cases are keeping Minnesota courts busy.  Here is one of many posts on the terror-funding trials.   And, then we most recently reported on the Somali women convicted of voter fraud, here.  So it seems to me they are pretty involved in the Minnesota court system already!

For new readers, St. Cloud is home to a growing Somali community.  Up until 2010, refugees arrived on their own to work in what else—meat packing plants.  But, in its infinite wisdom, about three years ago, the US State Department made St. Cloud a  “welcoming” resettlement site with its primary resettlement contractor —-Lutheran Social Service!

Here is one story from 2010 about the new push to bring Somalis to the St. Cloud area.

Also, in 2010 I wrote this post about the Far Left community agitators hooking up with the Somalis to bring political strife to St. Cloud.  I don’t presume to be an expert on the St. Cloud area, but the city has made news here at RRW on many occasions.  Go here for all of our posts on St. Cloud.

Now back to the news relating to our headline.  This is a notice of a meeting in October billed as a “listening session” for Somalis to gain more access to the court system.  If you live in the St. Cloud area, you really should plan to attend.  I sure hope they aren’t looking for special “shariah law” treatment in Minnesota courts!

From the St. Cloud Times:

Judges, lawyers and other justice system partners will have a listening session in St. Cloud designed to improve access to the courts for Somalis.

The event is scheduled for 9 a.m.-noon on Oct. 26 at Whitney Senior Center, 1527 Northway Drive. Preregistration is required by Oct. 21.

The listening session is being co-sponsored by the city of St. Cloud and the Equal Justice Committees of the Seventh and Tenth Judicial Districts. The bulk of the St. Cloud area is located within those two judicial districts.

The goal of the session is to advance efforts to eliminate bias in court operations based on race, gender, ethnicity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation and any other status protected by law.

Other goals include ensuring equal access to the courts and a fair and impartial courtroom. There will be a light lunch provided by Somali Cafe.

To register for the event, send an e-mail to Rita.Steinhagen@courts.state.mn.us or call Rita at 320-591-1513.

Arab News: America bad! only 33 Syrians admitted so far

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

However, Obama has a chance in just a few weeks to redeem himself with the Muslim world and open the gates wide.

Watch for it! Syrian refugees to get big boost in FY2014 Presidential determination?

What Arab News is referring to here (below) is that by the end of September Obama will submit to Congress his annual determination letter which will lay out his Administration’s wishes for which refugees and how many will be admitted to the US in FY2014.  Here is information on his FY2013 request.  By the way, for those of you who sent testimony to the State Department in May this is the culmination of that process.

We will be watching for it.  And, we are told that Members of Congress “NEVER” make changes—too preoccupied, too lazy or too chicken to do so?

Arab News:

Should Western governments get a free pass on accepting Syrian refugees? Certainly not, although they will find it politically hard to accept large numbers of Muslim refugees*. Nevertheless, the West must demonstrate its willingness to bear part of the burden. So far this fiscal year, the US has admitted just 33 Syrian refugees. The new fiscal year will permit President Barack Obama to provide for a significant number of Syrian refugees within the 70,000 total allotted to the US refugee program. In turn, the US willingness to accept more refugees can also help accelerate resettlement efforts by other Western countries. Under normal US procedures, resettlement could take a few years. So as the United States has done with Indochinese and other refugee groups, it must expedite processing.

The President also has the authority to go well beyond 70,000.  That number just happens to be the number they have been stuck on for several years.

* Note that there is never any suggestion of saving the Christians!

Why Somali refugees shouldn’t join the jihad (unless they have a death wish)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to one more report on the topic, “community leaders” are trying to counter the recruitment efforts they believe are still on-going in the “Somali community” in Minneapolis.  Here is the latest on that film we reported here last month.

American-born Omar Hammami aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki may now be dead, killed by Al-Shabaab leadership who got sick of him.

This is the news at KAAL.TV.com.  Give ’em jobs and they won’t go to Africa to kill people!, but the fallacy in that argument is that those who have gone back “home” to join the terrorists were well-educated Somalis with excellent prospects for employment.

Leaders in the Somali community are fighting hard to beat back a ramped up recruitment effort following a sophisticated video. The video depicts men who traveled from Minneapolis to Somalia for jihad and is being used as a recruiting tool.

Community leaders say as many as 40 Somalis have disappeared from Minnesota since 2006. That’s double the estimate reported previously. Many have turned up on battlefields in Somalia.

Headway is being made, though, as community leaders say they are winning over the community and convincing young men to ignore Al Shabaab. However, a high unemployment rate in the Somali community makes the population vulnerable.

As a result, an effort is underway to provide training and job skills to Somalis.

American stuff and American jobs just don’t cut it when Allah calls! 

Just ask Omar Hammami aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki (if he is still alive that is!).

I have no interest in re-telling the story of an American-born Muslim (Mom is Christian, Dad is Syrian Muslim) who grew up a normal kid in Alabama and went to Somalia to become a Jihadist.  Here is our complete archive on Hammami.

Rumors of his demise have surfaced several times over previous years, but it looks like he may now be dead for sure—killed by his Al-Shabaab former buddies who aren’t really happy with their recruits from the West.  They turn them into handy suicide bombers!

Read Al-Amriki’s story here at The Star Phoenix. He has been hunted by Al-Shabaab leaders for some time and his fate may have a chilling effect on recruitment in Minneapolis say experts.

For new readers:  We should have made a special category for ‘Somali missing youths’ (former refugees) who went to Africa to join the Jihad.  Since we didn’t, just type those words into our search function and you will probably get at least 100 posts on the topic going back to 2008.

Also, I used to put this (below) information at the bottom of most of my posts on Somalis, but haven’t recently.  I know we have a lot of new readers who probably don’t know the background so here is a place to start:

We have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years (more than 25 now).  See one of the most widely read posts here at RRW.  Large numbers went to Minneapolis, and now they are spreading out throughout the state.  In three years since 9/11 ( Bush years 2004, 2005, 2006) the number of Somalis arriving topped 10,000 per year.  Those refugees then began bringing in the family (chain migration!) until 2008 when shock of shocks! the State Department discovered that as many as 30,000 Somalis had lied about their kinship and weren’t related at all.  The State Department then closed the “family reunification” program for Somalis.  It has recently been re-opened for new and legit family members, but they have no intention of finding and deporting the liars.