Longtime readers know that the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is required by lawto produce an annual report to Congress about the status of the Refugee Resettlement Program within three months of the close of the previous fiscal year. ORR is chronically late—over two years in this case. The report should have been made available to Congress by January 31, 2011.
The last we checked for an annual report was back in March. I’m not sure exactly when the 2010 was submitted to Congress because they don’t put dates on them. Dates disappeared back in the Clinton Administration, here. Prior to the reign of Lavinia Limon as director of ORR, the reports were done on time.
These annual reports are a treasure-trove of information on the entire program. Although bear in mind when you look at stats on welfare use by refugees etc., remember that they haven’t a completely accurate way of getting that data because they hire someone to call refugees and ask them what social services they receive and one has to wonder if they get completely truthful answers in the small sampling they do.
More in our on-going reporting on food stamp fraud…..
Fox News reported yesterday that Congress will consider measures to attempt to get the fraud out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that has grown enormously in recent years—both the program and the fraud!
Our interest is in the food stamp trafficking that we see almost daily in news reports from around the country. Today we have another Mohammed and a Tofeek. You might look at trafficking as a kind of redistribution of wealth—instead of buying food with the EBT card a patron is given cash usually at 50 cents on the dollar and the store owner turns the full dollar into the government for repayment by you—the taxpayer!
As House and Senate negotiators meet Wednesday for the first joint talks on a bill that includes sharp cuts to food-stamp funding, an open question is whether lawmakers will get serious about targeting fraud in the massive program.
A recent inspector general audit suggests a full-blown crackdown on fraud could save $222 million a year.
[…..]
The projected potential savings from fraud-cutting is detailed in the inspector general report, which found $3.7 million in questionable monthly payouts across 10 states.
Much of the fraud involves the owners and/or employees of smaller, so-called convenience stores exchanging or trafficking SNAP benefits for cash, cigarettes, drugs and guns.
They try to make it look like the fraud is tiny compared to the whole program, but I think if card-holders can no longer redeem their food allowance for cash, it will slow the growth of the entire program. It is illegal to ‘sell’ one’s card so clamping down on the sellers with legal action might cool the enthusiasm for the program!
Fraud busts continue—Mohammad in Lexington, KY and Tafeek in Lackawanna, NY. Are these some of the highly touted immigrant entrepreneurs the Open Borders gang is always trotting out?
Lexington Police say they have begun to break up an elaborate welfare fraud ring operating out of gas stations in two counties.
It’s a program designed to help those who have trouble making ends meet, but it’s often abused. And for the past year, Lexington Police have been on to two brothers who spell their last names differently, but are up to the same tricks, detectives say.
[…..]
But police say, the Ryyal brothers have been sweetening the deal. Here’s how it works: say a person’s EBT card has a monthly food allowance of $300. Police say Mohammad Ryyal would ring up just a few items, tell the cash register the total was $300, and kick back $150 cash to the person wishing to sell it.
Maybe the seller is using the cash to buy drugs or liquor, or maybe something less sinister like paying rent. But police say regardless, it’s illegal.
And the Ryyal brothers were profiting nicely, pocketing some of the money and using the rest to stock inventory in Thayer Ryyal‘s BP store on Four Mile Road in Richmond.
Tofeek ringing up food stamp benefits at a clothing store in Lackawanna, NY. From7thspace.com:
BUFFALO, NY—United States Attorney William J Hochul, Jr announced today that Tofeek Albanna, 37, of Lackawanna, New York, who was convicted of food stamp fraud, was sentenced to 15 months in prison by United States District Court Judge Richard J Arcara. The defendant was also ordered to pay $73,400 in restitution to the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as the Food Stamp Program. Assistant United States Attorneys Robert C Moscati and John E Rogowski, who handled the prosecution of this case, stated that Albanna owned and operated LA Fashions on Holland Avenue in Lackawanna. Albanna primarily stocked clothing items, along with a few food items in the store.
The SNAP program requires that those receiving benefits purchase certain approved food items. Despite selling mostly clothing items, between February 2009 and April 2010, the defendant redeemed more than $100,000 in SNAP benefits.
In Tofeek Albanna’s case, ICE was called in, so there must be an immigration angle but as usual the convicted man’s immigration status is not mentioned. Nor is there any mention of deporting these crooks. And, did you ever wonder how he will repay $73,400 running a legitimate store when he gets out?
By the way, if you think I’m cherry-picking fraud cases with Middle Eastern names, I’m not. It is a rare day that I see a case where the perp is a Smith, Jones or Baker……
