Month: December 2013

Arizona: So where is the wine bar/cafe to benefit poor Americans?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Catholic Charities Community Services of Arizona has launched a new enterprise to benefit refugees surely using mostly taxpayer dollars.  From their latest Form 990, here (page 9), we learned that of the $26 million they took in that recent year, $23 million is from taxpayer funds.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted blessing the Refugee Cafe.

Call me a cynic!  But, why are they in the “business” of setting up wine bars and cafes, and why do they find the world’s downtrodden of more interest than the local downtrodden?  That last is what I don’t get?   Why is the “other” more attractive (cool!) to them?  Or, perhaps this is just clever marketing for Catholic Inc.?

From the Catholic Sun (hat tip: Joanne):

A new coffee shop and wine bar has commuters and residents in the Camelback Corridor investing in more than a little “R and R.” They’re supporting the livelihood of local refugee families.

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted blessed The Refuge AZ, a new coffee shop and wine bar Dec. 5 as part of a grand opening and “coffee cake cutting” event. It opened this fall as a social enterprise effort of Catholic Charities Community Services.

The café, 4727 N. 7th Ave., sits just south of Catholic Charities and has already provided supplemental support to 20 refugee families in its first seven weeks of business. Local refugee families that are also Catholic Charities clients benefit from food and beverage sales including Café Esperanza, a private label blend that customers can bring home.

I bet there are some “long periods of suffering” right there in Arizona!

Bishop Olmsted called The Refuge a great project and looks forward to coming back. He commented on the many refugees who come from far away, especially the Middle East after long periods of suffering.

“We have the privilege and the honor of receiving them and loving them in this place,” the bishop said. “Refugees need to be able to make a livelihood for themselves.”

They have a vice president of business development at Catholic Charities?  Are they using taxpayer dollars to out-compete a private business of this kind with refugees as the drawing card?

Steve Capobres, vice president of business development for Catholic Charities, said it was important to give refugees a venue to showcase their artistic and musical talents. As ambassadors welcoming nearly 1,000 refugees a year to the community, he said new outreach through the café is the least Catholic Charities can do.

I’ll bet a million bucks that if they weren’t being funded by you, and had to use private charitable gifts, there would be no cool refugee cafe.

Israel: Africans march, demand “rights,” turn violent, many imprisoned

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
On the road to Beersheva before the violence broke out.

Israel built a new detention center for mostly African migrants who are claiming they are legitimate asylum seekers (as opposed to economic migrants looking for work).  The facility (we told you about it here) is open for the inhabitants to leave during the day, but they must return at night.  It doesn’t look like it’s working out for hundreds who got into violent clashes with police and now are imprisoned 24-7.

From LiveLeak:

More than 100 African migrants/refugees left the newly instated open detention center in S.Israel and begun making their way to Beersheva in protest of the jailing of fellow refugees as well as governmental reluctance to respond to their asylum request.

The 130-strong march left the Holot detention facility for Beersheba Thursday, accompanied by police cars. The march eventually deteriorated and violent clashes with the police, as well as more then a dozen arrests, were reported.

According to the refugees, the protest was intended to demand the release of two of their compatriots who were arrested in a Jerusalem protest some two days ago. They further called from their asylum requests be reviewed individually.

Abdul, a Sudanese refugee, said “we are marching for our friends, for our freedom and for our rights. We request that the Israeli government examine our request individually, and treat us as refugees, not criminals.”

The two men whose arrest sparked Thursday’s demonstration are currently being held in the Saharonim Prison, a jail built to house asylum seekers held under directives which the High Court deemed unconstitutional.

The demonstration’s starting point – the Holot detention facility – was established as a response to the ruling and thus was built as an ‘open jail,’ from which asylum seekers can come and go during day time.

The demonstrators involved in clashes have now been sent to the real prison.

The cost of the Holot facility was roughly a million shekel and in light of the court’s ruling and recent events, it seems the State is adamant in its intent to deport African refugees who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

Photo is from this account of events at Jews for Justice.

For new readers, this is our 136th post in our category entitled ‘Israel and refugees.’

Pew: Hispanics/Asians more interested in deportation relief than US citizenship

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor’s note:  This is re-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report because I thought it would be of interest to readers here as well.

Tell us again, Marco, why you support amnesty?

That is the headline from the latest Pew Research Center Survey of Hispanics and Asians living in the US.

A lot of the other information they came up with is pretty interesting too which should make some Republicans, those who are endorsing amnesty and kissing up to the Hispanic “voter,” re-think their position in support of so-called “comprehensive immigration reform.”

55% of Hispanics surveyed say they aren’t hankering to become voting citizens of the US.

Here are some of the results of the survey that interested me.   From Pew Hispanic Trends Project, thanks to reader Paul (emphasis and re-arrangement mine):

While lopsided majorities of Hispanics and Asian Americans support creating a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, two new surveys from the Pew Research Center also show that these groups believe it is more important for unauthorized immigrants to get relief from the threat of deportation.

By 55% to 35%, Hispanics say that they think being able to live and work in the United States legally without the threat of deportation is more important for unauthorized immigrants than a pathway to citizenship. Asian Americans hold a similar view, albeit by a smaller margin—49% to 44%.

[….]

Immigrant Hispanics are especially supportive of deportation relief; by 61% to 27%, they say it is more important to unauthorized immigrants than having a pathway to citizenship.  [I’m not seeing why this statistic is different from the 55% mentioned earlier in the article.—ed]

And, get this!  Only 36% of LEGAL Mexicans in the US have bothered to become citizens.  Of course, it makes me wonder if many are voting anyway.

Not all legal immigrants necessarily choose to become U.S. citizens. In a report published earlier this year (Gonzalez-Barrera, Lopez, Passel and Taylor, 2013), the Pew Research Center found that among all Hispanic immigrants who are in the U.S. legally, just 44% have become citizens; the remainder are legal permanent residents. Among legal immigrants from Mexico, which is by far the largest country of origin for Hispanic immigrants, just 36% have gone through the naturalization process and become U.S. citizens.

Most illegal immigrants don’t know what is in the bill (S.744), but they will mostly blame Republicans if it fails.  Obama and the Dems are not, however, off the hook!

The surveys find that while large majorities of both groups say they have heard or seen at least a little about the legislation pending in Congress, roughly seven-in-ten Hispanics (67%) and Asian Americans (72%) also acknowledge they don’t know enough about the details of the bill to say if they support it or not.

[…..]

If the immigration bill dies, a plurality of Hispanics (43%) and Asian Americans (48%) say they would mostly blame Republicans in Congress. But sizable minorities of each group—34% of Hispanics and 29% of Asian Americans—say they would hold Democrats in Congress and/or President Obama mainly responsible.

Even the illegal aliens get it!  Granting legal status will REWARD ILLEGAL BEHAVIOR!

…..majorities or pluralities of both groups say that granting legal status to unauthorized immigrants would reward illegal behavior (53% among Hispanics and 48% among Asian Americans) and lead to more immigrants coming the U.S. illegally in the future (51% among Hispanics and 61% among Asian Americans).

Nearly 3/4th of those already with a foot in the door want BORDER ENFORCEMENT increased.

About seven-in-ten (68%) Hispanics and 73% of Asian Americans support a proposal to increase enforcement of immigration laws at U.S. borders.

So, is immigration reform a top issue for immigrant Hispanics and Asians—NOPE!

For both Hispanics and Asian Americans, the surveys find that among five domestic issues tested—jobs and the economy, education, health care, the federal budget deficit and immigration—immigration ranked last.

There is a lot more—-read it all!

It is, however a top issue for the Left looking to increase its voter base.  And, for the likes of Grover Norquist and his big business cronies looking to keep wages low.

From PolicyMic:

For big business owners, what is not to like about an increased supply of labor, driving competition in the job market up and wages down?

Nebraska: Lutheran Family Services partners with ‘big meat’ to bring change to small town

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Cargill, the largest employer in the county, gets its refugee laborers through Lutheran Family Services! Taxpayers foot the bill!

Ho hum!  Here we go again.  Why on earth are US taxpayers paying Lutheran Family Services to bring immigrant labor to meat packing towns in the heartland?  And, if you missed our posts the other day, here and here, about Noel, Missouri, maybe you don’t know that the federal contractors, like the Lutherans, are working side by side with the meat packers to get “comprehensive immigration reform” (S.744) through Congress.

Here is the news from the Schuyler Sun:

A growing, distinct group of people has been immigrating to the United States, and Nebraska, in the past few years.

They are refugees, escaping their homeland because of war, oppression or famine.

Two representatives from Lutheran Family Services spoke about Nebraska’s growing refugee population during the quarterly community forum held Dec. 12 at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

Lacey Studnicka, development officer for the community services program, said Schuyler is a good example of how a small town can help refugees looking to start a new life.  [This is a standard talking point—praise the  community for being “welcoming” before they have a chance to complain, or if they are already complaining it’s a way to make them feel guilty!—ed]

[…..]

These refugees come from all over the world, but recently, large populations coming to Nebraska have been from Burma and Bhutan, two countries located in southern Asia.

If you are wondering, the Bhutanese and most of the Burmese are not Muslims.  A few years back it was all the rage to bring Somali laborers for the meat packers, but when Somalis began striking and demanding religious accommodation on the job, the US State Department shifted to bringing in more Bhutanese and Burmese, I believe because they are more docile workers.

The ‘do-gooders’ at Lutheran Family Services depend almost exclusively on taxpayer dollars for anything they do for refugees!  These articles always make it sound like the Lutheran contractor is doing all of this out of private charity.

Lutheran Family Services gets two- to four-weeks notice before the refugees arrive in Nebraska. The organization provides the refugees with a foundation, including a furnished apartment and groceries.

Social security cards are obtained within the first 90 days, the adults receive job-placement services and schools are located for the children.

“Cargill has been a great partner!”

Studnicka gives credit to Cargill, which has helped immigrants and refugees make a life for themselves in the community.  [Oh yeh!  And, Cargill is doing all this out of the goodness of its corporate heart!—ed]

“We have seen a lot of growth,” Studnicka said. “Cargill has been a great partner.”

Lutheran Family Services is the largest refugee-resettlement agency in the state.

Last year was the organization’s busiest yet, with 478 refugees resettled in Omaha and 120 in Lincoln. Statewide, there were almost 1,000 refugees who came to Nebraska.

Read the whole article.

Lutheran Family Services gets paid by the US State Department to bring-’em in by the head. Cargill gets cheap reliable labor while the town and state get to support the immigrant families’ other needs (housing, education, food stamps, medical care).   It’s a great business model, wouldn’t you agree!

Photo is from Cargill’s website, here.

Immigrants moving out of cities to suburbs; Minnesota Somali example

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Census Bureau has a new tracking program (Census Explorer) which allows users to follow the demographic changes in cities and towns across America.  Here is what the Star Tribune reported on Tuesday (emphasis mine):

Yussuf Shafie admits it wasn’t easy being among the first Somali immigrants to arrive in Burnsville’s schools.

Yussuf Shafie opened his Burnsville African restaurant in 2012. Photo by John Gessner

“It wasn’t as diverse as it is today, I’ll tell you that. It was hard to communicate with peers and stuff.”

But now that there’s a “huge Somali population” in the area, he says, things are going swimmingly at his year-old Tawakal Restaurant in the suburb’s downtown. Nor is the place just for immigrants; it functions as an easy point of contact for all kinds of cultures.

“It’s open to everyone who has a wallet,” he cheerfully declares. “If you have a wallet, we can get along!”

He is part of what one analyst on Tuesday called a “dramatic shift” of immigrants out of the central cities after the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest batch of data tracing demographic change.

Burnsville and Eagan emerge among the state’s top 10 destinations for East Africans, while nearby Shakopee is among the leaders for Southeast Asians. Eden Prairie is the state’s leading home for immigrants from India.

“We recently did an analysis showing that every big minority group is now majority suburban,” said University of Minnesota demographer Will Craig.

[…..]

Those moves are visible in a new online mapping program the Census Bureau unveiled on Tuesday, called Census Explorer. The program allows people to easily trace key changes in their own neighborhoods from 1990 to 2000 to today.

Of course, as we learned years ago, the federal refugee resettlement contractors are actively seeking out smaller cities and towns for resettlement of third world refugees.  So, it isn’t necessarily some great spontaneous happening.  And, then there is the meatpacker-induced demographic change!

And, come to think of it, we have been told over and over again that immigrants are re-building the inner cities in places like Buffalo or Erie, PA, this news would indicate that is just a bunch of spin and that the immigrants want to get out of the cities as fast as they can.  This news also means that ‘Welcoming America’ (Tom Negri and David Lubell) are selling Cleveland a bill of goods when they want Cleveland to seek more immigrants to re-build that city.   Sure looks like the immigrants will be out of there soon too!

The photo is from Sun This Week, here.   Just FYI Burnsville has a new mosque too!