Month: January 2014

Bhutanese and Burmese refugee teens dropping out of highschool at “alarming” rate

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is what a new report from a group that studies higher education issues involving Asians in America is saying.

Dr.Chia Youyee Vang: “alarming” statistics

From Diverse Issues in Higher Education:

A startling 39 percent of U.S. Burmese are high school dropouts, so not surprisingly, 30 percent of this ethnic group lives below the poverty line, according to a new report.

Scheduled for release Wednesday, the report, titled “Invisible Newcomers,” explores the educational attainment, socioeconomic challenges, migration and settlement experiences of the Burmese and Bhutanese, who make up the two largest, recent refugee groups in this country. The report’s authors are Dr. Chia Youyee Vang, an associate professor of history and comparative ethnic studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Dr. Monica Mong Trieu, an assistant professor of sociology and Asian American studies at Purdue University. It was issued by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF) in collaboration with the Association for Asian American Studies.

Since 2004, more than 80,000 Burmese have arrived in the United States after fleeing political, religious and economic persecution. Bhutanese refugees began coming in 2008 to escape discriminatory social and political rule. The migration of both ethnic groups grew so rapidly that, in 2011, refugees from Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, made up 30 percent and those from Bhutan comprised 26 percent of people resettled in this country.

Calling such statistics “alarming,” Vang and Trieu say that intensive educational and social support should be provided to teens to improve the likelihood of high school completion. Furthermore, the dropout rate among Burmese Americans is almost twice that of the national dropout rate among non-Asians here.  [More than black American teens?—-ed]

Read it all.

Gee, that sounds like another generation on welfare to me.

In a related story, the state of Kentucky is considering extending graduation time for refugee teens, here.  Add that to the cost of refugee resettlement when your city’s politicians are “welcoming” more refugees and immigrants.

Britain’s celebrities “demand” that UK open doors to Syrians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They say in their letter that they are “ashamed” of the UK for not doing it sooner!

Hollywood actor Colin Firth and wife: we demand that David Cameron let in the Syrians!

From the Huffington Post (emphasis mine):

Syria’s growing number of refugees have found some unlikely champions in the form of British actors Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. The British Hollywood stars have demanded David Cameron offers a safe haven for those fleeing from the civil war that has engulfed the country for almost three years.

Other celebrities to sign a letter demanding action from Number 10 include Monty Python star Michael Palin, fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, Firth’s wife Livia, artist Grayson Perry and actress Juliet Stevenson.

[….]

“We’re ashamed that Britain isn’t one of them [countries “welcoming” Syrians].

Actress Emma Thompson “ashamed” of the UK

They clearly don’t understand that there is nothing temporary about refugee resettlement via the UN.

“We’ve done it before, offering temporary resettlement places to Kosovan, Bosnian and Vietnamese people in their hour of greatest need.

As for “vulnerable” Syrians, as far as I can tell they don’t mention the word Christian.

One commenter tells us what the average citizen of the UK (or USA) is thinking—-how about if you rich celebrities take care of them yourselves!

Dibber D:

I doubt they will let them live in their own properties, pay for their clothes, bills and food, until they’re ready to put THEIR own money and properties where their mouths are i would suggest they stop flapping their gums.

Read it all.

Pittsburgh: Bhutanese have more health problems

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Last week we reported on the mental health issues plaguing America’s 70,000-strong Bhutanese refugee population and now according to reporter Erika Beras, here at New America Media, it seems they are also being plagued by diabetes they got after arriving in America.  Type II diabetes is associated with too much weight gain.   Sure is a good thing Obamacare has come along to take care of them!

And get this!  Pittsburgh now has 4,000-5,000 Bhutanese (mostly Hindu) refugees.   That population growth is only since 2008!

Bhutanese family in Pittsburgh sees first snow! Reporters love these refugee snow stories! http://www.alleghenyfront.org/story/new-natural-world-bhutanese-refugees-brave-pa-weather

From New America Media:

On a typical weekday morning, 47-year-old Tek Nepal is moving about the Mount Oliver duplex he shares with his wife, sons, daughter-in-law and grandchild.

He works nights, so he gets his family time in the mornings. And often, that time centers around eating. Those meals used to consist of lots of starches. But since a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis last year, they have changed.

“I don’t eat rice at all. I don’t eat potatoes. I try to eat a lot of green vegetables like lettuce, spinach … carrots, and I don’t eat totally fried things,” he said, showing off a chart of appropriate foods on his kitchen wall.

Nepal is ethnically Nepalese. He was resettled in California as a refugee, moved to Tennessee, then Pittsburgh, which has a lower cost of living and boasts a growing Bhutanese-Nepalese population. Before coming to the U.S., he spent 17 years in refugee camps in Bhutan.

About 4,000 to 5,000 ethnically Bhutanese-Nepalese refugees call Pittsburgh home. Having migrated in the last six years, it’s a new population that is falling into an old immigrant paradox.

Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes, and another 79 million are pre-diabetic, up sharply over the last few decades. Included among those statistics are newer Americans, people such as Nepal who came here as refugees. According to a study published in the journal Human Biology, an immigrant’s risk of obesity and hypertension — indicators of diabetes — grow with every year they are here.

At the Squirrel Hill Health Center, a federally qualified facility that provides the bulk of initial and follow-up care to refugees, Chief Medical Officer Andrea Fox is perpetually busy. She spots trends in her patient population. Rarely do the Bhutanese come to the U.S. with a diabetes diagnosis, but they’ve found a high prevalence of the disease in those they treat.

[…..]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention monitors refugee populations. Among their priority health conditions for the Bhutanese are anemia, B12 vitamin deficiency and mental health. They haven’t been tracking diabetes numbers.

There is a lot more.  Check out the nice kitchen!

See our ‘health issues’ category for 191 previous posts on refugee health problems.  We have them all—HIV/AIDS, TB, intestinal parasites, mental health issues, and now diabetes.

Utah medical examiner: Little girl suffered “excruciating pain” before dying from tear to heart

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For new readers, visit our previous post on the case of a Burmese Muslim (Rohingya?) refugee, Esar Met, who is charged with the 2008 murder of a 7-year-old Christian (Karen) refugee girl in their Salt Lake City apartment building.

Esar Met in 2012 when he was ordered to stand trial.
http://www.4utah.com/s/d/story/JGtHquvxrE-9U39U45sspQ

This is the latest on the trial that is expected to run until January 24th.  From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Hser Ner Moo suffered more than a dozen painful injuries in the hour before she died, an autopsy revealed, but it was a tear to her heart that sealed the girl’s fate, the state’s chief medical examiner testified Monday.

Dr. Todd Grey took the stand on the fifth day of the trial of Esar Met, a Burmese refugee accused of kidnapping, assaulting and killing the 7-year-old girl in 2008.

He walked the 11-person jury through the child’s injuries, several of which he described as “excruciating.”

Grey ruled that the sum of these injuries caused the child’s death, but noted the wound to the girl’s heart — a tear in the right atrium — was the most lethal.

“This would have been excruciating pain,” Grey said. “This was a homicide, a death due to an intentional action by another person.”

Met, 27, who calmly sat through the graphic testimony Monday morning, is charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony child kidnapping and aggravated murder. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Read the rest of the graphic details yourself.

Met had only been placed in the apartment building a month before the murder presumably as a newly arrived refugee from the camps in Thailand.   This murder did not have to happen.

If he is found guilty the cost of his incarceration for life will fall on the taxpayers of Utah.  Every “welcoming” city should be demanding that the US State Department and its contractors—in this case Catholic Charities or the International Rescue Committee (which just last week was begging for the US to admit 12,000 Syrians)—be sure they screen very well the ‘refugees’ they drop-off in your city!

Imagine also what this trial is costing the taxpayers.

Maybe some Member of Congress or Senate could introduce legislation that says when refugees commit crimes the cost is not borne by the local jurisdiction, but by the feds.  Of course that is taxpayer dollars too, but at least it would send a message!

Cyprus: Iranian hunger-strikers demand good jobs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No farm work for these ‘asylum seekers’ or they will kill themselves!

Iranian hunger strikers in Cyprus. Do they look like they haven’t eaten in 52 days?

Sheesh, do you believe this one!  From Cyprus Mail  (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

AS THEY enter day 52 of their hunger strike and the fourth day without water, Iranian political refugees who are camped outside the Interior Ministry asking to be granted citizenship or residency, warn that they won’t back down.

All the petitioners are political refugees, having fled their countries out of fear for their lives and that of their family members.

“I’d rather die here than give up. We can’t live like that anymore”, one of the strikers told the Cyprus Mail, pointing out that they just want what they are entitled to by international law. “We are recognised political refugees. We fled our countries, some of us over ten years ago. We have been trying to get long term residency status or citizenship for years, so we can move legally to other European countries. We have friends and family in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and other countries. Some of us just want to leave, not stay here. We don’t want money. We are qualified, we want to work and contribute”, he said.

The four hunger strikers are Muhammad Altaf and Asadollah Panahimehr, who have been camped out at the Ministry of Interior for over a month, and friend Salah Chanim who joined them recently.  [I guess they aren’t Christian Iranians.—ed]

Surprise (NOT!)  They got the attention of the UNHCR which expressed sympathy for the extortionists!

The strikers were visited yesterday by Damtew Dessalegne, representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, who expressed his sympathy and support for their cause.

No farm work for me said Muhammad Altaf:

The minister also commented on the fact that one of the refugees, who has been out of work for three years, hasn’t registered with the unemployment office. Hasikos claims that the man refuses to register because the office won’t find him a job fitting his qualifications. “The Interior ministry cannot ensure that anyone, local or immigrant, would be given a job according to his qualifications”, he remarked.

The man in question, Altaf, is a software engineer and said he was told he could only work on farms.

Check out the comments!  Several suggest they don’t look like they are starving. One suggests they go back to Iran and fight to save their country from the fanatics.  Here is a good one from ‘Almostbroke’ wanting answers to some questions:

Did they arrive at immigration at the airport ? Did they present documentation? Did they comply with the Dublin Convention ! or are they like a lot of other so called refugees ,egged on by self appointed NGOs like KISA, to ´make it up as they go along´as usual ! Flout a countries immigration laws and then expect specialist treatment, its happening in every EU country where there are generous Social Welfare benefits.

Let’s see, farm work? or kill myself? farm work? or kill myself?  What would a logical and legitimate refugee choose?