Day: May 10, 2014

Afghan migrant attempts to sail from Calais to the UK on makeshift raft

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

More in our ‘invasion of Europe’ series…..

 

Afghan migrant built his raft at Calais encampment, vows to build another one!

 

A young man who will surely need some mental health counseling in whatever country eventually gets to keep him, was rescued by the Coast Guard after his bed-sheet raft drifted off course earlier this week.

The story from the UK Daily Mail begins with this (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

Coastguards told him he could have drowned and his friends think he is crazy.

But even though his attempt to cross the Channel on a flimsy raft ended in disaster, Afghan migrant Asif Hussainkhil is determined to try again.

After recovering from hypothermia brought on by his failed bid to reach Britain, he told the Mail: ‘I will keep trying because it is my destiny to get to England.’

The 33-year-old tried to cross the Channel on Monday with a raft made of six nailed-together bits of plank, with a bedsheet as a sail.

Later we learn that he left Afghanistan at age 19 and has lived in many countries since:

Since then he has travelled through nine countries, including Iran, Serbia and Switzerland, before moving to France to try and get to Britain. He is now living in a tent in Calais.

Be sure to go to The Mail and see the amazing photos of the mess these migrants have made of Calais.

Frankly I don’t get it!  The European Union has a law that says legitimate asylum seekers must ask for asylum in the first safe country they reach in Europe.  If they end up somewhere else, they are to be returned to that first country and have their claim processed there.  Our sailor-wannabe surely passed through other EU countries before Switzerland.

So, why is France, the European Union or the UN even tolerating this slum camp at Calais?

Each of the migrants should be interviewed and returned to where they entered Europe or DEPORTED to the Middle East or Africa if they haven’t a legitimate asylum claim.

If you have been putting off a vacation trip to Europe, go now, before it’s gone!

Go here for all of our previous posts on the ‘invasion of Europe.’

 

Minnesota: Bosnian refugee was war criminal; Catholic Charities his sponsor

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum!  Another refugee lied to get into the US, wasn’t properly screened.  What else is new?

Editors note:  Readers I have not forgotten that I have to give you more information on how to send in comments to the US State Department on the “size and scope” of the US refugee program for fiscal year 2015.  I promise to get to it soon. You have until May 29 to send in comments.

Your friendly refugee next door! Diversity is strength—right?

From CBS Minnesota (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’ and Robin):

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man was charged Wednesday with immigration fraud for allegedly lying on his immigration documents by concealing war crimes he committed during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.

Zdenko Jakisa, 45, appeared in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on one count of possessing unlawfully obtained documents. He was ordered detained, and another hearing was set for Monday. He will be appointed a public defender, according to court documents.

Authorities say that when he was filling out refugee and legal permanent resident applications, he didn’t disclose that he had served in the armed forces of the Croatian Defense Council in Bosnia-Herzegovina and had gone to prison.

[….]

According to a June 6, 2012, article in the Forest Lake Press, Jakisa and his wife applied to come to the U.S. in 1998 through the U.S. Embassy in Croatia. They were approved through a lottery system and sponsored by Catholic Charities and a local church.

[….]

Jakisa has a lengthy criminal record in Minnesota, including multiple convictions for driving while impaired, disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process.

I would bet anything that some of the people who “sponsored” him knew very quickly that he was a bad apple.  Did they remain silent?  Did Catholic Charities alert anyone in the State Department at some earlier date?

Another Bosnian refugee made the news recently as well, but it’s a sad case of a Bosnian gay man living in Philadelphia who was found brutally murdered in nearby Chester, PA.

We have many posts on Bosnians here at RRW.    One of our favorites is the one from 2008 when we learned it was Bill Clinton who was responsible for bringing tens of thousands of Bosnians to America to work in meat packing.