Month: December 2014

List of ORR “preferred” communities has some additions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
WTH! A preferred resettlement site? More waiters needed?

Update April 15, 2016: There is a more up-to-date list of preferred communities in the 2014 ORR report to Congress. Click here and go to page 51 for the list.

Since everyone (thousands of you) really liked the map of America with the 180 or so cities where the US State Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (HHS) are resettling refugees, I thought it might be a good idea to update the “preferred” communities list.

The ORR says these 82 (or so) preferred communities offer the best chance for refugees to find jobs and become self-sufficient, but really they are the cities with overload problems and with especially challenging and needy refugees (cases needing “intensive case management”).  So to help ameliorate the problem, the feds throw more grant money to the contractors!

Here are the contractors receiving grants now for “preferred” sites.  By the way, this program is only open to the big nine contractors that monopolize the program.  Then they funnel your money to their subcontractors (here).  See on the “affiliates” list that there are addresses in cities involved that are not on my list below, so I would look to those cities too as now in refugee overload or getting there.

This possibly incomplete list of cities is cobbled together from information in the ORR’s 2012 Annual Report to Congress, p. 47 and a previous post we wrote, here.  There may be some new “preferred” communities I’m not yet aware of.   And, note, if comparing lists, that I inadvertently left out Wichita, Kansas on my earlier list.

Recently added in red (or ones I missed in a previous review).  Again this is not a complete list of where refugees are being resettled, it merely highlights those where the contractor has over the last few years received additional money from the US Treasury in order to cope with problems there:

Arizona:  Tucson, Phoenix

California:  San Diego, Sacramento, Modesto, Walnut Creek

Colorado:  Denver, Greeley, Ft. Collins, Loveland

Connecticut:  Derby/Bridgeport, New Haven

Florida:  Orlando, Clearwater, Palm Beach

Georgia:  Atlanta, Savannah

Idaho:  Boise, Twin Falls, Treasure Valley

Illinois:  Chicago, DuPage/Aurora, Moline

Indiana:  Indianapolis

Iowa:  Des Moines

Kansas: Wichita

Kentucky:  Louisville, Lexington, Owensboro

Maryland:  Baltimore, Silver Spring

Massachusetts:  Springfield, Jamaica Plain, Worcester, Malden

Michigan:  Dearborn, Ann Arbor, Lansing

Minnesota:  Minneapolis, St. Cloud, St. Paul

Missouri:  Kansas City

Nebraska:  Omaha

Nevada:  Las Vegas

New Hampshire:  Manchester, Concord

New Jersey:  East Orange

New Mexico: Albuquerque

New York:  Syracuse, Buffalo, Utica, Albany, Manchester (this tiny town is listed on p.49, but it must be a typo, NH maybe?)

North Carolina: Raleigh, New Bern, Wilmington, Durham, High Point, Charlotte, Greensboro (lucky NC!)

Ohio: Cleveland, Columbus, Akron, Dayton

Pennsylvania:  Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie

Rhode Island:  Providence

Tennessee: Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis

Texas:  Fort Worth, Houston, Austin

Virginia:  Charlottesville, Hampton Roads

Washington:  Seattle, Richland, Tri-Cities

Wisconsin: Milwaukee, Madison

Unraveling Somali day care fraud in Minnesota; did taxpayer money leave the country?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Because the story is so big and growing, and I don’t know where to start, I’ll post one news story at a time from the growing scandal involving taxpayer rip-offs by Somali day care workers.  Reader ‘Pungentpeppers,’ our unofficial crime investigator, has sent a ream of stories and so I’ll dive in with this one first.

Yasmin Abdulle Ali (33) charged with 52 felony counts. Will she be deported? Don’t hold your breath!

But, before I begin I want to impress upon readers that the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is actually giving out micro-enterprise loans to teach immigrant women how to set up culturally appropriate day care centers in their homes!  Heck, you can get paid to take care of children in your own home and don’t have to send them out to any American (multicultural!) daycare center where they might actually learn English and meet people of different races and religions.

I don’t know if those being arrested in Minnesota ever took part in a federally-funded program, but we’ll see as the investigation continues.

This is what the ORR says on its website about its “Home-based Child Care” micro-enterprise “loans.”  (Emphasis is mine):

General Background
Microenterprise development services traditionally include business technical assistance or short-term training, credit in the form of micro-loans, and, if applicable, a revolving loan fund. The programs are designed to be culturally and linguistically appropriate for the refugee population. Initiated in 2011, the Microenterprise Development – Home-Based Childcare Program is a new program for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), designed to support home-based child care mentoring programs primarily for refugee women interested in providing child care services in their homes.

Program Description
This project will teach refugee women about state and federal child care laws, regulations and licensing requirements and about American cultural norms concerning child care and child development. By encouraging refugee women to apply their new child care knowledge and skills in the job market, the project will assist refugee women in acquiring English language skills, advancing their education, learning basic financial skill, and improving their economic opportunities.

A secondary objective of the program is to expand home-based child care business options for other refugees, to enable them to enter the workforce with confidence that their children are being cared for by individuals possessing appropriate cultural competency.

Here is a list of present contractors administering the loan program.   And, look who is eligible—non-citizens only!

All low income refugees who are not citizens are eligible for services under this program.

Now to the outrageous news from Minneapolis (Fox 9 investigation)!  Merry Christmas Minnesota taxpayers!

First food stamp fraud, then Medicaid/Medicare fraud, now this!  Is this happening in your refugee “welcoming” city?

(KMSP) – The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office says day care owners defrauded the government out of $4 million dollars and have charged 4 people with a combined 96 felonies.

The announcement comes nearly two years after the Fox 9 Investigators first reported details about the DEQO Family Centers, located in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Apple Valley. The stories detailed how the centers employed some mothers of its daycare children who qualified for state funded child care. The program helps low-income parents pay their child care costs who are working.

DEQO owners would bill the county for child care while the mothers were supposed to be working. But Fox 9 sources, who were employees for the business back in February 2013, said the jobs were not legitimate. “Sometimes they would come in, sign in their children, sign themselves in and go grocery shopping,” one of the sources said.

Ramsey County investigators say the time sheets submitted to the county by the “working” mothers had inflated hours on them, allowing the owners to bill the government for maximum child care time.

One of the people charged in the case is Yasmin Abdulle Ali (33) an owner of DEQO. She gave a tour of one of her centers to a Fox 9 Investigative producer saying that many of her customers are on assistance.

Ali’s husband, Ahmed Aden Mohamed (46) is also charged, along with Joshua John Miller (31). According to the complaint, they are also listed as owners the DEQO Family Centers.

Ramsey County Attorney, John Choi said there are many well-deserving families who are waiting in line for child-care assistance. “These criminal acts hurt our entire community, those who are in need of assistance and those who pay for it, our taxpayers,” commented Choi.

There is more, read it all and watch the news clip.  Investigators are trying to figure out where the $4 million went.  There is a connection to Ali’s brother who has been implicated in jihadist recruitment.

More to come…..

Guest column: The abuser is a “refugee” or “asylum seeker”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor’s note:  Reader ‘Pungentpeppers’ has gathered together some recent news for a brief summary of some items that fit a pattern worldwide.  Of course the first one is a story we have covered—the Australian-Iranian refugee terrorist from last week—however we didn’t discuss his record of abusing women.   Guest posts are welcome, but keep them short and send links to the news stories to which you are referring.  Guest posts and lengthy informative comments to an existing post are archived in our ‘comments worth noting’ category.

When a domestic abuser is not deported, that’s deadly! Stories from December.

AUSTRALIA – Iranian fake sheik and refugee, Man Haron Monis (aka Mohammad Hassan Manteghi), held 17 hostages at gunpoint at a Sydney cafe and coffee shop, then killed 2 of them. The refugee had ABUSED his WIFE and was involved in her brutal MURDER. He was facing more than 40 charges of ASSAULT against WOMEN. Yet he was allowed to roam free in Australia’s largest city and was not deported – with tragic consequences.

In North Carolina (a big resettlement state), Arab Mohamed Ali, 35 will get 12 years for strangling his wife, then he will be out on a North Carolina street again. Based on our track record, deportation is unlikely.

CANADA – Somali refugee, Yusuf Osman Abdille, STABBED HIS WIFE and TWO CHILDREN TO DEATH, then “fell” from a bridge onto a Toronto parkway, landing in mid-day traffic in front of a hapless driver. The murder victim, Zahra Abdille, was a refugee who worked as a public health nurse in Canada. At one point, she had fled her abuser and took the children to a shelter for domestic violence victims. Later, she sought court protection but – unable to afford an attorney – she was denied relief. That final factor probably would not have prevented these deaths – but a deportation order would have.

CANADA – Attempted murderer Yiyan Xie, a Chinese national, is playing the deportation excuse game. Xie was due in Kitchener, Ontario, court this month for sentencing for his ATTEMPTED MURDER conviction of his EX-GIRLFRIEND, Yiyang Hao, a university student. Prior to the KNIFE ATTACK, he had bombarded Hao with emails for months, THREATENING to KILL her. In court, his attorney asserted that if Xie were deported to China, he might be executed. Boo hoo! Isn’t that what he planned for his girlfriend?!

UNITED STATES – An Ethiopian refugee, Arab Mohamed Ali, 35, will spend at least 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in the STRANGULATION MURDER of his WIFE Safaya Dadacha, 23, in 2013. After committing the horrendous deed, the murderer himself called 911 and waited with his two children for police to arrive. Let’s hope he’ll be DEPORTED! But maybe not…..  [US taxpayers paid to resettle him, now you get to pay for his incarceration.—ed]

During FY2013, the Obama Administration – instead of deporting – released offenders who had committed 1,317 acts of domestic violence. (See Senator Chuck Grassley below.) The Ethiopian murderer has two kids he did not kill – that’s “family”, isn’t it? And with the PC concern about uniting immigrant “families” – even though domestic abusers are deadly to families – this perp might eventually be released to wreak havoc upon the surviving kids.

Immigration lawyers and activists oppose deportation of domestic abusers. They say it’s unfair because we cannot deport our own domestic offenders. I say, if you have too much trash and trouble – get rid of some of the junk!

More on these stories:
Domestic violence should be taken as seriously as terrorism:
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/dec/17/man-haron-monis-bail-domestic-violence-taken-seriously-terrorism

Death of a refugee nurse named Zahra:
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/12/02/community_mourns_thorncliffe_park_triple_homicide_victims.html#

Yiyan Xie, harasser, stabber, potential murderer
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/5179687-man-who-tried-to-kill-uw-student-could-be-executed-if-deported-to-china-lawyer-says/

Murder of Safaya Dadacha
http://www.hpe.com/news/x1736889227/Fight-about-money-led-to-strangulation-death

Senator Chuck Grassley
http://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/criminal-aliens-may-be-allowed-remain-country-under-executive-action-despite

 

Dover, NH update: No refugees coming (yet!), but mayor wants a plan and federal legislation…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..that would give local communities more say in the matter, assure financial help!

This is an update of the hot story we reported last summer about the possibility of the US State Department granting authority to a wannabe refugee resettlement agency to begin resettling refugees into the Tri-cities area of New Hampshire.  The nascent plan was killed when it appeared that a planned public meeting would be explosive.

Sensible Dover Mayor Karen Weston wants a plan! Bio here: http://www.dover.nh.gov/government/boards-and-commissions/city-council/index.html

Backpedaling now, the resettlement agencies in the state say there are no plans in the immediate future for Dover and surrounding towns.  However that isn’t the most important thing about this article!  First we learned some new bits of information and secondly, and most astoundingly, the Mayor of Dover wants to seek federal legislation to give communities a greater say in resettlement plans for American cities.  Wow!

She needs to call for a meeting of  bipartisan(!) mayors from “pockets of resistance” including mayors of Athens, GA, Amarillo, TX, Springfield, MA, Lynn, MA, Manchester, NH and Lewiston, ME for a start!

From Foster’s Daily Democrat:

DOVER — There are no plans to resettle African immigrants in the Tri-Cities, according to state officials and two refugee relocation groups.

The refugee issue emerged last summer when representatives from the Manchester-based Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success, or ORIS, approached Dover officials about becoming a resettlement community. The group appeared to back away from the plan amid concern from residents and local officials.

Barbara Seebart, the state refugee coordinator for the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services, said she’s not aware of any plans for refugee resettlement in the Tri-Cities.

This is the first we have heard that there is a certain time period for wannabe refugee contractors to get approval:

ORIS is a social service agency not authorized by the federal government to resettle refugees and therefore it cannot place people in Dover, according to Seebart. That federal authorization process could take 18 to 24 months.

Dover mayor wants a plan in advance!  (Just like the mayor of Athens, GA)  And, she wants federal legislation!   Me too! And, I have ideas on how it should be crafted.

Mayor Karen Weston doesn’t oppose refugee resettlement but believes host communities should have more control in determining how many can arrive each year. She also believes the federal government should offer funding to offset the effects on city and school budgets.

“There are no plans today, but it can happen any day,” Weston said. “That is why we want to be proactive and (pursue) possible legislation with the federal government.”

[….]

She hopes to arrange a conference call with Rochester Mayor T.J. Jean, Somersworth Mayor Dana Hilliard and members of the state’s congressional issue to address those immigration law changes. Weston expects that call won’t happen until next year.

The U.S. has been accepting refugees since the early 1980s. New Hampshire currently receives between 250 and 550 of these legal immigrants each year, Seebart said. Most live along the Interstate 93 corridor from Nashua to Concord, although some have been placed in Laconia.  [Note to the mayor, be sure to arrange for at least those New England mayors asking for a moratorium to join your call!–ed]

This next line may be factually correct, but certainly local elected officials should be part of any plan coming down from the feds especially as it will involve high costs for local taxpayers for everything from health care, to subsidized housing (see Seattle!), to education for the kids and, not to be forgotten,the criminal justice system!

Cities and towns cannot block refugee resettlement, the same way they cannot restrict people of any race or ethnic group from moving in.

Then get this!  Seebart says there is “extensive collaboration” before refugees are resettled.

“Extensive collaboration” my foot!  They may have a meeting with “stakeholders,” but the general public is not invited!  Heck, they have already demonstrated reluctance to hold a public meeting (where contractors and the State Dept would stand before the public and answer questions) as everyone who followed the controversy this summer noticed. 

Regardless, refugees don’t just show up in host cities overnight. There is a well-established federal system for refugee resettlement that includes extensive collaboration with local communities, Seebart said.

[….]

“If a new resettlement site is being nurtured,” she [Amy Marchildon a resettlement contractor in NH] said, “there would be a long process of engaging city government and community social support services and the community.”

I’ll bet we have 50 posts on New Hampshire over the years due to the many refugee controversies happening there.  Click here to learn more.

Sudanese refugee, with long record of run-ins with the law, murdered in Portland, Maine

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

His former lawyer anguishes over belief that the system fails refugee children.  This may be the first Portland murder this year, but it sure isn’t the first crime involving refugees in Maine in recent years.  A quick look at our archives (five minutes!) and I see several cases we reported on of crimes involving youthful refugees in Maine.

The “system” has had plenty of opportunities to learn from run-ins with refugees and crime.  Surely you lawyers aren’t proposing special treatment for them?

Somali ‘youths’ randomly attacking and robbing people in Lewiston, ME

Maine: Somali accused of rape says birthdate is wrong, he is only a minor mommy says

No experience with refugee youth trauma in Portland? Have we forgotten Muktar? And, what about the victim’s trauma? https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2013/06/11/maine-somali-youth-sentenced-to-8-years-for-raping-woman-no-prospect-for-rehabilitation-says-judge/

Another diversity is strength alert from Portland, Maine

24 immigrant gang members arrested in Maine

Congolese refugee murdered in Portland, ME

Maine: Sudanese refugee pulls out gun and is killed by police

Violence against Sudanese refugees in Maine is growing

Maine: Somali youth sentenced to 8 years for raping woman; no prospect for rehabilitation says judge

Now to the latest, the murder of a Sudanese refugee in Portland.  From Central Maine  (hat tip: ‘Pungentpeppers’ crime researcher extraordinaire):

It’s America’s fault…

Richard Lobor’s family fled Sudan when he was a boy to escape the violence of civil war and the threat of execution.

But instead of finding safety in America, Lobor was shot in the head last month in the doorway of a Portland apartment, becoming the city’s only homicide victim this year.

Lobor, who was 23, was the oldest of the family’s six children and had been expected, in accordance with Sudanese tradition, to become the head of the family soon. Now his parents, Robert Lobor and Christina Marring, are asking themselves as they grieve how things went so wrong in a country they thought would lead their children to prosperity and a better future.

You can read the long discussion yourself of Lobor’s run-ins with the legal system.  Then this from his former attorney Gina Yamartino.  Honor the refugee experience she says.

The system failed him!

Although she ultimately relented and allowed him to be prosecuted as an adult, after Lobor insisted to her that’s what he wanted, she said she still feels “like the system failed him.”

“I don’t think we fully understand – and how could we? – what his experiences were before he got here. I truly believe he suffered from a fair bit of trauma, and coming here wasn’t going to fix it all,” Yamartino said. “I think we have to think long and hard about kids coming from different countries and understand what their experiences were and honor those experiences as best we can.”

Yamartino said that although Lobor’s criminal record looks bad on paper, that doesn’t tell the story of who he was.

SYSTEM INEXPERIENCED WITH REFUGEES!  (Not!)

Thibeault [Christine Thibeault, the head of the juvenile division of the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office] said those who work in juvenile justice in Maine are experienced in how to deal with childhood trauma from abuse and neglect, but have little background in treating trauma of refugee children.

Guess they better get to work then because more are coming to Maine every day.

We have a huge archive on Maine, click here to learn about many more problems Mainers are having!  See especially one of our top posts of all time—Maine as the welfare magnet.

Who brings refugees to Maine for the US State Department (and the UN):

USCCB (US Conference of Catholic Bishops)
ME-USCCB-01: Catholic Charities Maine
Address:
80 Sherman Street
Portland, ME 04101
Phone: 207-210-150