Boise: First Syrian refugee, a gay man, plans to help the Syrians who will follow him to Idaho

12/21/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As we have reported on several previous occasions, one of the categories of refugees we are taking now are gay men and lesbian women (Bi’s and Trannies too) who have been persecuted by their fellow Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere. Here is news, with no further comment, from Boise State Public Radio (emphasis mine):

The US Department of State pledged to lead the world in accepting refugees from Syria at a meeting in Geneva this month. The organization says it is currently reviewing about 9,000 UNHCR referrals from Syria and is receiving approximately a thousand new referrals each month. A Boise refugee support organization anticipates many of those people will come to Idaho.

Shadi Ismail will help the Syrians who are coming soon to Boise. Says he will tell them to go home if they don’t accept homosexuals. Photo: Jodie Martinson Boise State Public Radio

But one Syrian man has already arrived as a refugee and believes he’s uniquely positioned to help the incoming population of people from his home country — even though the reason he left Syria is different from why many people are leaving now.

Shadi Ismail fled the region about two-and-a-half-years ago because he feared his family would kill him for being gay. He says he always knew he liked boys.

“I see a friend take shirt off or something,” he explains. “It’s like ‘Oof!'”

Ismail says being gay was unacceptable in Syria, especially in his family.

What follows is a long discussion of the abuses he suffered at the hands of his family and the Muslim community. However, another gay man suggested he apply to America as a refugee, and here he is.

After many months of waiting, Ismail was accepted as a refugee and sent on his way to Boise, Idaho.

He plans to help his fellow countrymen (and give them a message) when they start arriving real soon in Idaho:

The Syrians coming to Idaho as refugees escaping the war will have very different reasons to flee than Ismail. But Ismail is the only Syrian refugee he knows of in the Boise area. So he feels a duty to help newcomers fit into their fresh American lives. He plans to explain to them how life works, and he knows what he’ll tell them about how they should treat lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people.

“You have to accept me [in] America,” he said. “I left everything to be who I am. If you want to still have your mind crazy [about sexual intolerance], go back to your country. Do your thing there.”

For more on the booming resettlement state of Idaho…

Go here for a map of the US and links to federal refugee contractor offices including those in Boise.

Here (all states listed) are the resettlement contractors in the State of Idaho (a Wilson-Fish state which means the contractors and the feds run the program with no state government control):

DFMS (Episcopal Migration Ministries)
ID-DFMS-01: Agency For New Americans
Address:
1614 West Jefferson Street
Boise, ID 83701
Phone: 208-338-0033-X25

IRC (International Rescue Committee)
ID-IRC-01: International Rescue Committee
Address:
7188 W. Potomac Drive
Boise, ID 83704
Phone: 208-344-1792

WR (World Relief)
ID-WR-01: World Relief Treasure Valley
Address:
6702 Fairview Avenue
Boise, ID 83704
Phone: 208-323-4964

USCRI (US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants)
ID-USCRI-01: College Of Southern Idaho Refugee Programs
Address:
1526 Highland Ave E
Twin Falls, ID 83301
Phone: 208-736-2166

Australian gunman (refugee) got to Australia through Malaysia; US taking hundreds from Malaysia

12/20/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Malaysia is a safe Muslim country. At the time the Iranian “refugee” gunman got into Australia as an asylum seeker, the Australian government was pretty much “welcoming” all. Why couldn’t the Iranian phony cleric simply ask for asylum in Malaysia? Why did Australia give him asylum in 2001? I’ll bet those are questions the Abbott government is researching (or should be) at this very moment.

Today things are different in Australia as it is one of the few countries in the world at least trying to control its borders, if it is not already too late.

From the Malay Mail Online (hat tip: Robin):

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — Iranian gunman Man Haron Monis who kept Sydney gripped in a deadly hostage crisis had fled to Malaysia after committing “violent” crimes in Iran before seeking asylum in Australia, according to the Middle Eastern nation’s police.

Monis, who was shot dead by Australian police after holding 17 people hostage in a Sydney cafe, had absconded to Malaysia in 1996 during a time when he was wanted for those and fraud-related crimes.

Aside from his alleged crimes in Iran, Monis was also facing trial in Australia for a number of offences, including being accessory to the murder of his wife as well as over 40 sexual assault charges involving seven alleged victims.

Man Haron Monis was known to authorities in Sydney

It is unclear when the Iranian left Malaysia for Australia, where he was granted refugee status in 2001.

Iranian police chief General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam also revealed that Australia had declined Iran’s request to extradite Monis to stand trial for his crimes.

Moghaddam also alleged that Monis had sought asylum by masquerading as a Muslim cleric.

“It lasted four years to collect evidence on Manteqi’s [Monis’] identification documents and we reported this to the Australian police but since Australia has no extradition treaty with Iran, they didn’t extradite him,” Moghaddam was quoted as saying in a report by the Mehr News Agency.

Monis’ refugee status also precluded Australia from repatriating him to Iran.

Malaysia is a popular transit point for Iranians seeking to escape the Middle Eastern regime, owing to shared religious and cultural links between the two nations.

There is more, read it all.

So why is the US taking refugees from Malaysia and who are they? Surely no Christians went there for protection!

If you go to this fiscal year’s (FY2015) State Department statistics you can see that we took a huge number of “refugees” from Malaysia in the first two months of this year (October and November)—1,504. Again, Malaysia is a safe Muslim country so who are we taking?

I bet we took thousands from Malaysia in FY2014, but those stats are no longer available to the general public.

Who are those “refugees?” Are they persecuted Malaysian Christians? Are they illegal aliens (Muslims) who got to Malaysia hoping to make it to Australia? Is this like our Malta situation where we are taking another country’s illegal aliens?

The State Department does not make public the nationalities of those coming to America from Malaysia! We can only guess that they are Burmese Muslims, or Somalis, or more Middle Eastern Muslims. Again, persecuted minorities (like the Christians) won’t be seeking protection in Malaysia. And, if they are why is the State Department keeping it secret?

Hungary now experiencing the Muslim “refugee” tidal wave; Czech Republic will if it doesn’t wise up

12/20/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….as our ‘Invasion of Europe’ series continues!

Muslim “refugees” are smuggled from Turkey through the Balkans to Hungary, an EU country with open borders into western Europe.

The invaders from the Middle East have shifted their migration routes in the desire to get to those “welcoming” EU countries like Germany which seems to be the biggest magnet these days for the world’s needy.

Germany was the number one destination in the world for asylum seekers in 2013, imagine what it was in 2014!

According to the UNHCR, in 2013 alone, the top five countries receiving asylum claims were led by Germany (109,600), USA (88,400), France (60,100), Sweden (54,300) and Turkey (44,800). No wonder the Germans are marching in the streets.

Here is what is happening in Hungary (hat tip: ‘Pungentpeppers’).

From Yahoo.news:

With the Mediterranean Sea becoming too treacherous and other routes blocked by barbed-wire fences, would-be migrants are taking a new route into the Europe Union: through Hungary.

Coming from as far away as Afghanistan and Syria and as near as Kosovo and Albania, thousands of migrants a week are crossing into Hungary and requesting asylum, turning the country into an EU transit hot spot.

The surging number of immigrants has encouraged far-right and anti-Islam movements across Western Europe. It is also causing strains in remote places like Asotthalom, a Hungarian village near the border with Serbia, where a trickle of migrants three years ago has turned into a flood.

[….]

Lt. Col. Gabor Eberhardt, chief of the border police in Szeged, said this year proceedings were launched against more than 26,000 people of 61 nationalities for illegal border crossings in his territory. That compares to 34 in 2004, the year Hungary joined the EU.

Hungary has seen 35,000 asylum requests so far this year — compared to 18,900 in 2013 — and the flow of migrants has soared in the last few months. There were 683 asylum requests in March but 9,125 in November and a projected 12,500 in December.

They are moving on for better deals farther west in Europe. Germany is their number one target.

Of the 18,900 asylum requests in 2013 made to Hungary, over 11,000 were abandoned, supporting the notion that most migrants are moving on to other destinations.

[….]

Like many other Kosovars, they are headed to Germany, one of Europe’s strongest economies.

We have written a lot about Turkey and how it helps facilitate the flow to overburdened Bulgaria, see our archive on Bulgaria by clicking here. Now, Turkey is a major conduit, this time into Hungary. Looks to me like Turkey is facilitating the Hijra (don’t forget to read The Modern Day Trojan Horse!).

According to refugee officials, migrants heading to Hungary often use smuggling rings to travel across Turkey and up through the Balkans. Once they make it into Hungary, which belongs to the EU’s free travel area known as Schengen, they face borderless travel across most of the 28-member bloc.

Czech Republic demonstrations!

In the Czech Republic there are demonstrations for and against the country accepting Syrian refugees in the wake of that “pledging” meeting (the one where the US invited 9,000 mostly Muslim Syrians).

Here is the news about the demonstration which, by the way, is probably why we had a rush of readers from the Czech Republic this last week. According to this report those wanting Syrians to come to the Czech Republic outnumbered those who opposed (but I don’t believe that would be the case if the general public was polled). So far, the government in Prague says they aren’t taking any Syrians except perhaps sick children.

From Ceske Noviny:

Prague – About 300 people met in front of the Czech government seat in Prague over the question of Syrian refugees today, most of them calling for the Czech Republic to accept Syrian kids and their families, and a few dozens speaking against their acceptance.

Here is what those opposed said:

On the opposite side of the street, opponents to the refugee inflow unfolded banners with the inscriptions “Government, don´t allow yourselves to be blackmailed,”“Support to Muslim migration is not humanism but treason,” and “Let´s help in Syria, let´s not import jihad here.”

The pro-refugee demonstrators believe they will change the minds of Czech politicians, so the anti-Muslim migration side needs to work even harder.

Every country in Europe must close its borders NOW!

Update: Poland says it will take 100 Syrians in 2016, here.

Dutch politician Geert Wilders to face prosecution for “inciting racial hatred”

12/19/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It won’t be the first time he faces a court on “hate speech” charges.

Geert Wilders: “I will never let anyone silence me.”

See our recent posts (here and here) on the courageous Wilders as he calls for a limit on Muslim immigration to the West.

From the UK Daily Mail (hat tip: Brad):

Dutch far-right populist lawmaker Geert Wilders is be tried for inciting racial hatred after pledging in March to ensure there were ‘fewer Moroccans’ in the Netherlands, prosecutors said Thursday.

‘The public prosecutor in The Hague is to prosecute Geert Wilders on charges of insulting a group of people based on race and incitement to discrimination and hatred,’ prosecutors said in a statement.

[….]

The case centres on comments Wilders made at a March 19 rally after local elections.

He asked his followers whether they wanted ‘fewer or more Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?’
When the crowd shouted ‘Fewer! Fewer!’ a smiling Wilders answered: ‘We’re going to organise that.’

Wilders adamant—will not retract anything!

In a written statement, Wilders says he ‘said what millions of people think and believe.’

Wilders says authorities ‘should concentrate on prosecuting jihadis instead of me.’

‘I do not retract anything I have said,’ Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) is leading opinion polls.

‘In my fight for freedom and against the Islamisation of the Netherlands, I will never let anyone silence me. No matter the cost, no matter by whom, whatever the consequences may be,’ he said.

Immigration control activists gaining power across Europe, as we have seen (see our ‘Invasion of Europe’ series, and Germany earlier this week).

The far-right is on the rise across Europe, fed by disillusionment with the establishment, economic hardship and worries over immigration.

In Sweden’s neighbour Denmark, the Danish People’s Party has seen its support soar on a platform of tight immigration, tougher punishment for criminals and more welfare spending, apparently on track to become the country’s biggest party.

Americans pay attention! Cherish and hold on to our free speech rights—the only hope we have to save America!

Seattle housing crisis: Pay attention refugee “welcoming” cities

12/19/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Is yours one of 180 cities to which the US State Department is sending refugees? If it is, you are either experiencing this problem already or will be soon—not enough low income housing to go around.

The city of Seattle had proposed a plan to gradually increase rents (they are probably going broke supporting all these immigrants), but the plan has been shelved for now because of the push-back from tenants.

Seattle is the third most desirable city for Somali refugees behind number one Minneapolis and number two Columbus, Ohio.

Look who the protesters are! Surprise (not)! Photo: http://www.kplu.org/post/protesters-disrupt-seattle-housing-authority-hearing-chants-rent-hikes-no

From the Seattle Times (hat tip: ‘Pungentpeppers’). Emphasis is mine:

In response to widespread opposition, the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) has shelved its controversial plan to raise rents for thousands of its tenants.

There will be no rent policy change until 2016, and the SHA might scrap the plan altogether.

“We have decided to put consideration of the Stepping Forward proposal on hold,” SHA Executive Director Andrew Lofton wrote Monday in a letter to Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.

The SHA board of commissioners was initially set to vote on the plan by the end of 2014. No longer.

“In early 2015 we will work with our board of commissioners to establish a process and time frame for a new policy recommendation,” Lofton wrote. “We are unlikely to put forth a rent policy proposal before 2016.”

Stepping Forward would have used apartment size rather than household income to set rents for SHA-assisted households with at least one adult capable of working. The rents would have increased over time. The plan would have paired the rent increases with job counseling for tenants.

In proposing Stepping Forward earlier this year, Lofton argued the plan would help the SHA serve more people, cope with impending budget cuts and push tenants to become self-sufficient.

The SHA has about 9,000 households on its waiting list for public housing and recently had 24,000 households apply for 2,000 available rent vouchers, he said. [Gee, don’t you wonder how many of these are needy Americans?—ed]

But many SHA tenants, advocates for low-income housing and elected officials came out against the plan, predicting that some households would be unable to keep up with the rent increases and would wind up homeless.

Tenants demonstrated against Stepping Forward at a number of SHA meetings and at City Hall. Murray opposed the plan, saying it would have a disproportionate impact on immigrants, refugees, families of color and female heads of household.

A 32-year old father of SEVEN wants to keep his cheap rent:

Abdisalan Abdulle, 32, a father of seven who lives in the SHA’s Yesler Terrace housing complex, had mixed feelings about the news.

“They’re backing it up for one year, but 2016 is going to come,” said Abdulle, who took part in demonstrations against the plan. “I hope they get rid of it for good.”

There is more news on the plans’ demise here (watch the video). And, this is a story about protests back in September that we missed.

Calling David Lubell: Tell us why this is so good for the city (for the taxpayers and the non-immigrant poor people) of Seattle.