Month: April 2015

Spartanburg update: Elected officials want the facts on resettlement ‘plan’

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is the latest from proposed new refugee resettlement site—Spartanburg, SC (see our original story with updates here).

Elected officials at the state and local level are doing exactly what they should do—gather the facts, present them to the public and then get a consensus of the community if the community wants to encourage the resettlement of third worlders to their town.

[Be sure to see Obama’s Task Force on New Americans release on Friday, here, before proceeding]

Although the number planned for Spartanburg for this year is only 65 refugees to begin with, remember that more and more will come every year as the resettlement contractor must pay their overhead (office space, salaries etc.) and is compensated by the head by the US State Department to resettle refugees and ultimately their family members (and they begin getting grants from the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Dept. of Health and Human Services).

Once the flow of refugees and money has begun it is virtually impossible to stop. (Ask the mayors of Manchester, NH, Springfield and Lynn, MA, and Amarillo, TX).

Here is the news yesterday from GoUpstate.com and reporter Kim Kimzey (emphasis is mine):

SC Rep. Donna Hicks wants the public to have an opportunity to see the plan for proposed refugee resettlement to Spartanburg. Not an unreasonable request!

Local officials are joining Congressman Trey Gowdy in demanding answers about a Spartanburg refugee resettlement plan.

Spartanburg County Legislative Delegation members met with Josh Baker, Gov. Nikki Haley’s director of budget and policy, on Wednesday to ask about the resettlement process, Rep. Donna Hicks said in a phone interview Thursday.

Hicks said Baker fielded questions and concerns from the legislators, including the state Department of Social Services’ (DSS) involvement with World Relief, the nonprofit working with churches to resettle refugees in the area. Hicks said they received information on how the government funds refugee resettlement.

She said they are awaiting answers to other questions. Hicks plans to hold a town hall meeting to share information with constituents.

Hicks said news of the resettlement effort caught Spartanburg Legislative delegation members “totally by surprise.”

It is always by surprise! 

Consultation with local officials is required under refugee law.  The federal contractor will say they “consulted” with local officials, but if they do, it is only with those who have been previously identified as friendly.  And ‘consulting’ with local church leaders does not count! 

Spartanburg citizens are just lucky that they found out now, and not a year from now, when the program would be entrenched.

Eight House members — including seven from the Spartanburg County delegation — on Thursday introduced a resolution asking DSS to provide information on the resettlement to “ensure accountability and transparency” in the use of public funds and “other costs of providing government services.”

[….]

She [Hicks] said concerns from constituents include possible terrorists among the refugees since their native countries are unknown; that Spartanburg would be “overrun” with too many refugees who could burden agencies, such as schools that would need to provide translators; or that a large Muslim population would arrive and choose not to assimilate, saying that has happened in other communities.

[Islamic terrorists have been uncovered in the refugee stream to America, see Iraqis here and Somalis here.  The FBI is worried about the proposed Syrians—ed]

Hicks said one question is whether state officials have the right of refusal.  [That is the 64 thousand dollar question!—ed]

[….]

A town hall meeting is planned sometime in the coming weeks, but no date has been set. Hicks has invited Haley and Gowdy. She said delegation members also would attend.  [You must invite the US State Department to send a representative! Contact the Asst. Sec. of State for Population, Refugees and Migration.—ed]

“We want to separate conspiracy theories and rumors from the actual facts,” Hicks said, adding that they want to present constituents accurate information about who’s involved, what’s going on and what they can expect.

They want to review the “plan!”

His [Spartanburg County Councilman Justin Bradley] concern stems from “lack of information and opportunity to review the plan provided to the local community and elected officials.”

Demand the “plan.”  There is one!

In order for the US State Department to grant funding, the contractor—World Relief, in this case—has submitted documentation to the US State Department, most likely prepared by the new prospective resettlement agency headed by Jason Lee which lays out for the feds what amenities (schools, health care, subsidized housing, jobs, etc.) your town has to offer the new refugees and what the capacity is for your town for the number that could be accommodated.   For some contractors it is called an “abstract.” 

Ask for the abstract or whatever World Relief might be calling the PLANNING document.

You might find it ‘fun’ (not!) to see what amenities your town is offering (without you knowing it!).

Bottomline:  Get all the facts and make a decision based on the facts—all of the facts!

Update April 20th:  Here is more on how to get the plan!

Kentucky: Iraqi refugee convicted terrorist back in the news; wants conviction and sentence reviewed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  There is a 2013 ABC News expose of the arrest and conviction of these two refugees with information on how they lied to get into the US.  A long time reader suggested that many of you may never have seen it.  Watch it here.

He says he was misrepresented and didn’t understand English well enough (you can be sure he had been supplied with a translator!).

For you, in new towns being urged to ‘welcome the stranger’ and take in Muslim refugees, there are several lessons in this one short news story.

First, don’t believe them when they say that refugees are thoroughly screened! This pair of convicted terrorists LIED on their refugee applications and there was ample evidence, one not mentioned in this news story, that they were in fact fighting (and possibly killing) Americans in Iraq.  One of them had fingerprints on an IED shard the US had already collected from an attack on Americans.

Second, US and state taxpayers are footing the bill for translators and expensive trials and other legal proceedings.

And, third these two were placed by a resettlement contractor in an American town and you paid for it.  But, the media, in this case AP, cannot bring itself to tell readers that these two were REFUGEES.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi lied on his application for US refugee status. https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/2012/02/17/kentucky-iraqi-terror-suspect-lied-on-refugee-application/

Every reader of this AP story who is unfamiliar with the US Refugee Admissions Program is probably scratching their head and asking, well how did these terrorists get in here?

From AP at the Bowling Green Daily News (hat tip: Robin):

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An Iraqi man convicted of terrorism charges in Kentucky is asking a federal judge to change his conviction and prison sentence because he says he was misrepresented by his court-appointed attorney.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi pleaded guilty in 2012 to being involved in a plot to send weapons and money to al-Qaida in Iraq.

Hammadi says in a motion filed last month that he felt pressure to plead guilty to a dozen charges and was told by his attorney, James Earhart, he would not get a life sentence. He is asking a judge to throw out or correct the sentence.

The motion asks the court to “vacate, set aside or correct” the conviction and life sentence he received in January 2013.

[….]

Hammadi said in the motion that he was pressured to plead guilty the day before his jury trial. Earhart, a longtime lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Kentucky, told Hammadi “no American jury would find him innocent following the events of Sept. 11, 2001,” according to the March 16 motion.

The AP wants you to think that they just simply “arrived” in the US, not a word about the US State Department bringing them in!

Alwan and Hammadi arrived in the United States in 2009. Both admitted to taking part in insurgent activities in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. Prosecutors said federal authorities became aware of Alwan when they found out he had been held in an Iraqi prison in June 2006 for insurgent activities.

Searching RRW for ‘Kentucky Iraqi’ I see that we probably have a couple of dozen posts in which we mention these convicted refugee terrorists.   In fact, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul’s fleeting criticism of the refugee program was surely inspired by his anger at the time about this case.

If you see Rand Paul on the campaign trail, ask him why he stopped criticizing the Refugee Admissions Program!

Make this issue a 2016 Presidential campaign issue!  In fact, ask all of the candidates if they support it and I bet you get a ‘deer in the headlights’ look!

Paraguay: Iraqis and Syrians using fake Israeli passports caught entering the country

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Because refugee problems are now cropping up in South America we have recently added a category for that continent, see previous stories here.  Here is one post from February with a map of the routes being taken through South America and then to Europe.

This news is not new, we have learned that fake passports are the way many, especially Syrians these days, are illegally entering other countries.  Paraguay is worried that Israeli interests in their country could be attacked.

Here is the latest from Ynet News:

The Paraguay Police has arrested 11 Arab travelers since early March, most of whom citizens of Syria and Iraq, who were using forged Israeli passports to enter the country.

Syrians are traveling to Paraguay in order to get into Europe!

Paraguay’s Ambassador to Israel, Max Haber Neumann, updated the Israeli Foreign Ministry about the arrests.

Paraguay wants to expel the arrested travelers, but is having difficulties doing so as some of them are minors.

Customs officers in Paraguay were instructed to be more vigilant after similar cases of Israeli passport forgery were discovered in Spain, Uruguay, Ecuador and Colombia in February and in light of Israel Foreign Ministry warnings that terrorist groups might attempt to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in South America.

There were at least two attempts to attack Israel’s Embassy in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, in recent months. In one of the cases, in early January, a small explosion was heard outside the Embassy. A bomb squad was called to the scene to neutralize the explosive device.

Paraguay Ambassador Haber Neumann said that it was his understanding the 11 arrested travelers were refugees from the Middle East who arrived in Latin America as a stop on their way to Spain or other destinations in the European Union.

In September of last year, two Iranians were arrested in Kenya on their way to Brussels with fake Israeli passports.

According to this story, Israeli passports are easy to fake, guess that means Israel better do something about that!

After recent Somali terror indictment in Ohio, reader asks: do we vet those applying for citizenship?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It sure doesn’t appear that we do!

This is a ‘comment worth noting’ we received from Julia, a regular reader of RRW, in the wake of the indictment of a Somali refugee on terror-related charges this past Thursday, here.

Julia:

“Here’s another item to add to the list of reasons to not trust the Obama administration – be it on refugee resettlement, immigration reform, negotiations with Iran….

Civic engagement? Abdirahman Sheik Mohamud was naturalized in February 2014, yet had been writing terror-related facebook posts in 2013! So we gave him citizenship and a passport anyway!

It has been reported that the Ohio man from Somalia who was naturalized in February 2014 and was indicted on federal terrorism charges Thursday, April 16, 2015 applied for a passport a week after he obtained his U.S. citizenship.

Fox News has also reported that this guy made terrorism-related Facebook posts in 2013 and was communicating online with his brother over plans to travel to Syria to fight in September 2013 – well before he was naturalized.

Does the U.S vet who it naturalizes as citizens? Will the media, Congress, or the GOP presidential hopefuls ask this question?

Part of the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Immigrant & Refugee Integration released by the Task Force on New Americans on April 14, 2015 is to “Celebrate our Newest Citizens.” The Obama administration intends to do this by providing individuals who become naturalized a Welcome Packet at their Naturalization Oath Ceremony. The Welcome Packet will include “practical tips” on applying for a U.S. passport and registering to vote.

Vetting these “New Americans” does not appear to be addressed in the plan. What will Congress do to prevent terrorists from becoming U.S. citizens? Let them vote in the next election?”

See our earlier post this morning about the Obama “plan” and see that WND writer Leo Hohmann also noted that security screening was never mentioned for the tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of new American seedlings being planted in a town near you!

UNHCR putting pressure on US to take in more Syrians; security concerns still the hold-up

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is nothing much new in here that we haven’t already reported, but I want readers to know that the UN is agitating for us to get moving on allowing in what will amount to be 90% or so new Muslim migrants from Syria.

Do you trust this man? Antonio Guterres, the socialist UN High Commissioner for Refugees has selected 11,000 Syrians to send to your towns and cities. 90% of the Syrians who have arrived so far are Sunni Muslims.

Because the UNHCR got ahead of itself and pre-selected 11,000 Syrians for America, those 11,000 will be used to put public relations pressure on the security-minded Republicans who are holding a finger in the dyke right now.

Here is the New York Times (via the Telegram):

The United States is scheduled to take in its largest tranche of Syrian refugees to date — up to 2,000 by this fall, compared with a total of about 700 since the civil war in Syria began four years ago, according to the State Department.

The U.S. decision to accept more refugees reflects how swiftly the Syrian civil war has morphed into the most pressing humanitarian crisis in recent years. Generally, resettling large numbers of refugees happens long after other options are exhausted, like the possibility of displaced people eventually returning home.

Will terrorists enter the US among refugees chosen by UN?

But just as refugee admissions have faced political resistance in Europe, the plan to step up Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States has stirred pushback from Republican lawmakers in Congress, who are increasingly vocal about the fear that terrorists may sneak in with the refugees.

While the Republicans have not called for a full-on moratorium on Syrian refugee admissions, they have urged the Obama administration to go slow, until the United States can be assured that all applicants are properly screened. A congressional hearing is due in the coming weeks.

“In the case of Syrian refugees, our intelligence on the ground is alarmingly slim, making it harder to identify extremists,” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an emailed statement.

“As we have heard from intelligence officials, we do not have enough information to confidently screen these individuals,” he said. “We need to put our foot on the brakes until we have more certainty that terrorist won’t slip through our fingers.” In February, McCaul wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry demanding details about refugees who have been admitted or are in the pipeline, including their ages, ethnicities and religion. He also wanted to know how U.S. officials are screening Syrians.

A State Department official said refugees applying for resettlement to the United States are “the most carefully vetted of all travelers to the United States,” with security checks by a host of U.S. agencies, including the National Counterterrorism Center and the Defense Department.

“Accepting refugees is an American tradition with bipartisan support in Congress,” said Simon Henshaw, principal deputy assistant secretary at the State Department. “The question is not whether we take them in, but ensuring that we admit refugees in a way that is safe and consistent with our national security interests.”

The UN has 11,000 they have picked for your towns!

The United Nations has a list of more than 11,000 people who are waiting to be screened by U.S. officials for possible resettlement.

The U.N. refugee agency, which does the first round of vetting, says the people on the list are among the most vulnerable, including single mothers and their children, victims of torture and people with special medical needs. But few of them will be accepted anytime soon. Henshaw said the reason the United States is admitting fewer than 2,000 this year is “to make sure we’ve got the process right.”

You gotta laugh, even if the women, children and sick people aren’t terrorists they will be VERY EXPENSIVE for the US taxpayer to care for!

“Aid groups” want 65,000 Syrians before Obama leaves office. 

But, the damn NYT can’t bring itself to mention that these are not ‘charities’ but in fact are largely paid by the taxpayer to resettle refugees—there is money in it for them!

At the same time, the administration is facing pressure from aid groups that want the United States to increase the numbers of refugee admissions significantly, and to let them in much faster.

They contend that the United States should take in at least half the people the U.N. refugee agency wants to resettle in the West, which would amount to about 65,000 Syrians in the next two years.   [See former British Foreign Secretary pushing the 65,000 demand, here.—ed]