Update: US Syrian refugee resettlement numbers pass the 1,000 mark, disbursed to 36 states, 94% are Muslims

07/09/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Using US State Department data beginning early in the Syrian conflict (January 2012) and right up until yesterday (July 8, 2015) here is where we stand.
Remember that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has over 2,000 in a pipeline for us for before the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2015), but the unsatisfied federal contractors wanting more paying clients to resettle and the Senate Jihad Caucus want the US to take in and distribute 65,000 before Obama leaves office.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, one of 14 members of the Senate Jihad Caucus which wrote to Barack Obama asking him to bring in 65,000 mostly Muslim Syrian refugees by the time Obama leaves office. I wonder do union workers understand that these refugees will be competing for their jobs? So far, Ohio has resettled 27 Syrians.

I see from my previous update in late May that the percentage of Muslims chosen for us by the UNHCR has now risen from 92% to 94%!
And, this was a big surprise—the total number of Christians (42) and Catholics(1) admitted has not increased in the last 6 and 1/2 weeks. Most of the increase is in the Sunni Muslim numbers. And, for those who asked during my briefing yesterday, there is still only 1 Yazidi admitted.
So here is what we know:

The total number of Syrians admitted as refugees since January 1, 2012 is 1,098.

Of those, 973 are Sunni Muslims, 8 Shiites and 49 who characterize themselves as simply “Moslem”.

There were, as mentioned above 42 Christians, 1 Catholic and 1 Yazidi and a few other religious groups (or no religion) as well.

So, looks like the average number is now 94% Muslim.

And here are the Top Ten states that “welcomed” Syrians. 36 states got at least 1 Syrian.
You can expect this trend to continue. The states that changed their ranking the most in the last 6 weeks were Massachusetts which was not in the top ten at all and Florida which was 9th and has moved up to 6th place as of yesterday.

1) Texas (137) Texas got 12% of the Syrians. Imagine if the US brings in 65,000. 12% to Texas would be 7,800! Guess they would need a lot of HUD housing!

2) California (133)

3) Illinois (93)

4) Arizona (73)

5) Pennsylvania (65)

6) Florida (60)

7) Michigan (59)

8) Massachusetts (44)

9) North Carolina (42)

10) New Jersey (39)

One final thing. I had previously speculated that since Minnesota was in extreme refugee overload that maybe the US State Department wouldn’t send any Syrians to Minnesota, but I see I was wrong. They recently sent 7 to Rochester, MN.

Aljazeera article about Temporary Protected Status for Syrians tips us off—thousands of Syrians in US illegally

07/09/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..and more appear to be coming!
For new readers, Temporary Protected Status, is basically a sham LEGAL immigration program that is anything but temporary.
The idea behind it is that we would give temporary refugee status to people already in the US for some other reason (tourist or student visa for example) when a calamity befalls their home country. The thinking is that it wouldn’t be humane of us to send them home to a country in chaos either from war or natural disaster. It is supposed to last for 18 months and allows the temporary ‘refugees’ to work, but not collect welfare.
Sounds fine and dandy except there are those with TPS status who are here for decades as the federal government just continues to extend the deadline, and you know darn well many are now collecting welfare and voting! See our post last week about the newest TPS designated country—Nepal.
Syrians were granted TPS status in 2012, but I have laugh when I see they have a rolling deadline of sorts!
Here is Aljazeera on the news that not very many Syrians want to identify themselves to the US government by signing up for TPS.

Some, Aljazeera says, are applying for asylum, but thousands are simply moving around America to avoid detection! Emphasis below is mine:

Nahla11 — Nahla Kayali, who runs Access California Services: They keep a low profile, traveling from city to city and changing their phones. Photo and bio here: http://www.accesscal.org/about-us/founder-executive-director/

The window for Syrians in the United States to apply for a special temporary legal designation closes July 6, but less than half of the estimated 10,000 who qualify have applied so far. Advocates say that disparity reflects fear of the U.S. immigration system and may indicate that more Syrians in the U.S. are applying for asylum instead as the war drags into its fifth year.

[….]

Under the program, Shaguj [star of the story, Osama Shaguj, a 28-year-old data analyst—ed] gets authorization to work and the right to live in the United States, but only for 18 months at a time.

The Department of Homeland Security first ordered that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) be given to Syrian nationals already in the United States in March 2012, and has twice extended the designation for 18 months. To qualify, Syrians must demonstrate they were in the country before the cutoff date — originally March 2012 and now, Jan. 5, 2015.

Anyone who arrived even a day later cannot apply.

Under the latest extension, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, which administers TPS applications, reports that 3,124 Syrians have re-registered and another 1,835 have signed up for the first time. That is fewer than half of the number of Syrians the office estimated (PDF) would qualify.

But many of those people who could have been eligible are now applying for asylum. [This number should be available through the asylum system—ed]

[….]

Undocumented people and TPS holders are not eligible for public benefits, but Kayali [See photo and caption—ed] raises funds from her community specifically for Syrians who may not have connections on which to rely. But, she says many would rather keep a very low profile, changing their phone numbers frequently and traveling to different cities.

[….]

In practice, Syrians are finding ways to relocate outside of the refugee system, though they can still apply for asylum if they qualify when they reach a new country. This can mean flying to Europe, crossing the Mediterranean, or settling for temporary solutions like those who hold TPS in the United States.

Read it all by clicking here.
So it sounds like that of an estimated 10,000 Syrians in America now, as many as 5,000 could be under the radar somewhere in America.

NYT: Minnesota judge rejects plea to release three Somalis charged in terrorism case (for now)

07/09/2015 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But, says he may re-think his decision and release them pre-trial later.
People like Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison think they could be deradicalized.

Call me heartless, but I don’t think we should be spending all this time and taxpayer money rounding those up who want to leave the country to join their terrorist brethren. Just let them go and revoke their passports. Maybe even consider rounding up a bunch and offering free flights back to Islamic hellholes.
Obviously these resettled refugees or their children don’t appreciate what US taxpayers did for them in the first place.
Here is the New York Times:

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge here on Wednesday ordered three young men accused of plotting to travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State kept in detention while awaiting trial, at least for now. That decision came after the defense argued that entrusting the men immediately to their families and Somali-American leaders was the best way to insulate them from radical Islam.

But United States District Judge Michael J. Davis, in a shift from what other federal judges have done in similar cases involving young people accused of being Islamic State recruits, signaled a willingness to revisit his decision in the coming months.

[….]

The issue of how to deradicalize young people attracted to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has become increasingly important here and in many other communities where recruitment by militant Islamic groups, often done online, has led to arrests.

Minneapolis, with its large Somali immigrant community, has been a recruitment hotbed for years. More than 20 people in Minnesota have faced federal charges related to Al Shabaab, an African terror group, with at least 10 more cases related to ISIS. Defendants have usually been detained while awaiting trial, as prosecutors have argued that they remain flight risks and threats to the community.

There is a lot more, continue reading here.
If you are new to this news—Somali Islamic radicalization in Minnesota—you might want to go back to our first posts on the topic in 2008 (this has been going on for a long time with no sign of “deradicalization” happening). As for me, I am so sick of this story, about ‘Somali youths,’ that I’m only mentioning it here to keep our archives fresh.
Check out this post if you have time, I went to a Senate Homeland Security hearing back in March of 2009 and was shocked at the naivete of US Senators on the topic.