Kentucky: One of two convicted Iraqi refugee terrorists wants his sentence reduced

We have so many new readers and I suspect many of you don’t even know that in 2011 two Iraqi refugees living in Bowling Green, KY (Rand Paul’s hometown) were arrested and ultimately convicted of working for al-Qaida in Iraq.  I think you can find most of our coverage of the case by typing ‘Kentucky Iraqi terrorists’ into our search window.

Hammadi
Mohanad Hammadi is serving a life sentence. ” Hammadi also admitted to lying on U.S. immigration paperwork about his involvement in Iraqi insurgent operations against American troops.”

However, for a quick review, see this report at ABC News of all places!
From the Bowling Green Daily News (hat tip: Robin):

LOUISVILLE — An Iraqi refugee and former Bowling Green resident serving a life sentence for federal terror-related offenses testified in federal court Tuesday morning that his former attorney assured him he would get a lesser sentence if he pleaded guilty.

Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 28, has sought to have his sentence vacated on the grounds that his court-appointed lawyer, James Earhart, was ineffective.

Hammadi pleaded guilty in 2012 to all charges in a 12-count indictment that accused him of attempting, with fellow Iraqi refugee and Bowling Green resident Raad Alwan, to provide weapons, explosives, money and other resources to al-Qaida in Iraq on multiple occasions in 2011.

More here.
By the way, as a result of the arrest, the State Department held up Iraqi resettlement for months while Homeland Security rescreened thousands of other Iraqi refugees (or so they said!).
One of the most shocking pieces of information that came out of the investigation was that the fingerprints of one of the accused was found on IED fragments recovered in Iraq at the scene of the deaths of American National Guard troops from Pennsylvania.
The pair had lied to get into the US Refugee Program.

The next time someone tells you there have been no Islamic terrorists in the refugee flow to America, and that we screen them so well, remember these two!

Endnote:  A ‘pocket of resistance’ is forming in Bowling Green, see here.

They have overloaded San Diego with refugees and now they are boo-hooing!

Of course this whine-fest is for one of two reasons (or both at once!).  The Refugee Resettlement Industry wants more of your money for programs (welfare, housing, medical care etc.) and because San Diego and other big cities have foolishly been so “welcoming” and consequently overloaded, that the industry now has a big excuse to resettle refugees to small (newly targeted) cities throughout America including Reno, NV, Rutland, VT, Charleston, WV, Ithaca, NY, Fayetteville, AR and Missoula, MT (more?).

Refugees_Welcome_2015_IRC_SanDiego
International Rescue Committee is one of 4 major resettlement contractors responsible for overloading San Diego! They are the same agency opening up shop in Missoula, MT http://www.rescue.org/us-program/us-san-diego-ca/thank-you-irc-san-diego

 
 
When the Refugee Act of 1980 was debated in Congress in the late 1970’s, its chief sponsors, including Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden, promised America that the program was not meant to bring more POVERTY to our cities.  Well, that is exactly what it has done and is increasingly doing as Obama is now upping the numbers more and more each year.  (He will have one more shot for FY2017 to say how many come and unless we elect Trump in November, there is no one with any guts to pull back on Obama’s last determination! And, surely Hillary will just be an extension of Obama and the wimps in Congress will do nothing).
From the San Diego Union Tribune (hat tip: Joanne) where we learn that San Diego County gets 3,000 refugees a year!
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Refugees who are resettled in San Diego County often face overwhelmingly high housing costs, poor living conditions, emotional distress and limited access to health care, according to a new report by the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans.  [And, the do-gooders never ask themselves if they are really doing humanitarian work for refugees or only to make themselves feel better!–ed]

The community organization in City Heights surveyed an estimated 500 refugees and their children in 20 neighborhoods in the county. Participants represented about 13 countries in Africa and Asia.

Data in the report focused on refugees from East Africa, Thailand and Burma because the organization has deep ties in these communities and limited resources to expand the research, according to group leaders.

Among the findings outlined in the preliminary report:

▪ Poor English proficiency and little to no education poses a significant barrier for employment

▪ East African refugees earn a mean monthly household income of $1,774, while migrants from Burma and Thailand earn a mean monthly income of $1,216.

▪ Only 24 percent of East African men and 35 percent of East African women reported having a personal physician. About half of East African participants said they hadn’t had a routine checkup in the past year. [So we don’t know if their latent TB is becoming active TB—ed]

There is much more, continue reading here.
Cloward and Piven full steam ahead! Using the poor to bring on the revolution!
See our San Diego archive. You might find it interesting to know that there were some important Islamic terror trials there in recent years.

Texas taking new approach to holding the line on refugee resettlement…

…..Feds expect Texas to take 25% more refugees in FY2017—a whopping 11,020—and Texas is saying NO!

Texas is the number one state in the nation for refugee resettlement (the goal is to turn red states blue!) and frankly I believe it got that way because previous governors weren’t paying attention, but that is water under the bridge so they say.

Barbara Day
The Texas Commissioner is corresponding with BARBARA DAY, the Domestic Resettlement Section Chief at the DOS Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration. She is the person in charge of resettling refugees into your towns and cities. Day is also an example of the revolving door between federal contractors and the agencies from which they get their federal funds. Day came originally from Lutheran Social Services of SD and then to a perch at headquarters—Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) —before getting her present position at the US State Department in 2005. There really should be a law against this contractor/federal agency revolving door! LIRS gets over 90% of its funds from the federal government. http://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/77949.pdf

You probably saw the news that Governor Abbott’s recent lawsuit was dismissed. But, what the Abbott administration is doing now bears watching.
We’ve told you before (here) that states must submit a plan to the federal government each year about how the program will be run in the state. They can get away with not renewing the plan if nothing has changed.
Most plans are just rough bureaucratic blue prints (that they probably don’t follow anyway). But, back in April of last year, I wanted you to get yours mostly to send a signal that you were watching.

Now we see that Texas is taking this plan seriously and is attempting to use it to keep the US State Department from increasing the numbers to be sent there.

(BTW, a reminder! When hundreds or thousands (like in TX) of refugees have been resettled and the State Dept. is working to bring in their extended family members you can see how the numbers will mushroom exponentially.  The DOS wants to get the relatives into the same towns (or at least nearby) where their family members have been placed (seeded!). This is why I say in ‘Ten things your town needs to know’ that once they open an office and bring in the first refugees, your town is cooked!)
From the Houston Chronicle (emphasis below is mine):

AUSTIN – The federal government wants Texas to accept more than 2,000 additional refugees this year. Texas’ response: No thank you.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission is putting the federal government on notice that the state will refuse to take in more refugees than it did last year and will accept only those who do not pose a security risk.

Texas on Friday submitted to the U.S. Department of State a 2017 state plan for refugee resettlement, rejecting the federal government’s proposal to increase the number of refugees moving to the Lone Star State by 25 percent.

“Texas continues to have concerns about the safety of its citizens and the integrity of the overseas security and background vetting process of the federal resettlement program,” Executive Commissioner Charles Smith wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of State. “Americans face an undeniable terrorist threat that is imported through new manipulations of our national security protocols each day.”

According to Smith’s letter, the federal government is proposing to place 11,020 refugees in Texas during fiscal 2017, an increase of 25 percent over the projected fiscal 2016 figure. Smith wrote that the proposed funding is insufficient, as well, and concludes the state could accept a maximum of 8,605 refugees. It is unclear how many refugees have been placed this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.  [One could easily find out how many refugees have been resettled in Texas this year until just a few days ago.  It appears that the Dept. of State has removed its data base that reporters have been using for months from public view.—ed]

Rewriting their plan to add security requirements for the feds!

Smith sent his letter and the state’s 2017 plan for handling refugee settlements in response to an email from Barbara Day, chief of domestic resettlement for refugee admissions at the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration in the state department. According to Smith, the letter to Day outlined the agency’s plan to boost the number of refugees settling here, although the Texas commission could not produce the letter late Friday.

Texas will accept only refugees who can be certified to Congress that they do not present a security threat, according to Texas’ 31-page version of a resettlement plan that would take effect in the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. According to the proposal, the FBI must certify to the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence that potential refugees have received a background check sufficient enough to determine whether the individual is a security threat, and may only be admitted to the U.S. after all three agencies certify to Congress the individual is not a threat.

Very interesting! Continue reading here.
See our complete archive on Texas here.
More on Barbara Day….  Here she is working with National Immigration Forum (Soros!) honcho and Muslim rights activist Ali Noorani where they are teaching Wilson-Fish grantees how to craft a positive message about refugees to make them more accepted in reluctant communities.  And, you can watch her here explain how wonderful the refugee program is.
 

Top posts of the last week (and miscellaneous stuff)

rrw-logo-1Refugee Resettlement Watch is two weeks away from our 9th anniversary!

Where has the time gone? I had to laugh (sort of) just now when I looked at an early post during our first week in July 2007.  I was asking about whether it was a good idea to begin to bring in large numbers of Iraqi refugees.  Well we are now over 100,000, maybe even 150,000 Iraqis (mostly Muslims) spread out across America. (We can’t give you the exact number at the moment because I fear that the State Dept. has withdrawn their data base from public view!)
Has it all been a waste of time?
No, not at all!  I couldn’t have imagined a year ago that the word ‘refugee’ would be on the nightly news and indeed is becoming a critical Presidential election year issue.  So I hope this blog has played some role in educating you about what we are up against.
A few housekeeping issues….
I’ve had some questions lately about sharing buttons. When you subscribe to RRW, wordpress sends you an e-mail which includes the text of the post.  Many of you have asked for a place to tweet or send the text you get to facebook.  If you go to RRW itself (and I recommend that) each post has sharing buttons at the bottom so I am not sure what else I can do to facilitate your request.
Also, if you are on twitter, and so am I, know that everything I post I also tweet. So follow me @RefugeeWatcher and retweet my post if you like. (For those not on twitter, you can still see all the stories I tweet in my right hand side bar.)

making hay when the sun shines
Making hay when the sun shines and why I can’t always answer your e-mails!

For our facebook page click here.  I don’t put every post on facebook, but I do share the ones I consider most important there. Know that I have a partner at facebook who places stories as well that she thinks will interest you.
And one more thing before I get to the top three most-read posts of the week—did you send US State Dept. testimony I have not yet posted? I apologize but again my in-box is so completely jammed that I can’t find more testimony in the mess.  If you still would like your POLITE testimony published please resend it.
My e-mail address is refugeewatcher@gmail.com, but please have pity on me and don’t send me e-mails morning, noon and night on every issue facing America at the moment! I would love to chat with you all day, I just can’t or nothing would ever get written.
And, for all of the new readers especially in towns where you’ve gotten the word that the federal government is going to place refugees in your community, be sure to see our Frequently Asked Questions, here.  And, see this post which I recently re-posted: Ten things your town needs to know!

So here are the Top Three Posts of the last week:

Story about Somali woman who attacked Georgia Mom is surreal

Amarillo, TX being destroyed by refugee overload

Copenhagen: Islamic gangs intimidate bar patrons, tell them no drinking in Sharia zones

P.S. RRW is a blog, a news site, a library of sorts, not an organization with staff and interns and offices etc. etc.  You may have noticed that I finally broke down and installed a ‘donation’ button, but we are not a 501(c)3 designated non-profit, so your kind donations are not tax deductible.