Day: February 15, 2017

Comment worth noting: Shocked at what I saw in Lewiston, ME, and I love diversity

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Editor: If you visit RRW often, you know that we occasionally post comments (and guest opinion pieces) from readers. This was sent to our gmail account a few days ago and I wanted you to see it. I’ll make an observation at the end.

From someone whose family has lived in Lewiston for almost 100 years:

I just wanted to give you an update on what Refugee Resettlement can do to a city, Lewiston, ME is the home of my Grandparents, since the early 20’s, yes the 1920’s.

Most of my siblings were born in and around Lewiston, as well as my Mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

somali-protester-lewiston
Protesting the Somali flow to Lewiston as early as 2002! http://www.cbsnews.com/news/somali-immigrants-rile-maine-mayor/

I was really surprised when I returned after being away for about 20 years, to see the Somalian refugees in the town. I don’t mind other people, but the sheer numbers of people, then I spoke to my cousins who have lived there all their lives, and they explained the issues of crime, school violence, poverty, rejection of American values, and the general hatred of women by the Somali refugees.

They kept saying, we can’t get out here to look at a location where family used to live, and how the area had really gone down hill since the refugees arrived. Some of my cousins were victims of violence from Somali Gangs, and that the schools were in shambles because they couldn’t handle the language and culture issues that arise when you dump 15,000 Somali’s on a small town in Maine.

The destruction is irreversible, and horrific, I cried when I saw some of the town and how much it had changed. For example Kennedy park was a beautiful place where my Mom and sisters went to picnic and how nice it was. We were told to stay in the car because Somali drug dealers had taken over the park, and it wasn’t safe.

This type of immigration, the dumping of large numbers of refugees, does not work, it doesn’t help integration. I’m from Orange County California, I went to school with Mexican Gangs, who had their territory, Vietnamese gangs that arrived in large numbers in the 70’s and Korean Gangs that had arrived in the 60’s. Immigrants do not integrate when we drop them in large numbers, it doesn’t work, they don’t integrate.

I love the diversity of America, I am the product of immigrants, but all you have to do is look at what we have done in the past to see that mass integration [does he mean mass immigration?—ed] does not work. We need to drop these immigrants in small numbers across America so they can integrate and become part of the culture instead of allowing them to cluster in large numbers which means that integration will be slow if at all.

My thoughts on this issue of numbers and integration…

First, the Open Borders Left wants to use the word ‘integration’ rather than the word ‘assimilation,’ see here.
But, more importantly readers should know that refugees move in America—especially Somalis who got to Lewiston many years ago after they ‘discovered’ Maine’s generous welfare (see here).
Somalis can be placed (and they are) all over America by the resettlement contracting agencies, but often quickly move to be with their own kind of people in Minneapolis, Columbus, Seattle, San Diego, Lewiston and elsewhere.
So for all of you pushing for your governors to block resettlement (it will help some), remember though that you can’t stop secondary migration!
Say for example, the Refugee Admissions Program eventually allows certain states (governors) to stop the placement of refugees in their states, and say Vermont wants refugees and New Hampshire doesn’t, then they will place them in Vermont, but then encourage them to move over to New Hampshire after a few months. Likewise as Minnesota opens its arms to more Somalis they will eventually drift in to neighboring states! (Hijra!)
So, yes, integration/assimilation can’t happen when ethnic enclaves build in certain cities, but…..

The real problem, in my opinion, is that the overall numbers being admitted to the US are too high!

We need an immigration time out!
This post is filed in our ‘comments worth noting/guest posts’ category, here.  Our Lewiston archive is here.

He is baaackkk! Omar Jamal in his element as he makes the news about Somalis sneaking in to Canada

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is so funny!

If you have followed RRW for the last almost ten years, you will recognize the name Omar Jamal.  I call him the ‘Jesse Jackson’ of the Somali ‘community’ in America.

omar-jamal
In 2009, even Minnesota Public Radio had him pegged as a Somali “talking head.” http://www.mprnews.org/story/2009/04/24/omar_jamal

When Somalis are in ‘crisis’ (when aren’t they in crisis!), here comes Jamal to direct lazy and gullible reporters so that they spin their stories to involve him and his view of the ‘community.’
I wish I had the time to go over the many many posts we have on Jamal who was originally found guilty of immigration fraud (he snuck in here from Canada!) but was never deported.  He apparently speaks English well, so reporters glom on to him and he helps them get their story straight—the way he sees it! He is good!
Just to give you an idea before you read about his take on the supposed flood of desperate Somalis heading to Canada across the Minnesota border (remember readers those Somalis headed to Canada are in the US ILLEGALLY), here is one post I wrote in 2008.
Denver dead Canadian Somali story!
Here in 2008, Jamal helped spin the media about something you have long forgotten or maybe never knew.
A Canadian Somali was found dead in a Denver hotel just before the 2008 Democratic Convention there.  He had enough cyanide to kill hundreds.  Jamal jumped in to the story (from Minneapolis) to say the guy was just a nut, nothing to see, move along, and the media did!
Here is our complete archive on Omar Jamal, the Somali spin-meister!
So here he is again, in his element, fielding media questions about the poor Somalis headed to Canada and the possibility that they could freeze to death (sniffling! dabbing eyes!).
From a CBC News at a Somali website:

Omar Jamal is dealing with a crisis. [ROFLMAO—ed]

Jamal is the executive director of the Somali Community of Minnesota, and for months now, he has seen people whose U.S. asylum claims have been rejected end up in Minneapolis, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the country. [Rejected asylum claim means they are NOT refugees—ed]

From there, they make arrangements to sneak into Canada, where they can file refugee claims.

Jamal has become used to this, but today he is fielding non-stop calls about a car full of refuge seekers and their driver who appear to have gone missing after leaving Minneapolis.

The plan was to drive the seven hours north to the Canadian border and cross the border on foot.

But they’re nowhere to be found.

“I’m getting calls from family members and I’m meeting relatives and as we speak right now, we are trying to figure out what happened to them and where are they? Are they still alive?” says Jamal.

You can read for yourself the long discussion about the missing Somalis (found o.k.) and the driver who took them to the border.

They’re making their way back to Minneapolis.

As a result of their attempted crossing, they’ve been flagged as a flight risk by U.S. immigration authorities. [Heck, Trudeau loves diversity, let Canada have them!—ed]

“They’re really worried, they’re scared,” says Jamal.

“The thing is, when they came [to the U.S.], they psychologically believed that they left everything behind, the bad things. But actually the place they’ve got here now doesn’t look much different than the place they came from.

“It’s a continuation of crisis and suffering and not being settled… That saga is still ongoing,” he says. “They left their country and they’re still on the run.”

Before too long, Jamal has moved on to the next phone call, the next request for help.

He knows this flood of asylum seekers won’t stop any time soon, and he has a message for his neighbours to the north.

Of course, then he sends his message telling Canada to welcome these illegal alien Somalis.
Read it all! Filed in my ‘Laugh of the day’ category!

FBI contacting newly arrived Syrian refugees, is the FBI doing this on its own?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I suppose one could argue that this effort to meet Syrian (mostly Muslim) refugees is harmless, but I have to say I think it is politically tone-deaf at the moment.
Is the FBI getting direction from above or are they making this effort completely without direction? Does no one in the FBI leadership see how this would be upsetting, that it adds fuel to a political fire, or is that exactly what they are doing—making the Trump Admin. look heavy-handed?
From NorthJersey.com:

FBI agents have been calling Syrian refugees in New Jersey and asking to meet – alarming advocates who say they fear the visits could be a first step toward surveillance at a time when refugees have been cast as a suspect group.

fbi-jacket
“An FBI official said the effort to meet with Syrian refugees in New Jersey was not a Trump administration initiative, but an effort by the Newark division to reach out to the community.”

The FBI’s Newark division has confirmed that calls were made to refugees, but said agents were only trying to “build trust” and “open lines of communication” with the recently arrived immigrants and not for surveillance.

[….]

At least three Syrian refugees received calls last week from an Arabic-speaking agent who requested an in-person meeting, according to advocates who have been helping Syrians adjust to their new lives in the U.S. They were told the meetings were part of a larger outreach effort to check on Syrians and their well-being, the advocates said.

Salim Patel, chairman of the board of the Smile Organization, a Passaic-based nonprofit service group whose clients include many refugees, said the calls were received “with great alarm” because of the political climate, with news of Trump’s immigration ban weighing on people’s minds.

[….]

Mohamed Khairullah, an activist aiding refugees who is also Prospect Park mayor, said he worries that the newcomers, who typically don’t speak English, could be coerced into signing something they don’t understand.

“They’re not aware of their rights, and they’re not aware of the protections provided to them by the law or the Constitution,” he said.

In a Facebook message in Arabic, he encouraged families contacted by the FBI to reach out to a lawyer. At Know Your Rights workshops across the state, staffed by civil rights and legal associations, attorneys are giving the same advice.

More here.
Dumb is all I have to say.