Huffington Post: State Department says it will up refugee arrivals to 900 a WEEK!

03/30/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have increased the current pace of refugee arrivals to approximately 900 individuals per week.

(State Department spokesperson)

Oh geez! What the heck is the Trump Administration doing?
As we have said repeatedly, Trump’s refugee admissions are not at the mercy of two rogue judges. He can bring in any number under the CEILING set either by Obama (110,000) or his reduced ceiling (50,000).

As far as we know, Sec. of State Rex Tillerson has not chosen a political appointment to head up the Population, Refugees and Migration department that runs the USRAP, thus the program is run by long-time federal employees with close ties to the contractors and to media like the HuffPo!

After resettlement contractors reduced their staffs (their federal funding depends on a per head payment for each refugee they resettle), now, if the Huffington Post is right, their numbers will go up from a previously predicted 400 per week to 900 per week and are complaining about being understaffed!

If you calculate 900 a week for the remaining (approx. 26 weeks in this fiscal year) and add that number to the number of refugees as of today (38,789) the result is approximately 62,189.

To put that number in perspective, the Bush Administration was BELOW that number in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Even Obama was below that number in 2011 and 2012! (see here).

(We told you here that as of yesterday they have not ticked-up to 900 a week, yet!)
Here is what HuffPo is reporting:

The number of refugees being resettled in the U.S. has shot up ever since a federal court struck down portions of President Donald Trump’s second executive order on immigration earlier this month.

While this has allowed many to breathe a sigh of relief, it’s placing serious strain on the organizations responsible for bringing refugees to America and helping them resettle.

“In accordance with the Court Order, and consistent with both our operational capacity and our capacity under available funding, we have increased the current pace of refugee arrivals to approximately 900 individuals per week,” a State Department spokesperson told The Huffington Post in a statement on Tuesday. “New refugee pre-screening interviews will continue to be scheduled and conducted at Resettlement Support Centers around the world.”

Trump has signed two executive orders attempting to prevent refugees from finding safe haven in the United States since entering office. Both were legally challenged amid mass protests.

His first order, signed on Jan. 27, halted the refugee resettlement program for 120 days, among other things, and slashed the number of people who could be resettled in the U.S. from 110,000 in the 2017 fiscal year to 50,000.

As a result, the number of refugees entering the country weekly had been limited to 400 people, in an effort to avoid reaching the 50,000 quota too soon (the 2017 fiscal year ends on Sept. 30). Fewer refugees means less money allocated to the agencies that resettle refugees, since they receive federal funding contingent on the number of people they take care of.

Parts of this order were struck down in federal court in February, but the quota remained unchanged. So the 400 per week figure was in effect until Trump’s revised ban was struck down in a Hawaii federal court on March 15, only hours before it was supposed to be implemented.

Continue reading here.
This is further evidence to explain why the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is “cautiously hopeful.”
Next, I need to find out what role Congress is playing—have the RINOs increased funding for the USRAP (US Refugee Admissions Program)?

In nearly 10 years we have admitted 139,695 Iraqi 'refugees' with no sign of flow stopping

03/30/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In my previous post, I reported that three Iraqi ‘refugees’ have been arrested in Virginia for lying on their admission forms to the US. At least one of them made up his ‘persecution’ story!
How many more liars are there in this huge flow to America?
Because I wanted to see how many Iraqis were placed in Virginia, I checked Wrapsnet going back to FY2008. That is the year when the flow to your towns began in earnest. Usually Virginia doesn’t come in in the top ten for much when it comes to refugee admissions, but for Iraqis I was surprised to see it at #7.
Up to this morning, we have admitted 139,695 Iraqi ‘refugees’ since George W. Bush reluctantly opened the flood gates in his final year in office. Obama, of course presided over the last 8 years of seeding Iraqis throughout America.
Of the 139,695, 35,899 are Shiites, 50,554 are Sunnis and 2,184 are unspecified Muslims. The remaining 37% are all other religions. I continue to be troubled by the fact that we admit both sides of the warring Muslim sects (and likely place them in the same neighborhoods!).
Here is where they went:

I know the dark blue is hard to read. And, Florida (2,806) is partially cut off. Alaska got 49, but Hawaii, reportedly craving diversity, only took 4! Wyoming has wisely stayed out of this mess for decades.

And, here are the top ten states which ‘welcomed’ Iraqis:

For ambitious readers we have 729 posts on Iraqi refugees archived at RRW. Click here.

Iraqi refugees arrested in Virginia for lying on their refugee admission applications

03/30/2017 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

They lied more than once!

The first whopper was a lie of omission. They failed to mention that their brother was a terrorist. And, at least one of them made up his “persecution” story to justify his admission to the US as a refugee.

Hasan admitted to making false statements and creating his persecution story.

If the story sounds familiar, lying on ones refugee application is what caught the two Iraqi refugee terrorists in Kentucky now doing life in prison at taxpayers’ expense.
There were a couple of brief stories about this Virginia case in the news over the last few days which I never could find time to get to, but this morning I’m seeing the full Dept. of Justice press release and posting it below in its shocking entirety! (emphasis is mine)

Iraqi Refugees Arrested and Charged With Immigration Fraud

Yousif Al Mashhandani (“Yousif”), 35, of Vienna, Virginia, and Adil Hasan, 38, of Burke, Virginia, who are full biological brothers, were arrested this morning. The third individual charged is Enas Ibrahim, 32, also of Burke, who is the wife of Hasan. Each are charged with attempting to obtain naturalization contrary to law. The defendants will have their initial appearance today in front of Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis at 2 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia.

Acting Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana J. Boente, Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field and Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Lechleitner of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., made the announcement.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, on Nov. 1, 2004, a U.S. citizen, identified as R.H., was kidnapped and held with other hostages for months in horrible conditions in an underground bunker. After a raid in 2005 freed the hostages, Majid Al Mashhadani (“Majid”), who is a full biological brother of Yousif and Hasan, was detained and admitted his complicity in the kidnapping of R.H.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Yousif was admitted into the U.S. as a refugee in 2008.

In May 2013, Yousif resided in Vienna and applied for naturalization as a U.S. citizen. In connection with Yousif’s applications for citizenship, his fingerprints were taken. According to an FBI fingerprint specialist, analysis conducted in November 2013 determined that Yousif’s fingerprints match those found on a document at the underground bunker where forces rescued R.H. and others in Iraq in 2005.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Yousif, Hasan and Ibrahim are lawful permanent residents and have applied to naturalize and become U.S. citizens. On various applications and forms throughout their respective immigration processes, each has provided an extensive list of family members and information of their respective family trees; however, none listed any reference to Majid.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, on March 4, 2016, FBI agents interviewed Yousif, Hasan and Ibrahim. When FBI agents asked Yousif why he failed to include reference to Majid on the family tree form, Yousif said he omitted reference to Majid because, when he was a refugee, he was told by others applying for refugee status that he would not be allowed into the U.S. if any immediate family members had a criminal background. Hasan admitted to FBI agents that Majid was his brother. Hasan and Ibrahim each admitted they discussed not including Majid’s name on their applications for refugee status because their connection to Majid might delay their ability to gain such status.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, to justify his application for refugee status, Yousif reported that in 2006, while working as an anti-corruption investigator for the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity in Iraq, he started receiving threats from a Shiite militia known as the “Al Mahdi Militia,” in order to coerce Yousif to drop a particular corruption investigation. Yousif said that in May 2006, Hasan was kidnapped by the Al Mahdi Militia, and was released only after Yousif arranged to drop the investigation in question and helped pay a large ransom. Yousif said that after Hasan was released, he reopened the corruption investigation, only to flee to Jordon in October 2006 after his parents’ house was burned down.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, to justify his application for refugee status, Hasan provided sworn testimony that, in 2006, he had been kidnapped and tortured by members of the Al Mahdi Army and held for nearly a month. Hasan said he was released upon the payment of a ransom of $20,000. In an interview by FBI agents in April 2016, Hasan said he was threatened in Iraq on two occasions, but made no mention of being kidnapped, held hostage and tortured for nearly a month. In a subsequent interview in October 2016, FBI agents confronted Hasan about the discrepancy in his stories and Hasan admitted to making false statements and creating his persecution story.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court. Each defendant faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. If convicted of any offense, the sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes ICE/HSI and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gordon Kromberg and Collen Garcia for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case.

No mention of deportation???

And, the big question is, how many more refugees (who don’t have a high profile terrorist brother!) have lied on their refugee applications to America?

BTW, Virginia ranks #7 in the nation for the number of Iraqis placed in the state by the US Dept. of State and its contractors. See my next post.