Your tax dollars flowed to terrorists around the world via food stamp fraud

That is what a new report says.

Longtime readers know that a pet project of mine for several years was following the food stamp fraud busts going on around the country.  See my complete file on the subject here.

I’m relieved to see that some organization of stature has taken the issue of food stamp “trafficking” seriously.

From Breitbart (Hat tip: Richard @highblueridge):

Report: Millions in Food Stamp Dollars Flowed to Terrorists

Screenshot (763)
See the whole report:    http://g-a-i.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018_GAI_SNAP_FRAUD_TERROR.pdf

 

Millions of taxpayers dollars trafficked through food stamp fraud went to terrorists who funded their activities at home and abroad, according to an explosive report from the Government Accountability Institute (GAI).

The report from GAI, where Breitbart News Senior-Editor-at-Large Peter Schweizer serves as president, highlighted several instances where money obtained through Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits fraud went to fund acts of terrorism, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing.

“Hawalas” used to launder money

The U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified that many terrorists would get away with funding their illicit activities by using businesses known as “hawalas” to launder money.

A “hawala”— which is an Arabic term defined in English as transfer (or trust)— is a method of transferring money through informal agents from international networks, and many Muslim immigrants settled in western countries use the “hawala” method to transfer funds to family members.

GAI, citing a U.S. Treasury report, found that more than $7 billion flows into Pakistan alone through hawalas every year.

[….]

Investigators say it is very difficult to track the money moved around through hawalas, even though the federal government has known about the use of hawalas and their alleged role in financing terrorism for years.

But as federal investigators became more familiar with the welfare fraud mechanisms used to fund terrorist activities after the September 11 attacks, investigators have cracked down on a number of instances where terrorists have used the benefit fraud for such purposes.

Much more here.

By the way, even if your tax dollars don’t make it into the hands of terrorists, the billions of US dollars sent out of the country via remittances to ‘home’ countries have a huge impact on the US as it is money that is not available to our economy.

Italy: See why the Italians are so ticked-off

Invasion of Europe news…..

France has admitted that it ‘mistakenly’ dropped a couple of African migrants (supposedly minors) off into Italy.  See earlier story.

Since it is directly on the Mediterranean, Italy gets the brunt of the migrant invasion while France plays the phony welcoming holier-than-thou nation (along with Germany) in the EU.

 

Macron and Salvini angry
French President Macron says he is the main opponent of the European nationalists represented by Italy’s Matteo Salvini

 

The row between France and Italy continued yesterday in the wake of the latest border incident.

From The Express:

Matteo Salvini accuses France of forcing unaccompanied child migrants back to Italy

 

ITALY’S far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has accused France of pushing two unaccompanied child migrants back into Italy, further straining relations with Paris.

Mr Salvini, the head of Italy’s ultra-conservative League party, said on Twitter: “France tried to send child migrants back to Italy: this happened on October 18, at 10.30pm, but we managed to block the procedure.”

[….]

Tensions between Rome and Paris have reached boiling point in recent months, with Italy’s populist government accusing France and other member states of failing to share the burden of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have reached Italy by boat since 2013.

While French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced Italy’s anti-immigrant policies, positioning himself as the “main opponent” to Europe’s nationalists, Mr Salvini has accused him of encouraging illegal immigration and of turning a blind eye to Europe’s migration crisis.

[….]

The head of the Hautes-Alpes region admitted that its police had crossed the border, calling the incursion an honest mistake.

[….]

Mr Salvini, for his part, said on Saturday that extra police officers had been deployed to “control and guard” the shared border.

And, no wonder that Italy is turning back the migrant transport ships!

Thousands of migrants are caught each year trying to enter France and returned to the Italian border.

And, you wonder why Italy has budget problems?

France has sent back to Italy more than 45,000 migrants since January, according to the French interior ministry.

More here.

See my complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ file here.

Japan considering expanding refugee resettlement to 60

LOL! That doubles their present resettlement numbers.

I doubt they impressed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees when he arrived there yesterday.

From The Japan Times:

Japan will consider accepting more Asian refugees from 2020, with an eye to doubling the current annual ceiling of about 30 to strengthen its response to regional humanitarian needs, government sources said Monday.

The government will review its current policy of receiving refugees only from Myanmar under the third-country resettlement program led by the UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, while promoting their settlement not only in Tokyo and surrounding areas but in other parts of the country, according to the sources.

UNHCR Grandi attends a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo
Every year the UN High Commissioner for Refugees goes to Japan to nag them about resettling refugees.

Tokyo is expected to convey the idea to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, who is scheduled to visit Japan from Wednesday, the sources said.

Rohingya! For years I’ve been reporting that Japan was being sensible and saving itself from turmoil by not admitting Muslim refugees.  Oh well.

Since 2010 under the third-country resettlement program, Japan has accepted a total of 174 Myanmar refugees, or 44 families, including some Rohingya Muslims from the western Rakhine State who had been persecuted and moved to neighboring Thailand and Malaysia.

Japan is known for its tight immigration policy. In 2017, the country accepted only 20 of about 20,000 people who applied for refugee status and allowed 45 to stay in the country on humanitarian grounds, according to the Justice Ministry.

Security concerns, yes. But, will their desire for cheap labor cause them to throw caution to the wind?

But some members of the LDP division expressed caution over the new status, pointing to a possible deterioration in public safety resulting from an increase in the number of foreigners in the country.

Shigeharu Aoyama, an Upper House member, said he absolutely opposes the law revision, stressing that the employment of Japanese people should be increased first to solve the nation’s labor shortages. One participant called for the division to spend sufficient time examining the legislation.

They plan to spread the new migrants out to the rural areas of the country.

More here.

Just the beginning?

See my Japan archive here.