Ho hum! Another refugee lied to get into the US, wasn’t properly screened. What else is new?
Editors note: Readers I have not forgotten that I have to give you more information on how to send in comments to the US State Department on the “size and scope” of the US refugee program for fiscal year 2015. I promise to get to it soon. You have until May 29 to send in comments.
From CBS Minnesota (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’ and Robin):
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man was charged Wednesday with immigration fraud for allegedly lying on his immigration documents by concealing war crimes he committed during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.
Zdenko Jakisa, 45, appeared in U.S. District Court in Minnesota on one count of possessing unlawfully obtained documents. He was ordered detained, and another hearing was set for Monday. He will be appointed a public defender, according to court documents.
Authorities say that when he was filling out refugee and legal permanent resident applications, he didn’t disclose that he had served in the armed forces of the Croatian Defense Council in Bosnia-Herzegovina and had gone to prison.
[….]
According to a June 6, 2012, article in the Forest Lake Press, Jakisa and his wife applied to come to the U.S. in 1998 through the U.S. Embassy in Croatia. They were approved through a lottery system and sponsored by Catholic Charities and a local church.
[….]
Jakisa has a lengthy criminal record in Minnesota, including multiple convictions for driving while impaired, disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process.
I would bet anything that some of the people who “sponsored” him knew very quickly that he was a bad apple. Did they remain silent? Did Catholic Charities alert anyone in the State Department at some earlier date?
Another Bosnian refugee made the news recently as well, but it’s a sad case of a Bosnian gay man living in Philadelphia who was found brutally murdered in nearby Chester, PA.
We have many posts on Bosnians here at RRW. One of our favorites is the one from 2008 when we learned it was Bill Clinton who was responsible for bringing tens of thousands of Bosnians to America to work in meat packing.