Category: Africa

ORR hides the numbers of Somalis admitted to the US since 9/11

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Top Somali admission years are not mentioned…..

While doing a little bedtime reading—2008 Annual Report to Congress on the refugee program—sure to put anyone to sleep, I came across this line in the Admissions section on Page 5:

In FY 1994, 3,508 Somalis fled to the U.S. Admissions reached 6,022 in FY 2000 before plunging to 242 in FY 2002, swelling to 6,958 in FY 2007, and declining to 2,510 in FY 2008.

First, readers should know that the severe decline in refugee numbers in 2002 was because of the major potential security threat refugees and immigrants generally, but especially Muslims, posed to the US, so there was a drastic curtailment of this program that year as new security measures were put in place.  I also would like to argue with the choice of the words “fled to the US.”  They didn’t flee to the US, most were brought here at the behest of the United Nations and the federal contractors who are paid by the head to resettle refugees.

But, what really jumped off the page was this:  “….swelling to 6,958 in 2007.”  I think the average reader (some poor Congressional staffer perhaps) would take that to mean that 2007 saw the highest number of Somalis admitted to the US in a given year.

Isn’t that what the words “swelling to” implies?

When I saw that I immediately assumed my early research, and our most widely read post, this one, might have some errors.

It doesn’t!

The Office of Refugee Resettlement failed to tell readers that the “swelling” occurred in 2004, 2005 and 2006.  There were 12,814 Somalis admitted in 2004, 10,101 in 2005, and 10,330 in 2006.    (All before the State Department confirmed the widespread refugee fraud going on in Africa!)

See the appendix to the 2007 Annual Report to Congress, here.   Near the end of the report you will find a chart of Admissions by country of origin (Table 1).  See for yourself!   And, note also that before 2003 we admitted over 40,000 Somalis.

Thank the US State Department!

Two days ago I told you about Somali food stamp fraud and the tension in Shelbyville, TN with Somali refugees, four days ago it was the tension in Minneapolis between Somalis and Native Americans, also four days ago it was the massive Somali drug bust, before that it was those murder cases in the Dakotas.  And, how could I almost forget the Somali “youths” who returned to Africa for Jihad training.  Today, later, when I get a minute, it will be a story about the Somali cabbie who might be a terrorist!

Are all these reasons for the federal government to downplay the number of Somalis who have entered the US through the “humanitarian” refugee program?  You bet they are!

Somalis on the move out of South Africa—to Europe or the US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I had two stories last week which I never got around to writing about the Rainbow Nation—that would be South Africa—and Somalis.  You never hear about South Africa much in the mainstream media these days and that is (I think) because it didn’t turn out to be such a multicultural dream—a “rainbow” Nation after all.   Like most of the world’s countries if you aren’t a “native” you aren’t so welcome (it is called ethnic nationalism).  And folks, it isn’t the white South Africans (they are pretty much hiding out) it’s the black South Africans attacking the outsider Somalis and other Africans.

This story then at Times Live caught my eye.  Writer Jonny Steinberg is apparently hanging out with some Somalis in a Mitchell’s Plain, South Africa flop-house as he writes this:

Somalis glued to the news—looking for the next move:

Each room had four or five mattresses strewn across the floor; a traveller, I was told, paid R30 a night to sleep on one, his roommates invariably strangers. Everyone in the establishment – the owner, the people who cleaned the rooms and cooked, as well as the guests – was Somali.

The lodge’s little restaurant was packed, each customer’s attention fixed on the television screen on the wall. Standing with remote control in hand, the proprietor switched from Al Jazeera to Sky to CNN: any channel covering Libya earned the lodge’s attention.

With the attack on Libya and the disarray in that country they see an opening to get to the Mediterranean and Europe.

My interest in the coverage was somewhat abstract. I wanted Gaddafi to go lest he slaughter people I had never met. The conversation among the travellers around me, translated into English courtesy of my Somali companion, was considerably more practical. Were civil war to break out in Libya, someone asked, would Gaddafi’s forces be too busy fighting to worry about border control? Would it be possible to walk right through the country to the Mediterranean and get a boat to Europe? And what if Gaddafi were overthrown, another person asked. It would take a new regime a long time to settle. Now would be a good time to get to Europe through Libya.

I was being educated in a whole new way of watching television. These people, I realised, imbibed large quantities of international news each day of their lives. All corners of the planet were of interest to them. They combined what they learned on television with the hearsay of travellers; with e-mails and Facebook postings from long-lost relatives; with rumours. They were always calculating, as habitually as they ate and drank, the question forever in their minds: where to go next?

Hey, or another option is the US Southern border!

….. My companion had been told that if you walked across the Mexican border into the US, you would be caught and jailed. But the authorities would not deport you to Somalia’s civil war. After a year or two in prison, they would give you American papers, and you could call for your family to join you.

“How do you know this?” I asked. “Stories,” he replied. “Just stories.”

That’s the thing. CNN, Al Jazeera, the word of a passing traveller: these are hardly reliable sources of news. To be homeless is to be a gambler. You gather the information you can, you calculate, but ultimately you take a leap of faith into the unknown.

Our author suggests the news from passing travelers might not be reliable, but guess what, they have the US asylum and family reunification process pegged.

Heck, today if you can say you have family somewhere in the US, you might not even get detention when caught at the border.    Here is what happens:  Somali crosses the border and asks for asylum from those bad old terrorist Al-shabaabers in Somalia, gets US immigration lawyer, maybe detained, maybe not, lawyer (at taxpayer expense) gets the asylum seeker through the legal loopholes, asylum is granted and asylee gets welfare benefits/job training and then is taught how to get his “family” to America.

By the way, according to the most recent annual report from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, 22,852 asylum cases were approved in 2008.  This is a must-read report!

Shelbyville, TN and the truth behind the making of a propaganda film

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Reporter Brian Mosely:

I never imagined three and a half years ago that simply telling a story honestly could lead to being demonized on national television, in a film sponsored by our own government, no less.

[….]

It’s as if someone made a film about Japanese interment during World War II and left out the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Those comments are from reporter Mosely (whose words and deeds were twisted for the film) from the Shelbyville Times-Gazette yesterday in advance of this week’s debut of a Leftwing propaganda film (Welcome to Shelbyville) to be released widely throughout the US with the help of the US State Department.  The reporter and the newspaper are attempting to fight back against monstrous lies perpetrated by the federal government and George Soros sponsored film makers. 

RRW Editor:  We have followed the making of this propaganda film from the first arrival of the team in Tennessee (led by Kim Snyder) and have posted many times on it.  Please return for a moment to read this post in January with background information and links to earlier posts.


It is very important that after you learn the truth about the film that you send the Times-Gazette link to your local reporters and to everyone you know who might see the film.  I was told by a reader last night that it will be shown in Emporia, KS this week which long-time readers know was a town embroiled in the Tyson’s /Somali issue in 2007 as well (we have a whole category here at RRW about Emporia).  In that city, Tyson’s pulled the plug on the controversial meat packing plant and moved Somalis from the town clearly in response to the upheaval in that city.

It has been my contention from the early days of RRW that the US State Department and its federal refugee contractors are working to supply cheap immigrant labor to the meatpacking industry, as well as to import third worlders to change the political landscape of middle America.  They hide behind the cover of  a “humanitarian” agenda.

The film’s purpose is to smear Shelbyville as a racist town and shame any other town into silence that might have a problem with third worlders, especially Muslims, flooding their communities.

Know that the US State Department will be promoting this film in a conference call to reporters on Tuesday. 

It is so awful (and so scary) to see the lengths our own government will go to to promote lies, and a political/crony agenda.


Here is the opening to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette story yesterday:

As many of our readers are aware, in late 2007, I wrote a five part series about the impact that the introduction of Somali refugees were having on Bedford County. The stories focused on how the refugees got here, their traditions and beliefs, and took an honest look at the many cultural clashes that were taking place between the locals and the newcomers.

The series provoked a huge controversy, along with much discussion and debate from members of our community.

Then, in August 2008, the Times-Gazette reported that a new union contract at the Shelbyville Tyson Foods facility replaced Labor Day as a paid holiday with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.

That story put Shelbyville on the national stage, with the topic touching off coverage from the national news media, as well as massive attention on the issue from talk radio hosts, websites and blogs, some of which continues to this very day.

The controversy the stories created led a documentary crew to Shelbyville in late 2008 to shoot “Welcome to Shelbyville,” which will air nationwide, May 24 on PBS at 9 p.m.. The film received financing from progressive migration advocates, and has been sponsored by the state department as overseas propaganda. The “propaganda” label comes from no less an authority than the New York Times.

I viewed the film twice in October of last year during its local premiere, and found the filmmaker’s depiction of myself and the stories published by the T-G to be a monstrous distortion, with an incredible series of blatant omissions and dishonest misrepresentations that was obviously designed only to advance the political agenda of the filmmakers and the progressive organizations that funded and supported its production.

While the filmmakers certainly have a right to express their views, in the process, I feel they have engaged in a completely unfair character assassination of both myself, the Times-Gazette, not to mention how the entire city of Shelbyville is depicted.

They have told their story. Now, I shall tell mine.

Read it all!

I was planning to give readers more excerpts, but I want you to go to the original story and read the whole thing (with links)—it is so shocking!   And, as I said in January, someone should write a book about this—about the making of Marxist/Socialist propaganda in the modern day.

PLEASE FORWARD THE TIMES-GAZETTE STORY TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!  SEND IT TO YOUR LEGISLATORS AND TO EDITORS AND REPORTERS EVERYWHERE!

New readers, go here to learn how many Somali refugees have been admitted to the US  by the State Department over the last 20 years.  Guess they are now trying to cover their you-know-whats with this attack on a Bible-belt town.

***Update:  Fighting the smears on their town!  See the editorial today also in the Times-Gazette (casting a shadow on Shelbyville), here.

***Update # 2:  I missed this on Friday!  Jerry Gordon writing at New English Review exposed the power and funding behind the propaganda film, here.

***Update #3:  NYC blogger JB Spins, nails it,  here.

***Update #4:  Pamela Geller posts here at Atlas Shrugs—thanks for helping get the truth out!

***Update May 24th:    Brenda Walker writing at Limits to Growth has another good take on this (here) and reminds us of the female genital mutilation practiced by Somalis, including some in the US.

Social engineering brought Native Americans and Somalis in conflict

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve written about this subject before (here is one recent post)—how Native Americans and Somalis have been feuding in Minneapolis but now a new wave of love and peace (or so we are told) is washing over a section of Minneapolis where Somalis were resettled in parts of the city that Native Americans had deemed their own.

Here is a story from last week that gives us some of the background.  The federal government in its infinite wisdom wanted to get Native Americans off the reservation in the 50’s and 60’s and get them to “assimilate” in cities.

From the Star Tribune:

Old and new federal policies created the collision of cultures along Franklin Avenue.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government relocated many American Indians from reservations to cities.
“The idea was to assimilate us. Get us off the reservation,” said Terri Yellowhammer, an attorney and Friendship Committee member.

Thousands of Indians moved to Minneapolis. Most settled in the East Phillips neighborhood, making it home to one of the largest concentrations of urban Indians in the country.

Franklin Avenue became known as “Indian country,” and to this day, the street holds a special place in American Indian history. Civil rights activists met there in the 1960s and 1970s and founded the American Indian Movement.  [Interesting bit of information isn’t it?]

The first housing project in the nation to give preference to American Indians was built near Franklin.

Today, the avenue is seeing a renaissance, having just been designated the “American Indian Cultural Corridor,” with banners hanging from streetlights and new Indian-owned art spaces and businesses opening.

Then came the Somalis and the clash of cultures!

Wade Keezer, another Friendship Committee member, remembers when the first wave of Somali refugees started appearing on south Minneapolis streets in the early 1990s, the women covered head to toe in flowing fabrics.

“I thought they were some new type of Catholic nun,” he said.

The federal government chose Minnesota as a resettlement site for the thousands escaping Somalia’s bloody civil war. Many came to the East Phillips neighborhood where rent was cheap.  [and the Minnesota welfare was good—ed]

Soon, Somali-owned businesses* started opening, and the grumbling began.

Now, at least according the Leftwing media, they are all trying to patch things up.  But, I bet it’s like Lewiston, ME where the animosity continues just below the surface.  [note to RRWHAT?, a reporter friend of mine just made a little trip to Lewiston].

Sometime if you have extra time, visit our category on ‘community destabilization’ where we discuss how far-left Alinskyites (and Soros groupies, like the Asst. Secretary for Refugees in the State Dept)  know that by creating chaos they can ultimately bring ‘change’ in our form of government.  After all, people living in Norman Rockwell-like towns have no interest in bringing down capitalism, but stressed-through-conflict and destabilized people dependent on government do.

* More on these refugee businesses in an upcoming post.

Diversity is strength alert! Massive drug bust involving Somalis/Yemenis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Eighteen US citizens or legal permanent residents of Somali and Yemeni origin have been arrested according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office,  Eastern Division of Virginia, for an international conspiracy to transport the illegal drug, khat, into the United States and to distribute it to at least 15 states.  Hat tip: Patrick.

The next time you hear someone say, “I’m o.k. with legal immigration, it’s illegal immigration I’m opposed to,” ponder this story.   These legal immigrants hailed from Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and New York (the press release names each one).

Their ‘profits’ were sent out of the country—to terrorists perhaps?

From the US Attorney’s Office:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Eighteen individuals have been arrested for their alleged roles in an international conspiracy trafficking more than 4.4 million grams of khat throughout the United States. All 18 were taken into custody yesterday, including 10 in Northern Virginia, two in Maryland, four in New York, and two in Ohio.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and John P. Torres, Special Agent in Charge for ICE’s, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington, D.C., made the announcement after the charges were unsealed.

According to court documents, Yonis Muhudin Ishak, a/k/a “Yunis Sheikal” and “Shak,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia living in Arlington, Va , is the leader of a conspiracy that allegedly uses human couriers to transport khat into the United States from England, Canada, and Holland. In addition, the alleged conspirators sent packages of khat to the U.S. via the U.S. Postal Service and delivery companies. The conspiracy would then allegedly distribute the khat, via couriers and the postal system, to at least 15 states, including California, Washington, Tennessee, New York, and the Washington, D.C.-metro area. The conspirators allegedly transmit proceeds from their drug sales to others in England, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda.

Fresh khat leaves contain the drug cathinone, an addictive stimulant with effects similar to but less intense than that of methamphetamine or cocaine. Over time, the cathinone in khat leaves degrades, and the court documents allege that Ishak placed priority on ensuring the khat smuggled into the United States was fresh. He allegedly used at least 14 couriers, whom he would pay about $1,000 per trip to travel to England and return with khat smuggled in their passenger luggage. Ishak and other conspirators would use rented vehicles to provide couriers with transportation to and from the airport and designate locations throughout the United States for couriers to retrieve or ship khat to conspirators in other parts of the country. At times, Ishak is accused of suggesting that conspirators use their children as couriers to evade detection.

Read it all and check out the perps!  Maybe someone in the refugee resettlement business will recognize some of their past downtrodden kids just looking for the American Dream!

In addition here is a Reuters story on the case—they are looking at 20 years in jail (add that to the cost of the Refugee Resettlement program).    LOL!  Come to think of it, that’s a good idea, how about if the cost of imprisoning former refugees and asylees comes out of the Refugee budget!

Use our search function to learn more about Khat.

*For new readers: We have admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US.   To check out the numbers visit this post, one of our most widely read posts over the last few years.   In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you.

Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008.  See the latest on new regulations, here.  The State Department has probably re-opened the program by now.