Category: Africa

Investigative Project on Terrorism was at Refugee hearing

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Last week the US State Department held its annual hearing to determine the number of refugees to be resettled in FY2012.  I gather it was livelier than usual for several reasons (further news in the near future).  But, now I see that Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) had someone in attendance.

From IPT:

The State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) held a public meeting on U.S. refugee policy May 12 in Arlington, Va. The Investigative Project on Terrorism attended the meeting (held in conjunction with the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services) after a veteran DHS official privately expressed concern that the United States has no idea whether it is admitting Somali jihadists as “refugees.”

This United States admitted tens of thousands of Somalis into the United States since 2002, the official says. But it is impossible to verify their identity because Somalia has long been a state without a functioning government and it does not keep usable birth records. If only a miniscule percentage of these people turn out to have been involved with al-Shabaab or other extremist groups, the United States may have admitted dozens of potential terrorists, the official says.

The hearing was supposed to chart the government’s course on refugee policy for the coming fiscal year but it did not do so. In fact, there was virtually no testimony at all about al-Shabaab.

IPT raised the question of security:

But the security challenges involved in admitting refugees to the United States were barely mentioned until the final 10 minutes of the public meeting, when the IPT asked what the government was doing to keep jihadists out.

Refugees are carefully vetted and go through many security reviews, said David Robinson, deputy secretary of State for PRM. Barbara Strack, chief of DHS’s Refugee Affairs Division, Refugee Asylum & International Affairs Directorate, made essentially the same point, but said she couldn’t provide any details without compromising intelligence secrets.

That was the extent of the discussion pertaining to refugee policy and terrorism.

IPT has done good work reporting on Somali/Al Shabaab terror concerns, but might want to know a few more facts to fully understand the complete picture.  First,  the number of Somalis entering the US through the refugee program is over 100,000 now, and because of rampant fraud in the family reunification program (mostly from Africa) the State Department closed that portion of the program for two years.

Somalis are also coming across the border illegally, here, but I think the bigger problem will be in the asylum portion of the refugee program that was not a subject of the hearings last week.    See my report here about Somalis (and others from Muslim countries) arriving on our borders and seeking asylum (I believe with the help of NGOs, some of which were in that hearing looking for more federal funding).  The funny thing (if there is something funny) is that some of those Somali asylum seekers claim they are running from Al Shabaab in the Horn of Africa.  But, how is some poor “refugee” getting up to $10.000 to pay his or her traffickers?  That is the question.

In addition to the refugee and asylee programs, the diversity visa lottery is a source for concern when it comes to terrorists getting into the US, indeed it has already happened.

European countries want to close borders, send refugees back

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In my previous two posts I told you about those refugees—young fellows hungering for a better life—who threw a few of their competitors for that better life into the sea as human sacrifices, here. Then I told you that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) lectured European leaders telling them to allow those African men—just yearning for freedom—into Europe, here.

Europe to the Leftwing:  NO way Jose’ (or Abdi, Hamid, Mohammed, or whoever you are)

The UK Guardian (hat tip:  Janet) reported yesterday that many leaders were in no mood to hear squishy talk from the likes of UN Socialists like Antonio Gutteres (emphasis mine):

European nations moved to reverse decades of unfettered travel across the continent when a majority of EU governments agreed the need to reinstate national passport controls amid fears of a flood of immigrants fleeing the upheaval in north Africa.

In a serious blow to one of the cornerstones of a united, integrated Europe, EU interior ministers embarked on a radical revision of the passport-free travel regime known as the Schengen system to allow the 26 participating governments to restore border controls.

They also agreed to combat immigration by pressing for “readmission accords” with countries in the Middle East and north Africa to send refugees back to where they came from.

The policy shift was pushed by France and Italy, who have been feuding and panicking in recent weeks over a small [?–ed] influx of refugees from Tunisia. But 15 of the 22 EU states which had signed up to Schengen supported the move, with only four resisting, according to officials and diplomats present.

“Fortress Europe” mood led by Denmark!

The move to curb freedom of travel came as the extreme nationalist right, which is increasingly influencing policy across Europe, chalked up a notable victory in Denmark, which announced it would unilaterally re-erect controls on its borders with Germany and Sweden

The centre-right minority government in Copenhagen capitulated to the fiercely anti-immigrant nationalists of the Danish People’s party to secure parliamentary backing for long-term budget, welfare and retirement policies. “I have worked hard for this,” said Pia Kjaersgaard, the far-right leader.

Despite the ‘fortress Europe’ mood gripping EU leaders, the Danish decision stunned many because it was taken just hours before an emergency EU meeting devoted to immigration and the Schengen regime.

Gaddafi’s ultimate weapon—hordes of African young men descending on Europe

The policy shift has also been triggered by acute nervousness about the impact of the Arab spring. “There are hundreds of thousands on the shores of north Africa. Something extraordinary could happen any day,” said a senior EU diplomat. “If Gaddafi uses this weapon, he can create a lot of problems for Europe.”

The Guardian revealed this week that the Gaddafi regime is allowing thousands of sub-Saharan African migrants on to overcrowded, unseaworthy ships in an apparently calculated attempt to use migration to pressure Nato and the EU countries against backing Libya’s rebels. [ LOL!  Give me a break!  Are we to believe that Antonio Gutteres didn’t know about this when he talked of those young fellows just seeking a brighter future in Europe?—ed]

Read the whole Guardian piece—you will laugh!  The reporter can barely contain himself, his bias against the right just oozes from his pen.

UNHCR: Europe! let them take advantage of their sudden liberty!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my previous post about human sacrifices at sea, Antonio Gutteres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees recently lectured Europe (via an op-ed in the New York Times) about welcoming the African refugees.

Among a bunch of other junk, he said in ‘Look who’s coming to Europe’:

Refugees fleeing conflict and persecution have so far been only a small proportion of the people crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, and to Italy and Malta in particular. The vast majority have been young Tunisian migrants. Overwhelmingly male, single and in their 20s, they have sought to take advantage of their sudden liberty to pursue brighter prospects in Europe.

And, besides, Europe you need cheap labor!

This is understandable. And it can be argued that Europeans’ self-interest is best served by allowing them to remain, given the need for migrant workers in Europe and migrants’ remittances to families bolstering the economies back home.

No fear or populism allowed!

But in the end, European states have the right to define migration policies and manage their borders in a responsible manner, provided they do so consistent with their international obligations, namely in regard to refugees. It is my hope that they will be guided by their enlightened self-interest and not by narrow, short-term interests driven by fear or populism.

Gutteres also attempts to make the connection between revolution in Portugal* when he was young and the “Arab Spring” and in a subsequent letter to the editor a reader argues that the big difference is that the democracy movement activists in Portugal stayed to change Portugal and did not take advantage of their “sudden liberty” to run to another country and ask for a handout.   Read the letter here.

*I have to admit, I wondered what the heck socialist Gutteres is talking about since Portugal today is an economic mess too—just less of a mess than North Africa!

Lovely, just lovely, “refugees” offer human sacrifices at sea

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I wonder how White House operative Samantha Power’s theory about the “responsibility to protect” fits the reality of what is happening in North Africa as “refugees” flee the continent.

From World News Italy:

Rome – Italy opened an inquiry on Wednesday into allegations by a refugee fleeing Libya that some people on the boat he arrived on threw other refugees into the sea as a human sacrifice during a storm.

The 16-year-old Ghanaian spoke to a volunteer from the charity Save the Children after arriving on the island of Lampedusa earlier this month and his disturbing allegations against a group of Nigerians were reported to police.

“As soon as we received the testimony we opened an investigation as required,” the local chief prosecutor, Renato Di Natale, said.

[….]

Italian newspapers quoted the teenager’s chilling testimony directly.

“The sea was getting stormy and a group of Nigerians on board suddenly decided the only way to calm the weather was to sacrifice some of us,” the unnamed boy was quoted as saying by La Repubblica daily.

“It was like a rite of sacrifice,” La Stampa quoted him as saying, adding: “The captain pointed them out and the others threw them overboard.”

The Ghanaian, who is now in a refugee centre in Italy, said his brother was one of the victims and also spoke of women being raped on the boat.

The news reports said other refugees had confirmed the Ghanaian’s story.

Thousands of refugees fleeing Libya – almost all of them migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia – have been arriving in Italy in recent weeks as the conflict in North Africa has escalated.

Hey Europe!  Good luck with your new and charming residents!

Next:  UN High Commissioner for Refugees (a socialist friend of Samantha Power!) lectures Europe about “welcoming” the poor and downtrodden African.

Somali teen murdered in Jamestown, ND

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update July 11th:  Arrest made here.

Update May 14th:  Not really an update but an additional story on the case, here.

Those cold and dull northern plains cities are being livened up lately by the arrival of Somali refugees.  Back in February we told you about a Somali being arrested on suspicion of murdering four native Americans, here.  We also told you about Jamestown as a Somali Tuula here and now comes word that a Somali teen who migrated from Columbus, Ohio to Jamestown has been murdered.

This story is a couple days old and I had hoped to see an update by now, but a report with the latest news on this case will have to wait until I get back from a trip. (If any reader sees it before I get back, please send me a link!)

Here is the news from Inforum (May 4th):

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – Eighteen-year-old Abdi Ali Ahmed moved to Jamestown in March seeking education, work and a new life.

He’d moved to the United States in 2006 to escape violence and civil war in Somalia.

So it’s ironic that he died a violent death, said his aunt, Marian Ghedi.

A passing motorist discovered Ahmed’s body at the edge of a dirt field Saturday about 1½ miles north of the Spiritwood exit on Interstate 94. Jamestown residents Leron “Ra Ra” Howard and Janelle Cave have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder, both Class AA felonies.

“He died here, the place that we thought was safe. With violence he has been killed,” Ghedi said.

The article tries to say that Ahmed was just a struggling refugee attempting to make a better life for himself, but he did have a little trouble with the law.  And, we don’t know yet about this case, but murders like this one have been happening in Canada as Somali young men move westward in that country and most murders there are believed to be connected with drug gang violence.

Just a sweetheart:

Abdi Ahmed was arrested and charged with simple assault in April. However, friends he’d stayed with called him a “sweetheart,” saying he was friendly and outgoing.

Really who knows who his family is.  He came here in 2006, that would be before the US State Department discovered the rampant fraud in the family reunification program and shut it down for several years.  Turns out that as many as 80% of the family reunification cases involving Somalis were fraudulent.

Born in Ethiopia in 1993, Ahmed lived with his brother and family in refugee camps before immigrating. Like many Somali families, siblings, aunts, uncles and other relatives lose contact through the refugee and immigration process. Sometimes they don’t hear from each other for years. That was the case for Ahmed and his half sister, Dini. She’d lost touch with him for 10 years.

Some Somalis say they are clearing out of Jamestown as a result of the murder.  I don’t know if the suspects are black, but there have been many cases of conflict between American blacks and the Africans coming on to their turf in many American cities.

After Ahmed’s death, some are reconsidering their residency.

“One hundred percent, I’m getting out of here,” said Yurup Abdi, a friend of Ahmed’s. A single mother, Abdi had considered moving but now plans to move by the end of the month.

And, by the way, Sioux Falls, SD has had a little Somali refugee excitement too recently, here.