Category: Africa

As refugee numbers mount, Libyan stalemate could be Obama’s undoing

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We were told by the French, the British and the UNITED NATIONS that we had to save the people of Libya from Qadhafi.  President Obama said, oh sure, as long as the UN says it’s about humanitarianism we’re in!  There was apparently no serious planning, no serious thought when Macbeth’s “weird sisters” Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samantha Power told Obama to jump (and he did).  Now we are faced with a “slow motion humanitarian crisis” according to the Politico:

Obama originally justified U.S. involvement on the grounds that it was needed to avert an imminent humanitarian crisis there, including the possibility that large numbers of civilians would be killed if forces loyal to Qadhafi overran the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

Now critics see a stalemate producing a similar, slow-motion humanitarian crisis that could linger for months.

“Deterring Qadhafi’s forces from moving forward doesn’t remove him from power, doesn’t create a functioning economy, doesn’t solve humanitarian problems of people being out of their homes, out of work — all of which comes from having this war drag on and on,” said Anthony Cordesman, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution. “What gets totally lost here is you have hundreds of thousands of people displaced here — refugees … you’re losing economic opportunity, losing jobs, the educational system is breaking down, the whole infrastructure is coming under pressure.”

“The problem we face, is, having started this without evidently any clear plan as to what the outcome would be, we are everyday making this worse.

Moral duty?

And, now we have the UN running to Russia for help with, what else, the “humanitarian crisis” that was unleashed by the UN itself!   We have two stories on UN officials begging Russia for help.

Here is UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Moscow telling the world the fighting must stop—-waaahhhh! Make it stop!   The United Nations (presumably with Ban’s blessing)  unleashed the three witches in the first place!

Moscow – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday renewed his call for an end to the violence in conflict-ridden Libya.

‘I urge the Libyan authorities to stop fighting and stop killing people,’ he said during an official visit to Moscow.

He said the United Nations’ priority right now was to implement a verifiable and effective ceasefire so that humanitarian aid efforts could be stepped up. Only then, he said, could the flow of refugees out of the country be stopped.

He estimated that half a million people had already fled Libya.

Also in Moscow we learn that the UN is begging for money for the refugee crisis of its own making!

More than $160 million is needed to help refugees from riot-hit Libya, President of the UN General Assembly Joseph Deiss said in an interview with Russia Today TV channel.

[….]

Libyan opposition leaders earlier requested the international community to protect the Libyan people “from any further genocide and crimes against humanity without any direct military intervention on Libyan soil.”

“On the one hand, the UN stands for member states and their sovereignty, and on the other hand there are fundamental values the UN stands for,” Deiss said.

“And, beyond certain limits the international community has the moral duty to protect those who are at the mercy of the governments who are not coming up to their obligations,” he added.

Protect!  It would be so ironic if  one of Obama’s national security advisors, Samantha Power, and her scheme (with George Soros) called the “Responsibility or Right to Protect” would destroy far more lives then it saved.  But, I guess that’s what happens when we put immature ideologues and community organizers together in the White House.

Egyptian border confusion: IDF unit refuses to send “refugees” back to Egypt

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The incident highlights the political confusion (lack of will?)  in Israel regarding asylum seekers and economic migrants pouring into the country—-help migrants knowing that by doing so Israel could soon be taken over from within?  It is the same story here, it’s just that the US is bigger and it will take longer before we know we are finished.

From Haaretz:

Soldiers and officers in a reserve battalion that served on the Egyptian border in recent weeks have told their commanders they will not take part in “immediate return” – the sending back to Egypt of Africans sneaking into Israel. The brigade commander, meanwhile, has confirmed that the battalion will not carry out “immediate return.”

The Negev Brigade’s elite reconnaissance battalion completed a three-week deployment on the border. Nearly every night, Africans crossed the frontier, mostly Sudanese and Eritreans, and at least one time, Libyans.

Early in the deployment, a family of Eritreans was stopped. A company commander was ordered to send the transients back toward an Egyptian checkpoint.

The soldiers and officers had heard descriptions from colleagues who regularly serve in the area about abuse of the Africans by Egyptian border policemen – violence, rape and murder – and refused to carry out the order. The commander contacted the battalion commander, Lt. Col. (res. ) Avi Friedman.

Friedman supported his men and contacted the brigade commander, Col. Yair Barkat, who then agreed that the troops would not carry out “immediate return.”

During the deployment, Africans received medical treatment, food, drink and were taken to a holding area on the Israeli side of the border.

Officer:   “Israel has a problem, and they don’t know what to do, so they fob it off on the army.”

Soldiers and officers from the battalion who spoke to Haaretz asked to remain anonymous. “We’re proud of what we did, but we don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” one said. “What we had to say we said internally, to the battalion and brigade commanders. Israel has a problem, and they don’t know what to do, so they fob it off on the army.”

For further reading on Israel’s “refugee” issues we have a whole category, here.

The latest from Lewiston, ME: diversity is strength, right?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ah, the joys of multiculturalism.  We’ve reported many times on Lewiston, ME the town “lucky” enough to be chosen by Somalis and other Africans as their new home in America and the new home for a diversity of frauds as well.  In Maine we’ve reported on immigrant food stamp fraud and medicare fraud and grant fraud and now comes word of marriage fraud.  Hat tip: Tootywink.

From the Portland Press Herald:

PORTLAND — A Massachusetts man faces charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government by arranging numerous sham weddings between Mainers and people from Africa seeking to become legal residents of the United States.

Rashid Kakande, 37, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Portland for the opening of his trial before a federal jury. He is charged with arranging payments of up to $5,000 for women and men willing to marry people from Uganda and other African countries who were here on expiring tourist or student visas.

The ultimate goal of the marriages, according to the government, was to get permanent legal status and, eventually, citizenship. Most of the weddings were held in apartments in Lewiston.

The marriages themselves were worth $1,500, followed by additional payments as the U.S. recruits filled out paperwork to support the charade and met with immigration officials to convince them that the marriages were legitimate, according to court papers filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gail Fisk Malone, the prosecutor in the case.

Some recruits got cold feet after the wedding and backed out of the scheme when told by immigration officials that pretending to get married for immigration purposes is a federal crime.

After his arrest in July, Kakande told an officer for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement that on certain occasions he had been paid $1,500 to arrange the weddings, court papers said.

He allegedly has used the money to buy land in his native Uganda.

There is a lot more, it reads like a soap opera!  Read it all!  Come to think of it, why doesn’t someone make a TV movie about one of these fraud schemes?

And, here is what the intrepid federal investigators uncover in my movie plot—there is a crime syndicate in Africa and the Middle East that actually teaches people like this guy Kakande how to set up schemes to rip off the gullible do-gooder Americans and our government.  They send the money back to Africa (not to buy land!) where the international terrorists are waiting for their cut.  Some of the money goes into seed money to send more scammers back to America—-you know, like those E-2 treaty investors who buy convenience stores and set up food stamp scams.   If, here and there, one gets caught and sent to prison, oh well, there are many more on the way.   So, what do you think—movie plot?

You know why it would never sell to Hollywood, because everyone knows immigrants are just hard working schlubs who want nothing more than a better life in America, right?  And, besides they add such colorful diversity to boring old places like Lewiston, ME.

If you want to learn more about lively Lewiston, just type ‘Lewiston’ into our search function and I’ll bet you will find a couple dozen posts on the town.

Pennsylvania letter writer got wide distribution (subject Libya refugees)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a letter I came across through google alerts (his/her Congressman appears to have released the letter) from someone (letter is unsigned) in Pennsylvania who took the initiative to write to Washington to express his/her concern for the possible airlift of Libyan refugees to the US.   I’m posting it to give others of you an example of someone taking action.

Refugees from Libya, Egypt, Iraq, etc.- just say no

To:
President Barack Obama
Sen. Bob Casey
Sen. Patrick Toomey
Rep. Tim Murphy

April 14, 2011

Many of these “rebels” in Egypt and Libya and other middle eastern states are members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They have already assumed power in Egypt and The Ivory Coast, and are slaughtering Christians.

DO NOT OPEN THE USA TO THE PEOPLE. By allowing the State Department to waive background checks on people from these places you are opening up the front door to terrorists and inviting them in.

Islam will not tolerated anyone who is not Muslim and they should therefor not be tolerated here. We need to take a clear anti Muslim Brotherhood stance and just say no!

No Refugees from Libya, or anywhere else.

Monroeville , PA

You too should take a few minutes and write to your elected officials about this subject—the refugee pressure is building in Europe and so you need to make it very clear—No Libyan refugees from Obama’s war in Africa.

Temporary Protected Status is NEVER temporary

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I want pro-migration advocates to show me and our readers any case where we granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to a group of immigrants and then returned them to their country later.  We even have El Salvadorans here on TPS!    I’ve been writing about the Liberians for two years (first post is here). They were granted TPS many years ago and each President* simply extends the deadline for their return to Africa. Eventually they have homes and businesses and the plea is made that we couldn’t possibly uproot them now.

Now (hat tip:Lynn) we learn that Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) have submitted a bill to give Liberians who were sheltered by us (through TPS) permanent residency.

From the Daily Planet:

Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison introduced the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2011, H.R. 1293 in March, and Senator John Reed (RI) introduced the companion bill, S.656, in the Senate. The bills would allow Liberians to finally adjust their immigration status from temporary to permanent.

For years, immigration advocates have been making the case for permanent US residency for Liberians who are in the US on temporary immigration status. They argue that while Liberia is now post-civil war and on its way to recovery; it cannot handle a sudden influx of returnees. Additionally, they argue that Liberians have established new roots in their adopted homes including Minnesota which is home to over 30,000 Liberians.

Ellison says they enrich communities in Minnesota, yes, like the Somalis in St. Cloud?  In reality these are the voters who will keep the likes of Ellison (our first Muslim Congressman) in office.

In a statement supporting the bill, Ellison said, “Liberian-Americans enrich our communities in Minnesota and we owe it to them to finally resolve their immigration status.”

Will Libyans be next?   I would not be surprised if this is the program through which we will bring Libyan “refugees” from Obama’s war with Gaddafi!

* Note here that George Bush did say it was time to go home to Liberia, but ultimately Obama extended their “temporary” stay in America.  And, also note that Liberians participated in the amnesty demonstrations in Washington, here.