Category: Asylum seekers

Bulgaria in crisis as Syrians flow in from Turkey, some fear terrorists are among them

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
For the longest time Muslim migrants moved from Turkey to Greece, but Greece has been tough on them, so I suspect they have now discovered the weaker border crossings into Bulgaria.

Update October 6th:  Refugees complain in Sofia.

I’ve been receiving alerts (dozens of them) about the refugee crisis in Bulgaria for weeks now, sorry I didn’t get to the story sooner.

A few days ago a reader sent me this BBC story about the head of Bulgaria’s refugee agency being fired because the problem is getting out of hand.  Bulgaria is the poorest nation in the European Union and has the misfortune of being on the border with Turkey which is apparently letting Syrians just pass through their borders and move on further into western Europe.

In my view, Turkey is simply advancing the Islamic doctrine of immigration (Al Hijra!).

From the BBC:

The head of Bulgaria’s refugee agency has been dismissed as the EU country struggles to cope with increasing numbers fleeing the conflict in Syria.

Nikola Kazakov was fired by Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev for failing to handle the influx.

The UN’s refugee agency last month described Bulgarian centres for displaced Syrians as “dire”.

Mr Kazakov said Bulgarian leaders had ignored his warnings of a refugee crisis even as they asked for EU help.

Bulgaria is the gateway to the European Union for refugees fleeing Syria via Turkey, many crossing the border illegally to seek asylum.

It now receives up to 100 mainly Syrian refugees a day – a sharp increase on the four per month arriving a year ago.

Bulgarian officials said on Wednesday that 2,377 migrants had been detained on its border in September alone.

Kazkov warned superiors in June of the pending crisis!

Mr Yovchev, the interior minister, said Mr Kazakov’s “inadequate organisation” was to blame for the problems at the country’s three refugee centres.

But Mr Kazkov insisted he had warned the government of an impending refugee crisis in June but was ignored, the Sofia News Agency reported.

The article is focused on the UN complaining that the refugees aren’t being well cared-for (what else is new!), and the Bulgarians are asking for help from the European Union (good luck with that!).  I’ve seen many articles in recent weeks about how the citizens of Bulgaria are furious about what is happening to them.

Last month Mr Youchev said more than 4,000 people were seeking asylum in Bulgaria, a number he called a “disproportionate burden” for the EU’s poorest nation.

He appealed for other EU states to host some of its refugees and provide financial assistance.   

Meanwhile a Bulgarian publication warns of the potential for terrorists to be among the refugees.

From the Standart (they need a little better English translator, but you will get the idea):

Some of the Syrian refugees in Bulgaria may be terrorists as Syria currently trains terrorists which it spreads around the world, terrorism expert Col Ivan Boyadzhiev told on Nova TV today citing two Israeli sources.

The expert supported his claim with the fact that some of the Syrain illegal border crossers to Bulgaria carry large amounts of cash and valid IDs.  [pay attention to this business about “refugees” with large amounts of cash—-ed]

According to Boyadzhiev, the Syrian terrorist cells are seeking less protected countries, as they get caught fast in the USA.  [I don’t know what that means, how many are getting into the US across our borders???—ed]

Th ecolonel noted that having a refugee shelter in the Sofia suburb of “Vrazhdebna” just ”meters away” from the Bulgarian capital’s airport was an ”alarming” idea.

Boyadzhiev also alerted that some Iraqis, Jordans and people from across the Middle East are trying to enter Europe through Bulgaria by presenting themselves as Syrian refugees without ID papers.  [We are hearing this all over the world even as far away as Australia!  Everyone is a Syrian now!—-ed]

He was also adamant, that Bulgaria needs European help in dealing with the current refugee situation which is runnining out of control.

It is definitely running out of control!

Austria takes first Syrian refugees—Christians!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a story to post today from AP at the Washington Post before I get to the Syrian article.  The title is:  ‘Austria governing coalition barely keeps its absolute majority as anti-immigrant party gains.’  The tone of it is one of shock that Austria’s ‘Freedom Party’ should be gaining (elections were this past Sunday) although not quite enough to wrest control of the government from the Socialists.

Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache

Nevertheless, just as Australia demonstrated recently, the voting public is increasingly concerned about high numbers of Muslim migrants seeking asylum in their countries.

Here is the WAPO:

VIENNA — Hundreds of thousands of voters disenchanted with Austria’s cozy ruling coalition voted Sunday for a right-wing opposition party championing anti-immigrant and EU-skeptic views, leaving the government barely holding on to the absolute majority its needs to stay in power for the next five years.

[…..]

Although the results gave the two parties nearly 51 percent of all votes cast Sunday, the real winner in terms of gains was the right-wing Freedom Party. With 21.4 percent, its showing was nearly 4 percentage points better than at the last general elections five years ago.

[…..]

…..in a country traditionally fearful of outside influences bursting its bubble of prosperity, Freedom Party calls of “Austria first” appeared to have been effective, along with slogans exploiting distrust of Muslim immigrants.

So why might voters distrust Muslim migrants?  Remember this story from February when “asylum seekers” holed-up in a church, went on a hunger strike and demanded they be allowed to stay in Austria.  It is one of many we have written about Austria (click here for more).

Austria criticized for taking Syrian Christians!

Now this is the story (at the Lebanon Daily Star) about the first Syrians arriving in Austria.  17 countries have agreed to take Syrians according to the UNHCR.

This is the first specific mention I’ve seen of Syrian Christians being helped by the West.

VIENNA: A family of four Syrian refugees has arrived in Austria, the first of 500 that the country has offered to take.

Interior Ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck says the family arrived Tuesday evening. He says plans are to bring the rest of the contingent to Austria “as quickly as possible,” but cannot give a precise date for when the last refugee will enter the country.

The four are Christians. Charity organizations have criticized the government’s selection method, saying Christians were given preference. Grundboeck says that members of groups most at threat were chosen – children and minorities, including religious minorities.

“Charity organizations” complained about the choice of Christians, gee, what a surprise!

Kiribati man looking to be the first “climate refugee” allowed to stay in New Zealand

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Oh brother, here we go (again)!

Australian Refugee Council President, Phil Glendenning: “This is a new cohort of people who are emerging, the rest of the world needs to pay attention.”

Never mind that the release a week or so ago of the latest UN report on the climate admitted to a “lull in warming” for the last 15 years or so.

Here is the story from New Zealand, originally written by AP but apparently re-worked at “Climate Progress” a publication of Soros’ Think Progress.

Readers may wish to go back to our previous post on Kiribati to learn about the massive engineering project the government there might like to undertake (they will need your $$$).

Climate Progress:

If ocean levels rise by as much as three feet by the end of the century, as predicted by the Fifth IPCC Assessment report released last week, the Pacific island nation of Kiribati — composed of 32 atolls — would mostly disappear.

The potential impacts on the 100,000 citizens of Kiribati, not to mention the millions of others living in low-lying island nations and coastal areas, of this climate change-induced forced exodus are already playing out in New Zealand where a Kiribati man is trying to convince the court that he’s a climate refugee.

“AF” came to New Zealand for “better prospects.”   He is an “economic migrant” not a “refugee!”

The man, referred to as “AF” in hearings, and his wife came to New Zealand six years ago for higher ground and better prospects, according to The Associated Press. Since then, immigration authorities have twice rejected his argument that rising sea levels make it too dangerous for him and his family to return to Kiribati.

On October 16 the case will go before New Zealand’s High Court.

Bruce Burson, a member of New Zealand’s Immigration and Protection Tribunal, has said that the legal concept of a refugee is someone that is being persecuted, which requires human interaction. Burson also said that the man’s claim was rejected because the family’s predicament was the same as faced by the entire population of Kiribati.

As I mentioned in previous posts on the subject, there is a Leftwing internal squabble on-going between the faction that wishes to keep as its own, and the one wishing to take control of, the word “refugee.”  Underlying both of the factions is the ultimate goal of pouring the ‘have-nots’ into the West to create chaos and bring “change.”

You can see the potential for an even greater stampede to the West from the third world if migrants like “AF” are successful.

The legal case remains a long shot, but one that deserves close attention due to the likelihood of similar cases in the future. Sea level rise impacts not only low-lying islands with small populations but also heavily populated coastal regions, such as Kolkata, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

I didn’t know that refugee advocates in Australia were pushing this new designation back in April.  Here is Australia’s Refugee Council head honcho, Phil Glendenning.  This is, of course, B.A. (before Abbott!).

In April the Refugee Council of Australia implored the Australian government to become the first nation in the world to recognize populations displaced due to changes in climate as “climate refugees.”

Phil Glendenning, president of the Refugee Council of Australia, told The Guardian, “These are people who are not suffering from persecution because of their beliefs, race or because they belong to a particular group.” As a result, “they don’t meet the Refugee Convention criteria but, nevertheless, there will be a need for people to be resettled because they have been displaced by climate change. This is a new cohort of people who are emerging, the rest of the world needs to pay attention.”

For more, see our ‘climate refugees’ category, here.

Sweden: Somali family reunification numbers below expectations

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One reason—a DNA test requirement to prove they are blood relatives.

Somalis make up the largest immigrant group in Sweden followed by Afghans and Iraqis (according to Scancomark). We will wait and see what Syrian immigration does to the numbers.

Yesterday we told you about Sweden’s exportation of Islamic terrorists (aka Swedish citizens), and we have written extensively about Sweden opening its doors wide to Syrians, but here is an article that almost makes them sound crestfallen because their Somali numbers aren’t materializing as the welcoming Swedes thought they would.

From The Local (emphasis mine):

The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) was prepared for 20,000 applications following changes that made it easier for family members to apply for residency in Sweden to be reunited with Somalis who had already migrated to Sweden.

However, so far only 7,430* Somalis have applied after a court ruling that allowed DNA tests to be used to prove family relations, Sveriges Radio (SR) reported.

Authorities plan to adjust forecasts downward to 8,600 as early as this month.

Habane Abdulkadir Hassan of Sweden’s Somali association Somaliska riksförbundet told SR there are likely several reasons for the lower numbers.

Among other things, the high unemployment rate among Somalis in Sweden, a lack of identification documents to confirm Somali nationality**, as well as new hope of a better life in Somalia have all contributed to fewer family reunification residency applications.

Around 70 percent of Somalis who applied for residency in Sweden are expected to have their applications approved, according to SR.

* For some perspective on how large even this number is for tiny Sweden, the US has admitted a very large number of Somalis this fiscal year—-6,679 (as of August 31).  Go here for the stats:  Map Arrivals by Nationality as of 31 Aug 2013

** On this issue of Somali identity, we reported here in 2012 that other Africans (Djiboutians in this case) were flocking to Sweden pretending to be Somalis.

We write about Sweden frequently because it is the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for what happens when a Socialist country allows almost unlimited migration from Muslim countries.   Click here for our whole ‘Sweden’ archive.   One post you should see, if you missed it, is this one on the recent Muslim riots and the public response.

Photo is from a very similar story from February of this year.

Malta and Somalia to formalize relations; first step in stopping illegal alien Somalis?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Readers, we have followed the island nation of Malta’s travails for over 5 years.  As a bit of European land closest to North Africa, the country is being swamped by migrant Somalis trying to get to Europe.

To make matters worse, a few years ago, the Bush Administration (egged-on by Malta’s Jesuits) did a foolish (and possibly illegal) thing and began transforming Malta’s illegal alien Somalis into legitimate “refugees” and began airlifting them to your towns.

African young men arriving on Malta looking for a ticket to Europe or America!

Of course, as the word got out, the action only further energized the human trafficking business aimed at Malta.  If you are ambitious, click here, to read our dozens and dozens of posts on poor Malta’s situation.

As international leaders met in NYC last week, Malta’s President sat down with a representative of the new Somali government to discuss formalization of diplomatic relations—a possible first step in deporting Somalis back to their homeland?  (They don’t say that, I’m just wondering).

From the Times of Malta:

A meeting aimed at embarking on diplomatic relations between Malta and Somalia, from where the former received the greatest number of irregular immigrants, has been held at the insistence of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat during his stay in New York for the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The Maltese delegation was led by Dr Muscat, that of Somalia by Somali deputy Prime Minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam.

During the meeting, Malta made a formal request for relations to start between the two countries, a request expected to be officially confirmed by the Somali Government in the coming weeks.

This, the Government said, was the first step towards the two sides working together on irregular migration. Tangible methods of how this could be done once relations were embarked upon were discussed.

Dr Muscat said this was an important step because it opened doors to ways and possibilities of addressing the problem.

American readers should be cheering this initiative!

Holy cow!  We took 282 of Malta’s illegal aliens this (2013) fiscal year alone.  There were 257 cases with a total of 282 individuals which means most were single (most likely men).  Check it out!  Map Arrivals by Country Location as of 31 Aug.2013

Cool stats!  You know we can see statistics showing from which countries our readers come—we have had 677 ‘views’ from Malta in the last three months.  Of course, that could mean we have a handful of visitors coming many times, but still it’s encouraging to see how widespread our readership is.