Almost 60 former fighters from a Syrian militia group linked to al Qaeda came to Germany posing as refugees, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported on Saturday.
We will find out on September 24th whether there is hope for Germany, or not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_2017
The former fighters are thought to have been members of the Owais al-Qorani Brigade and to have fought on various sides of the Syrian war.
Spiegel reports the group began the war on the side of the rebel Free Syrian Army before switching to the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. [Wasn’t the Free Syrian Army Senator John McCain’s pals?—ed]
[….]
The Spiegel report, citing security agencies, said the group’s members had participated in “numerous massacres of captured civilians and Syrian soldiers.” At least 300 people were killed in such massacres.
German security agencies have reportedly set up a special task force to investigate the group’s members in Germany.
Some 25 former fighters are being investigated, but another 30 unconfirmed members are believed to be in the country, the magazine reported.
No time for a thorough discussion, but do want you all to know about this ship (and LOL! since I have ships on my mind, see my previous post) sailing the Mediterranean.
And, I have a huge archive on Malta. I have been following the illegal action of our US State Department which has for ten years (Bush started it!) been bringing illegal aliens from Africa (who arrived on Malta) to America as refugees!
Trump may have stopped the Malta-to-America express, but I don’t know for sure because Trump’s State Department is as secretive as all the previous ones I’ve seen on this issue.
“Canada is presented as the best way out of this complicated situation”
Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of African Immigrant Services (MN)
This story is more along the lines of what we reported here two days ago.
I was delighted to learn that the Trump Administration is seriously considering letting Temporary Protected Statuslapse for countries other than Haiti.
Readers should know that TPS is a farce.
Once granted, the US simply continues to extend it and extend it—Salvadorans, for example, have had the right to live and work here for decades as TPS would be renewed every couple of years (no matter who was in the White House!).
But, things have changed and those “temporary” legal (and some illegal) migrants are now eyeing Canada!
And there, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made ‘welcoming the stranger’ a primary hallmark of his leadership.
The Libs are worried! The 2019 federal election will be here before you know it! Trudeau said Canada loves diversity so come on up! And, thousands are taking his word for it.
OTTAWA — Manitoba could face hundreds more African asylum seekers crossing from the United States as that country winds down a temporary-stay program. It’s unclear whether Ottawa is doing anything to stem the flow.
“Canada is presented as the best way out of this complicated situation,” Abdullah Kiatamba, executive director of African Immigrant Services — a Minnesota-based non-profit organization — said.
Since 1990, the U.S. has granted temporary protected status (TPS) to citizens of countries people can’t return to due to war, pandemic or natural disasters. In recent years, the U.S. has offered citizens of 13 countries short-term work permits and shielded them — unless they have criminal convictions — from deportation due to problems in their home countries.
But the U.S. seems to be winding that program down.
Meanwhile, thousands of people are crossing irregularly into Canada. They avoid border stations that can send them back to the U.S. and instead wander into Canada through fields — something that would be normally be illegal, but is allowed under international law for people claiming asylum.
[….]
“A good number of people have said that Canada is one option, perhaps the best option,” Kiatamba said, adding he knows about 10 people who have crossed into Manitoba.
[….]
Earlier this week, Reuters news service reported unnamed government sources said the Liberals are worried about an onslaught of Central Americans claiming asylum next fall if the U.S. drops them off the TPS list.
The report did not say which provinces the government would expect people to enter and claim asylum.
It claimed Ottawa is particularly worried about an uptick in arrivals a year before the 2019 federal election.
I bet it is! Hey, we could call it Trump’s revenge!
Continue reading here. There is a good discussion about various temporary ‘refugees’ from TPS-designated countries and when we (the US) might cut them loose.
I’ve written about TPS over the years, go here to learn more. One time when George W. Bush extended TPS for Salvadorans I found an article about why he did that—it was about remittances and how Salvadorans in the US send money “home” and thus prop up the economy there with dollars lost to the US economy.
HELSINKI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Asylum seekers of Islamic background have increasingly switched to Christianity in Finland, officials have said.
Eighteen year old Moroccan was arrested for the deadly knife attack on women. He was a failed asylum seeker who had not left the country. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4812326/Asylum-seeker-18-admits-killing-two-women-Finland.html?ITO=1490
Kari Kiesilainen, a head of section at the Ministry of Justice, told national broadcaster Yle this week that the number of converts has come as a surprise.
He did not give exact figures, but said the situation caused delays in application assessment as often an oral hearing may have to be arranged in the administrative courts.
This year Finnish authorities have rejected more applications than they accepted. Some 2,692 applications led to a status for “international protection”, whereas 2,847 were rejected. The rejected applicants can either leave the country or file a complaint to the administrative courts, otherwise they are subject to forced deportation.
New strategy!
Yle reported that a change of religion has been mostly claimed when the first application is dismissed and the applicant files a complaint.
[….]
Now, the question is, what are the real motives of the converts? Do they really want to get rid of their old religion or just want to increase the chances of staying?
While the civil servants are to shoulder the responsibility to figure out the reality, specialists from the national Evangelic Lutheran Church believe the new converts often take a personal risk in their decision and have usually considered their options carefully.
Marja Laihia, a specialist for immigrant services at the Central Administration of the Finnish Evangelic Lutheran Church, reminded that refugees arrive in an environment of religious freedom, which is new to them.
Talking to Xinhua, she said arrivals have mostly lived in countries were Islam is enforced, either by the state or at least by the extended families. “Now they are in a country where they can choose on their own,” she said. [Funny! Why then didn’t they choose on the first application?—ed]
“Then a person ran towards us shouting ‘He has a knife’, and everybody from the terrace ran inside. Next, a woman came in to the cafe. She was crying hysterically, down on her knees, saying someone’s neck has been slashed open.”
(A witness)
Surely you know what happened in Finland on the heals of Barcelona, but here from Reuterswe get more facts on the killer and the poor innocent women who were sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Over the years we have written a few posts on Finland, but it isn’t as easily accessible (or slovenly welcoming) as other Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway.
This Reuters story is surprisingly unrestrained and relatively free of whitewash (or is that because those quoted weren’t pulling punches and speaking in politically correct terms?):
HELSINKI/TURKU, Finland (Reuters) – Finnish police said on Saturday that an 18-year-old Moroccan man, arrested after a knife rampage that killed two people and wounded eight, appeared to have targeted women and that the spree was being treated as the country’s first terrorism-related attack.
Finland’s loss of innocence. Photo: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/924140/asylum-seeker-targeted-women-in-finland-terror-stabbing
The suspect arrested following the attack on Friday after being shot in the leg by police in the city of Turku had arrived in Finland last year, police said. They said they later arrested four other Moroccan men over possible links to him and had issued an international arrest warrant for a sixth Moroccan national.
Finnish broadcaster MTV, citing an unnamed source, said the main suspect had been denied asylum in Finland. The police said only that he had been “part of the asylum process”.
The case marks the first suspected terror attack in Finland, where violent crime is relatively rare.
“The suspect’s profile is similar to that of several other recent radical Islamist terror attacks that have taken place in Europe,” Director Antti Pelttari from the Finnish Security Intelligence Service told a news conference.
[….]
Both of those killed in the Turku attack, and six of the eight who were wounded, were women, the police said. The two who died were Finns, and an Italian and two Swedish citizens were among the injured.
Ville Tavio (Finns party): Asylum system is primary means of entry for terrorists.
“It seems that the suspect chose women as his targets, because the men who were wounded were injured when they tried to help, or prevent the attacks,” said Crista Granroth from the National Bureau of Investigation.
“The act was cowardly … we have been afraid of this and we have prepared for this. We are not an island anymore, the whole of Europe is affected,” Prime Minister Juha Sipila said. [Well, maybe not Poland and Hungary that have closed their borders to Muslim migration!—ed]
[….]
Some members of the nationalist Finns party, which was kicked out of the government in June for their new hard-line anti-immigration leadership, blamed the government for what they said was too loose an immigration policy.
“The asylum system is the primary road for illegal immigration, used also by the terrorists.Harmful immigration can be controlled only by reducing Finland’s attractiveness, or by border controls,” said Finns party lawmaker Ville Tavio.
What is asylum? (As opposed to refugee resettlement)
In the refugee resettlement process, wannabe refugees must prove they are persecuted, the UN screens them (supposedly!) and a country accepts them and flies them in.
For asylum, the wannabe refugee makes his or her way to a ‘safe’ country and then applies for asylum (or often called political asylum). They are supposed to make a case that they would be persecuted if returned home. Europe is dealing with mostly asylum seekers (many are phony and are really economic migrants) who are basically loose in the country until their cases can be processed.
And, are often loose because they have been rejected and no one has made them leave!
So, it is a misnomer when you hear the Left and political leaders refer to asylum seekers as refugees. They are not legitimate refugees until their cases have been processed and the governmental body responsible has granted them asylum.
See my Finland files here. Invasion of Europe archive is here.
