Category: Canada

German arsonist denied refugee status in Canada before getting into US

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The “German” arsonist arrested in the recent Los Angeles crime spree had previously been denied refugee status in Canada.  Here is the story from the Montreal Gazette:

The mother of a former Vancouver man facing charges in the U.S. for a multi-million-dollar arson spree at one time pleaded to Canadian immigration officials to allow her and her son to stay in this country.

Harry Burkhart, 24, was charged Wednesday with 37 counts of arson for deliberately setting at least 50 fires, torching cars, garages and homes in Los Angeles and reportedly causing about $3 million in damages.

Burkhart was arrested during a routine traffic stop while driving a minivan with British Columbia licence plates.

The story of how Dorothee Burkhart and her son ended up in L.A. begins with their arrival in Canada in September 2007.

According to Federal Court documents obtained by Postmedia News, the two fled Germany and applied for refugee status in Canada, claiming they feared they would be imprisoned, tortured and killed if they were sent back to their home country.

[….]

During the hearing, the minister of citizenship and immigration intervened. The minister requested Dorothee Burkhart be barred from refugee protection as she had committed a serious crime in Germany.

The refugee claim was denied in late 2009 and, upon review of the application in May 2010, the Federal Court agreed.

Then the question becomes—how the h*** did they get into the US?

Surely with a legal decision against them in Canada as recently as 2010, they should have been easily detected by ICE.

Blogger Debbie Schlussel asks the same question and then tells us more, here, about the Chechen-born Burkhart and his mama.

The mother of Harry Burkhart, the man who set several dozen arson fires in Hollywood last week, is exactly the kind of person who doesn’t belong in America and should be deported. And, after you read about both mother and son, you’ll wonder how either of them were able to get into the U.S. Well, we know how the son got on: a lax visa system, in which Customs and Border Protection and State Department employees use little scrutiny or time, before rushing through the rubber stamping of the golden ticket into the U.S., as I’ve been writing about for years, and as internal Homeland Security documents confirmed, earlier this week. Oh, and by the way, Burkhart was born in Muslim Chechnya. Hmmm . . . (Don’t worry, though. In the Hollywood movie, he’ll be a Christian from Texas.)

Read it all.

Canada set to deport alleged war criminal

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The former refugee to Canada is scheduled to be deported January 12th.  Last minute appeals hinge on whether he will get a fair trial in Rwanda.

From CBC News:

A man accused of playing a role in the Rwandan genocide could be deported next week unless he convinces Canadian officials he won’t receive a fair trial at home.

Leon Mugesera has lived in Quebec since 1993 and was granted permanent resident status.

However, in 1995 the Canadian government learned of allegations that Mugesera gave a speech three years earlier at a political meeting in Rwanda, inciting party militants to kill Tutsis. According to court documents, killings took place the next day.

Mugesera’s name appears on a list prepared by the American State Department of those implicated in the genocide in Rwanda.

He has been fighting and delaying orders for his deportation for more than 15 years.

In early December, Canada’s Immigration Ministry handed down an 80-page decision that stated Mugesera’s life would not be in danger if he was returned to his home country to stand trial.

His lawyer is arguing that as long as he doesn’t do anything bad in Canada, as a refugee, he should get to stay.

As a refugee, she said, her client shouldn’t be deported unless he has been convicted of a crime and is deemed a threat to the host country.

Does that mean that any fugitive Islamic terrorist who happens to get into Canada as a refugee, can stay as long as he eschews his former terrorist ways—-for how long?    Until he does his next terror act?

Welcoming Communities Initiative uses Shelbyville propaganda film

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….and gives tips on how to use the media to “change the conversation” in “communities” overloaded with immigrants.

Here a Canadian group reports on a conference held in October in Seattle.

The Fourth Annual U.S. National Immigrant Integration Conference took place in Seattle,Washington from October 24 to 26, 2011. The conference brought together policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, elected officials, government employees, business representatives, and faith communities for three days of dialogue. Keen to benefit from the discussion, the Welcoming Communities Initiative participated in a number of conference sessions. In the weeks that follow, we will share some of the key findings and best practices from the conference. This article is the first in the series and puts the spotlight on a session entitled, “A Buzz for Welcoming: Using New and Traditional Media to Change the Conversation.”

Here we go again with that deceptive Shelbyville film.

The second, Welcome to Shelbyville, looks at a small American town as it adjusts to a growing Latino population and the influx of refugees from Somalia. The project is based on a film and a set of companion activities, including a series of YouTube videos, discussion guides, and training modules. You can learn more here.

Longtime readers know that we chronicled the creation of that film from the earliest days in Shelbyville and have reported that the film is a prime example of how editing with a certain goal in mind becomes propaganda.  One post from a year ago is here.  But, check out our whole archive on the film here.

The article does give us ten tips for manipulating the media that are useful:

Top 10 Tips for Engaging the Media

*Change cannot be a “one off.” Activities must be linked, integrated, and ongoing. For example, Welcome to Shelbyville advanced the notion of an “ecosystem of change” that included funding, research, leadership, grassroots organizing, policy, and philanthropy. These pieces fit together, as did their strategies and products; nothing was stand-alone.

*The focus must remain on the community. Communication strategies must be place-based in order to resonate emotionally with their audience. The emphasis must be on why activities matter to the community. If videos or projects with a more national or regional focus are produced, local screenings and discussion groups should be organized to involve the community.

*Multiple channels are needed to reach multiple audiences. These include having an active website and a Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube presence. Short, punchy video clips and small news articles can be forwarded, shared, and “liked.” People are more likely to pay attention to items that come from their friends.

*Traditional media can be engaged by simplifying their work. In place of simply sending out media advisories about activities and events, the media should be provided with professional copy and ready-made clips and images that can be printed or aired. This meets the need for interesting stories about people in the community.

*Communities have a voice. Supporters and contacts can be encouraged to submit op-ed pieces or write letters to the editor about community activities and the contribution that newcomers are making to the community. This helps spread the message and builds connections with the mainstream media.

*Stories matter. Though facts and data are essential, stories will be remembered more easily and powerfully. Stories engage receiving communities and show them the diversity of the immigrant experience.

*Media engagement is possible even with limited resources. Communities should use the skills and resources of their network and supporters. Supporters can help make films, serve as actors in public service announcements, and call on their contacts in traditional media.

*Communities should find ways to identify their supporters. At a minimum, communities should develop electronic distribution lists, but they can also employ more creative techniques. For example, Uniting North Carolina had supporters sign an online pledge to support immigrant integration; they were then added to the organization’s email list and now receive all communications.  

*Communities should take advantage of the power of leveraging. Communities should create engaging, fun content that supporters can disseminate to others.

*Communities should not forget the “and then what?” question. Engaging local communities in immigrant integration is a long-term project. Videos, news clippings, and radio ads all have a shelf life. To go from story-telling to action, it is necessary to bring together groups, not just to listen and learn but to work together to welcome newcomers.

We can deport Somalis!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

For as long as I’ve been writing this blog (since 2007) I’ve been led to believe that we can’t deport criminal Somalis back to Somalia, but I see that in 2005, the US Supreme Court said, sure we can!

The issue was brought to my attention this morning while reading an immigration lawyer’s plea at the Huffington Post to not deport the criminal aliens recently rounded up by ICE in the latest Obama Administration push to get the bad guys off the streets and out of your towns.  Of course, Bill Ong Hing is making the case that if they’ve served time, they should get to stay, but those rounded up recently have not served their time YET!

Here is Mr. Hing, professor of Law University of San Francisco:

With great fanfare last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced the arrest of some 3,000 convicted “criminal aliens” during a its seven-day national “Operation Cross-Check” enforcement operations. The attention-grabbing announcement emphasized that more than 1,600 had felony and highlighted seven of the arrestees who had been convictions for kidnapping, attempted murder, armed assault, or child molestation. That’s juicy information for law-and-order enthusiasts and the anti-immigration establishment.

The problem with these types of ICE actions and announcements is that they blur the picture of who makes up the so-called “criminal aliens.” Immigrants who commit crimes and are subject to deportation come from all over the world: Mexico, Asia, Canada, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The U.S. Supreme Court has even endorsed the deportation of a Somalian refugee, convicted of assault, back to Somalia, where no formal government exists. In 2002, the United States began deporting Cambodian refugees convicted of crimes back to communist-dominated Cambodia. So while ICE may indeed be rounding up and removing hundreds of so-called “illegal immigrants” who have committed crimes, the agency is also engaged in deporting lawful permanent resident aliens (those with “green cards”) and refugees convicted of crimes. And these deportees have served their sentences in the criminal justice system before being deported.

Here is the 2005 Supreme Court ruling in Jama v. ICE.

Gee, I wonder if we could save ourselves a whole lot of taxpayer money by deporting convicted Somali murderers (like this guy) back to Somalia?

By the way, as we have noted in this previous post, Canada has no qualms about sending criminal Somalis back to Mogadishu.

Count on “welcoming” Canada to have new “refugee” crime stories on a regular basis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It seems every time I open my “refugee crime” alerts something pops up from Canada.  Today, I have two, but technically one isn’t a refugee (though he is a legal immigrant in Canada after marrying a Canadian woman—who he killed by infecting her with HIV, but I’m getting ahead of myself).

The first story is about a Jamaican who first entered Canada sponsored by a parent, then committed a zillion crimes.  He was deported in 1999 but snuck back into Canada where he applied for refugee status claiming he would be persecuted in Jamaica (Jamaica! not exactly a nation of persecutors), for what we are not told.   Nonetheless Canada did grant him refugee status in 2003!   His latest crime is pimping a 16 year old.  Read all about this charming fellow, here, in the Toronto Sun.

TORONTO – Walford Uriah Steer is a career criminal who snuck back into Canada after being booted out 12 years ago because of his lengthy rap sheet.

But ironically the recently captured fugitive’s latest brush with the law may be just the ticket he needs to steer clear of a second one-way trip back to his native Jamaica.

It’s the latest bizarre twist in a confusing immigration story with almost as many contradictions and questions as the 39-year-old has criminal convictions.

Steer surfaced again this week when Toronto cops busted him for allegedly attempting to pimp out a 16-year-old girl.

Sources say his latest charges will likely have to be dealt with before he can be booted out of the country a second time.

What that means of course is that lucky Canadian taxpayers get to keep him in prison, feeding and clothing him for who knows how long.

Then in the second legal immigrant crime story in the Sun, we have a  Trinidad born man busily infecting sex partners with HIV AIDS.

A Toronto man once described as “a ticking bomb” after exposing his now dead former wife to AIDS is again facing charges of allegedly failing to inform a lover he has the dreaded condition.

[….]

Williams, who was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1997, has faced similar charges in the past.

In 2005, he was accused of knowingly infecting his ex-wife with HIV.

Mary Maxenita Williams’ daughter Michelle Kelly went to police in her mother’s last stages of life, alleging her former step-father continued to have unprotected sex with women without informing them of his HIV status.

Police issued an alert to other potential sex partners of the suspect in April 2005.

Six women came forward.

“He’s ruined several women’s lives,” Kelly said in an interview with the Toronto Sun at the time.

Trinidadian-born Williams walked out on his new wife after he got his Canadian citizenship papers eight months after they married, Kelly’s sister, Yvette Ferguson, alleged in the same interview.

“He was cheating on her the whole time,” she claimed.

Their mother died of AIDS-related complications in May 2005.

Of course, you gotta wonder why on earth the Canadian legal system let this guy, a ticking bomb, out on bail in the first place!