Category: Comments worth noting/guest posts

Comment worth noting: Why are Iraqi refugees given more than the local poor American?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the gist of a reader’s comment we posted yesterday here.  Msdreamgirlusa is commenting on a post from late last year about refugees going to Ohio and so I’m posting it here now so it won’t be lost at an old post you likely wouldn’t see.

Her comment demonstrates a point we have made over and over again, local citizens see an unfairness in the way refugees are treated when compared to the local less fortunate.   The refugees are definitely given more and they wonder why.  

Also, her comment demonstrates another point we tried to make in Hagerstown, MD nearly two years ago now.   If refugees are to be resettled in a community the local citizen must be fully informed.   Refugee resettlement agencies (volags, the federal contractors) and the government agencies at state and federal levels give the impression that they are so fearful of a local backlash that they keep the whole damn thing secret which only serves to get local citizens even angrier.   If the Refugee Resettlement program is good, then put all the facts out for public debate!

So, here is our Ohio reader’s comment.  

I live in Franklin County Ohio and here is my opinion of the Iraqi Refugees In Ohio , Why are the Iraqi Refugees allowed to come here , recieve double sometimes triple the benefits that should be entitled to American Citizens , they cause problems where ever they are placed , they comment that the USA attacked and Bomb Iraq and that we owe them .

I am an American Citizen ( Natural ) the area I live in has been overtaken by Iraqi Refugees which live like Uncivilized people and hit their children in an abusive manner , they fight amoung themselves constantly , they speak about how bad America is treating them , why do we have to suffer them and why do we have to live in poverty while they are getting paid to be here thru our welfare and medicaid services ? Our goverment needs to put a limit on how long they can be here and make them find jobs to support themselves , they are given Resident Status as soon as they arrive in the USA and obtain Social Security Cards and Employment I.D.’s yet they seek employment with wages paid under the table and still recieve welfare and medicaid benefits.

I think that Our Goverment needs to monitor them more closely . I think that they are being treated more than fair and given more in monies than most , they are able to purchase New Automobiles and New Laptops and still able to send monies back to their families in Iraq and other Arab Countries.

I am sure some of our readers don’t like what they have just read,  others of you are likely shaking your heads in agreement with her.   Bottomline, Msdreamgirlusa must be allowed a voice and that is what we provide.

Comment worth noting on a Minnesota Somali family

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Commenter CL posted this comment on our Refugee Resettlement Fact sheet page and I thought it worth re-posting where more people would see it:

I understand the plight of refugees and have no problem with those that come here, and make a better life for themselves and for america. My problem is those that disrespect america and still want a hand out. As someone new to Minnesota, I had never met a Somali person (although I do have some really great muslim friends..which is not the issue). I bought a nice house only to find out the house next to me was rented by Somalis. They take no pride in where they live at all. THe place is always a mess. THey are loud and very disrespectful. Their teen kids are even worse. We have had to call the cops on them 3 times. They have done everything from ruin items on my property to stealing. One is headed to jail for a gang-related stabbing. They always have new cars in front of their house….and after about 6 months they are all banged up and then they just go get new ones….Many times their bills end up in my mailbox and I have to take them over, several times they have had court summons for drinking and drugs. I have finally decided to put my house on the market and try to move. I hope potential buyers wont be scared away by them…although I would. These are NOT the ppl I want in america. They are users…I am glad I am paying for their new cars and for all of their children to get a nice public education. what is sad is that I had no hard feeling toward them until I actually met them. Ugh.

Maybe all Somalis are like that, maybe they’re not. Note that CL is simply reporting on the Somalis who live next door to him. But you can bet that he will be called a racist, an Islamophobe and a refugee-hater for reporting what he has personally observed.

Comment worth noting: Why do we “resent” Iraqi refugees?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a comment from reader Liz posted at our fact sheets link above.

I volunteer for the List Project, which resettles Iraqi refugees who worked for the U.S. government in Iraq as translators, doctors, engineers, to name a few. As a result of their association with Americans, they are hunted, killed, and have their houses burned down.

Why would you not want to help resettle and fund these Iraqis? They suffered terribly while working for OUR GOVERNMENT in a war we started. They come here as very highly educated people who simply want peace and a safe place to live. They are muslim and christian.

Please explain why you resent them?

Thank you

Dear Liz,  we have written 341 posts on Iraqi refugees and if you read even a small fraction of those, I doubt you could make the statement:  “Please explain why you resent them?”   (Note, Liz places a question mark here but she isn’t really questioning, she is stating what she believes is fact.)   I contend that we have a greater concern for the well-being of the Iraqis than Liz does.

This is how leftists operate—they attempt to shut down a serious public policy discussion by vilifying anyone who disagrees with them.  

“[R]esent them?”   How on earth do you get that we “resent them?”   Bringing Iraqi refugees to the US in large numbers at this time of economic turmoil, not encouraging them to return to Iraq to help rebuild it,  placing older Iraqi professionals in jobs cleaning motels,  having Iraqis come here then fear eviction and complaining about the resettlement agencies neglecting them, aren’t these issues that warrant serious public debate and discussion?   Instead you, Liz,  and many others like you, emotionally driven,  just wish to shut down a serious discussion by attempting to silence any critics.  It won’t work (we are hard-hearted afterall!)

Sincerely,  Ann

P.S.  It just occurred to me that maybe you don’t know about all the unhappy Iraqis in the US, because I bet your leaders at the List Project aren’t telling you (if they even know).   Check out our Iraqi refugee category where we have reported from 17 states where recently resettled Iraqis are unhappy and wishing to go home to the Middle East.

Comment worth noting: Criticism of Muslims not allowed in Australia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

BL, who has commented here before, wrote this interesting comment in response to my post, The heart of a refugee and the culture of violence:

I have commented previously about how my city (Sydney, Australia) has had problems with Middle Eastern Arabs. I don’t know how or where we lost our freedom of speech but it seems that it is increasingly difficult to freely express our opinions and/or concerns. When you cut through all the politically correct nonsense you are left with the truth, which is they are not the same as us. Some races are predisposed to certain tendencies and characteristics. In the case of Muslim Arabs, they are naturally aggressive and violent. The Muslim Arab community in my city have been here for decades and for as long as I can remember, they have always been a menace to this city and this hasn’t changed one bit. If anything, I would say that it has gotten worse and will only progressively get worse as we allow them to manipulate our free society to their will.

“Many of the Vietnamese who came here in the 1970s and 1980s were traumatized too, having lived through a war, a communist regime, often prison camps, and harrowing escapes. But their culture and their resulting characters didn’t lead them to express their trauma in violence”.

For me, this is very fitting as I am in fact a Vietnamese Australian. It seems that, in Australia at least, ethnic Australians such as myself are more open about their true feelings and will voice their concerns more liberally than our fellow Anglo Australians. This maybe attributed to the fact that they may not want to be tagged as racist, which is a fair reason. Such is the dilemma of our free society where you are damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

If the current trend to disallow criticism of Islam in some Nations spreads globally, then Muslims will certainly exploit this and we will see their hypocrisy and true intent. A small minority of courageous people such as the people here at RRW and Jihad Watch are aware of their hidden agenda (although it really isn’t hidden when their intent is clearly stated in the Koran) and are expressing their concern. If only this concern was shared among the ignorant in our society because it will only take a majority to cut through all the political garbage that is littered all over this issue.

I will do my part to protect and preserve our beautiful Western Society by spreading my concern to my fellow peace loving Christians. I can only hope and pray that more people will see through the politics and rise up to tackle this issue head on

Comment worth noting: “don’t overthrow the system”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We recently set up this category “comments worth noting” to highlight reader comments that are posted not to our most recent posts but to older posts and thus might be lost.   Here is one from reader Karin posted to our “Fact sheets” link above.

I appreciate this comment because it gives me an opportunity to tell new readers why we do what we do at Refugee Resettlement Watch.  Here is what Karin said:

There’s always two sides to every story. Though Lewiston had a lot of adjustment issues when many Somali people started to move there, it seems like the situation has turned around:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/180035

In response in general to your blog…you have your points, but I’d watch your approach. I wouldn’t attack volags as much as you do because the problems involve a lot of things that are outside almost anyone’s control.

Also, you talk about people going back to their countries…most people think that life in America will be great, but having no experience with high costs of living and no job experience the realities are tough. I work in a resettlement office and what everyone is up against is staggering. Many people do just want to go back. But with time they adjust. Many of our Iraqi clients wanted to go back when they were faced with certain realities. Having lived a fairly prosperous life in Baghdad only years before and living as urban refugees before coming to the United States, the situation brings different dynamics than affording the opportunity for a good life to a Somali Bantu family whose people have been discriminated against for hundreds of years.

Remember too that we are providing opportunity to some extraordinary people that have already lived through a lot. They are given the freedom to live, work and access social services just like any other American. I say, why not? Get some reform going, but don’t overthrow the system.

First, Karin said,  “There’s always two sides to every story” and links the puff piece from Lewiston, ME on the Somalis.   I’m not faulting Karin here when I point out that the piece in Newsweek caused a firestorm of criticism and was thoroughly debunked by the leaders in that town.  How could she have known that?   She couldn’t have unless she was a regular reader here.  (See posts here, here and here)  Because both sides are rarely reported when refugee stories are written by the mainstream media, we see our role as helping to balance all of those stories I call ‘refugees see first snow stories.’

I don’t want to make this post too long and boring, but if our local newspaper, the Hagerstown Herald Mail, had done its duty to the citizens of Washington County, MD there wouldn’t be a Refugee Resettlement Watch.  Here is what I wrote on September 14th, 2007:

As a matter of fact, I credit the Herald-Mail with helping give birth to Refugee Resettlement Watch. I was not particularly concerned with the Virginia Council of Church’s screw-ups. And, I am sure many of the refugees are fine people. My driving force is my interest in good government. I hate it when government teams up with anyone—developer, preservationist, church group— on the taxpayer’s dime, all the while keeping residents in the dark. It is patronizing and elitist.

I would not have embarked on this if the Herald-Mail had done its job in the first place and researched this issue so citizens knew how refugees came to be in Hagerstown. But, obviously the Herald Mail editors must have assumed their position in support of more refugees would not have stood up to public scrutiny if the facts were known. Since they can’t win in the arena of ideas, leftwing publications, like the Herald Mail, turn to their weapon of choice—manipulation.

If the refugee resettlement program is good for refugees and good for the citizens of communities where refugees are resettled then all those involved should be ready and willing to tell everyone how the program works—the good, the bad, the ugly.  When that starts to happen we will stop trying to “overthrow the system.”   LOL! If only that were possible.

Note to those in the refugee resettlement business:  You know this program needs to be reformed, you are going to have to stop being so chicken and start speaking up.   The way its going now, it will implode.