Category: diversity’s dark side

Baltimore: Two citizens of Yemen plead guilty to $2 million in food stamp fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Baltimore convenience store where Yemenis ripped off US taxpayers for millions. You can’t make this up!

This is an update of a story we reported here last September.

Big questions for me are:  What legal immigration program allowed them to enter the country and set up these stores, participate in SNAP?  Did they send the money out of the country?  And, will they be deported after serving their time?  This article says they can get 20 years, but in all the cases I’ve seen, crooks like these were back out running the store again within a couple of years.

Note to readers, we have been following food stamp fraud perpetrated by immigrant scammers for years as a side interest at RRW, but now we have one place to gather such stories and that is a facebook page—Diversity’s Dark Side (‘Like’ it).

From the Examiner (Hat tip: Robin):

Two foreign citizens residing in Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to committed fraud in connection with a scheme to illegally redeem food stamp benefit in exchange for cash over three years and obtained a significant amount of money in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Abdullah Aljaradi, (52), and Ahmed Ayedh Al-Jabrati, (58), both citizens of Yemen, operated in two convenience stores of Baltimore City –Second Obama Express and D&M Deli and Grocery–, located next door to each other at 901 Harlem Avenue where the illegal transactions were committed.

According to their plea agreements and court documents, the stores participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as the Food Stamp Program. Both Aljaradi and Al-Jabrati knew that it was a violation of SNAP regulations to trade cash for SNAP benefits. Nevertheless, from October 2010 to July 2013, Aljaradi and Al-Jabrati exchanged SNAP benefits for cash at less than face value of the EBT benefits, in violation of the food stamp program rules, and kept up to 50 percent of the benefits for themselves.

[…..]

The indictment alleges that as a result of these unlawful cash transactions, Aljaradi and Al-Jabrati obtained more than $2 million in payments for food sales that never occurred.

While the Court will determine the actual amount of the financial loss for the purpose of calculating the sentencing guidelines, restitution, and forfeiture, any money judgment ordered by the Court will not be less than $259,344.15, the funds seized from the stores and from two bank accounts associated with the stores.

For our complete archive on food stamp fraud, click here.

Sri Lankan illegal alien poster boys for critics of US asylum system

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Judy Rabinovitz, the men’s ACLU attorney, is concerned for the US taxpayer! Sure she is!

This story makes my blood boil, but not in the way the New York Times hopes it will.  Five Tamils (Sri Lankans, are they Tamil Tigers?) paid smugglers $55,000  each to get them to the US where they planned to apply for asylum.  Instead they were caught, placed in detention where they languish supposedly because we have a screwed- up asylum system.

First question of course is where did poor struggling ‘refugee’ fishermen get $55,000 each?  And, since we learned they traveled through Dubai, Moscow, Cuba and Haiti why didn’t they ask for asylum at their first stop, second stop, third stop?  Legitimate asylum seekers are to ask for asylum in the first safe country in which they land!   (Amazing that the reporter seems not at all interested in answers to these two important questions!)

Readers, this is not the first time we have read about the Moscow to Cuba route for illegal alien smugglers to get people to America!  And, it is just assumed in every report I have read that it is aok just to work one’s way across the world with the US as the target destination.  Some of them go from Cuba to Mexico and then across our land border.

Here is some of the story, but read all of it!  From the New York Times via NDTV (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):

New York:  Five Sri Lankan men left hometowns reeling from the remnants of a ruthless civil war and embarked on a months-long human-smuggling journey that spanned seven countries.

They each paid $55,000 for a ride by air and sea to a fresh chance in the Americas. They were captured within hours of their arrival in South Florida and served as witnesses for the FBI in the investigation of their smugglers, cooperation that the men were led to believe would work in their favour as their cases made their way through immigration courts.

Three years later, they are still waiting for their cases to be resolved.

Captured in Florida:

The fisherman said that in Sri Lanka he was being extorted for money, received telephone death threats and was forced to quit his job with an opposition party. After contacting a wealthy smuggler known as Mohan, he left his wife and toddler and fled on a five-leg flight: Sri Lanka to Dubai to Moscow to Cuba to Haiti.

In Haiti, he met Mohan, and the other Tamil immigrants who would become his companions in a years-long court battle. They left Haiti for the Bahamas, then embarked for Florida on Dec. 5, 2010.

They were brought to a safe house, another Sri Lankan in the group, whose first initial is R., said in an interview at the Krome Service Processing Center, an immigration jail in Miami at the edge of the Everglades. He said they were given a warm meal, a hot bath, and an extortion demand for an additional $6,000 from each of them.

A few hours later, the FBI woke the men from their slumber.

Boo hoo!  They got the wrong immigration judge:

The men applied for political asylum, each with a personal story of the persecution they suffered as Tamils.   [likely a made-up story prepared before leaving home—ed]

Had their cases been heard one county south, said Ferreyra, the former federal prosecutor, their asylum claims would more likely have been accepted.

Are US immigration lawyers at the ACLU keeping them here for their own selfish reasons—as poster boys for their media/political goals?

“This just all shows how irrational and unjust the correctional immigration system is,” said Judy Rabinovitz, a lawyer for the men and the deputy director of the ACLU’s immigrant rights project. “How much have U.S. taxpayers paid to keep these people locked up?”

The men are torn between their lawyers’ insistence on fighting for asylum and their desire to go home, even if to a dangerous and uncertain future.

I agree with Rabinovitz on one thing—don’t keep them locked up at taxpayer expense!   Deport them sooner than later!

In the past we have written a good bit about Sri Lankans breaking into Canada, check out some of those posts here.

Are Afghan immigrants bringing their treatment of women to America?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

‘Modesto man accused of holding wife captive appears in court’ is the title of news yesterday from the Modesto Bee, thanks again to reader ‘pungentpeppers’ for spotting it.

Hillary helping women in Afghanistan, how about the ones in America!

 A man accused of holding his wife captive for five months inside a Modesto home appeared in court Tuesday afternoon for the first time since his arrest Sunday.

Fnu [first name unknown–ed] Masehullah, 26, has been charged with false imprisonment and attempting to prevent a victim or witness from reporting a crime, both felonies, along with a misdemeanor count of battery on his spouse.

Authorities believe Mohammad Idrees, Masehullah’s brother, assisted in holding the woman captive, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday. Idrees is charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery on his brother’s wife.

The couple is the product of an arranged marriage, authorities say, and the two appear to be from Afghanistan.

The complaint indicates the woman was held captive from Sept. 1 through Sunday, when Modesto police found her in north Modesto. Officers responded after a report of a fight between two people at the Marshalls store shopping center at McHenry and Standiford avenues.

The dispute was apparently between Masehullah’s wife and his brother. Authorities said the woman was found wearing a robe and a traditional Middle Eastern head covering.

There is more, including this line:

The judge also arranged to have a court-appointed Farsi interpreter appear with Masehullah in court next week to ensure he understands his rights and the judicial process.

It is just what we mentioned yesterday—local jurisdictions must pay for interpreters!

Are these creeps refugees?

Until we learn otherwise, let’s assume these Afghans got into the US as refugees or as asylum seekers.  Here are some numbers to consider.  I didn’t look for any of the Special Immigrant Visa numbers—-those are the refugees we let in who supposedly helped the US military in Afghanistan.

It is hard to find numbers in one place when the Office of Refugee Resettlement is 3 years behind the times in publishing its legally required Annual Report to Congress so these numbers are from several sources.  As of January 31st, the ORR owes Congress reports for fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013!

From 2001-2010 we admitted 10,459 Afghan refugees.   2010 Annual Report

2011:  428

2012: 449  (California got 105 of them that year)

2013:  661

We will keep an eye on the story and, as we learn more, we will let you know how these Muslim “brothers” happened to be adding to the ethnic diversity of America.

Toledo (Lucas County) looking for more Middle Easterners, will “welcome” refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment
Ray Abou-Arab charged with murder in Toledo last week.

Update February 8th:  Prosecutors seek the death penalty for Abou-Arab, here, (hat tip: Diane).

Update:  Bond set at $5 million for Abou-Arab, here.  Judge must be afraid he will skip the country.

Let me start by telling you about the tragic tale involving the alleged murder of two fire fighters in Toledo a week ago.

Ray Abou-Arab, an immigrant ‘businessman,’ has been arrested and charged with intentionally starting a fire which took the lives of two young firefighters.  The gist of the story is here at The Blade (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’)

Less than a week after two Toledo firefighters died battling a North Toledo apartment fire, the property’s owner was charged with and arrested on two counts each of aggravated murder and aggravated arson.

Ray Abou-Arab, 61, of 1311 Sierra Dr., Oregon was held in the Lucas County jail Friday night pending arraignment Monday morning in Toledo Municipal Court.

Fire Pvts. Stephen Machcinski and James Dickman were pronounced dead Sunday afternoon at Mercy St. Vincent Medical Center after being rescued from inside the two-story apartment building at 528 Magnolia St., where they had become trapped.

Abou-Arab has been around Toledo for awhile and some say he has been involved with questionable arson fires involving property he owned in the past.

When you watch the lengthy TV news account, here, you will see shots of Abou-Arab just hanging around and not looking too troubled.  Toward the end there is some mention of an illegal substance being sold from a convenience store in the same building he is accused of igniting that resulted in the deaths of the firefighters.

Screen shot from the announcement that Toledo will take Iraqi refugees.
Arabic writing on the flag: Allahu Akbar!

So, Toledo (Lucus County) is having such success with its immigrant entrepreneurs that they announced in December that they will “welcome” 30 Iraqis through the US State Department’s refugee program!

From ABC13 (be sure to watch the news clip!):

Beginning around the first of the year, Toledo will become an immigrant resettlement city.   It’s a story we first told you about back in July but now the pieces are in place to make the program a success.

The United States government is looking for communities that can welcome about 30-Iraqi families.  Toledo has a long history of welcoming immigrants [like Ray Abou-Arab?–ed] and now it has a social structure that can help.

These communities like Toledo think they are going to make money off refugee resettlement!  The reason that the State Department has ‘chosen’ Toledo is that other cities are full-up with economy-robbing refugees. Don’t you think that if refugees brought economic benefits that the cities that were already (supposedly) ‘booming’ as a result would be begging for more?

“New folks, new friends, new families that added value to our community.”

Lucas County Commissioner. Pete Gerken (D) says other immigrants want to build a future here, as well.

The State Department is looking for communities to welcome new refugees from Iraq, in 2014 and Gerken says they should come to Toledo.

He says, “What we found is they come here from other places, bring talent with them, bring family values with them, bring a work ethic with them.”

And, in some cases, they bring a life savings with them.

The Toledo Lucas County Land Bank is now part of this refugee resettlement program and will link immigrants with properties to help them build a life.

[…..]

….buy abandoned commercial sites,  build a business, create jobs and contribute to the community. [Just like Ray Abou-Arab did?—-ed]

What studies???  It’s amazing—they just say this sort of thing and the locals lap it up!

Anneliese Grytafey (Toledo Community Foundation) says studies indicate a financial gain.  “For every dollar that was invested to bring refugees into the community they saw a $10 dollar gain to their local economy,” Grytafey told 13abc.

The local economy gains for awhile as federal dollars flow in, but as the refugees don’t find work (Iraqis are not finding employment elsewhere, why would Toledo be any different?) and rely more and more on welfare, the local economy takes the hit.

[Flag of Iraq (1991-2004) after Saddam Hussein decreed to include “Allahu Akbar” between the stars in his own handwriting, in an attempt to garner support from the Islamic world.]
About the flag!  Whoever made up the graphic in the ABC news clip took Saddam Hussein’s ‘God is Great’ (Allahu Akbar) off the old Iraqi flag and superimposed it on to the American flag’s stripes, here.

Maybe this is code from the US State Department—only Muslims will be resettled in Toledo!

Last of 4 San Diego Somalis sentenced in terror funding case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is the case we have reported on previously where a local Imam was sentenced to prison as well.

Ahmed Nasir Taalil Mohamud
http://shabelle.net/

From NBC San Diego here, but I see it is a story carried by many outlets over the weekend.

A U.S. District judge sentenced a Somali immigrant to six years in prison Friday for his part in a San Diego-based plot to support terrorist group al-Shabaab.

Ahmed Nasir Taalil Mohamud, a cab driver from Anaheim, is the last of four people to be sentenced after they were found guilty in February 2013 during a three-week trial.

U.S. attorney Laura Duffy said Nasir, Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud and Issa Doreh conspired to give money to al-Shabaab.

The prosecution alleged that Nasir collected funds from donors in Orange County to send to the militia group, which is known for its suicide bombings, civilian assassinations and use of improvised explosive devices, according to Duffy.

The U.S State Department officially listed al-Shabaab as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.

During Friday’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller said while Nasir was the least culpable member of the conspiracy and is a refugee from war-torn Somalia, his offenses were “very serious.”

Nasir’s co-conspirators were sentenced last November. Cab driver Basaaly Saeed Moalin was sentenced to 18 years, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud – an imam at a local mosque – was sentenced 13 years, and Issa Doreh was sentenced to 10 years for working at a money transmitting business that helped move the illegal funds.

Hey come on Congress, let’s see a bill which would direct the US State Department to cover the cost of expensive trials and incarceration (instead of the state and local jurisdiction!) where “refugees” they admitted to the US commit crimes.