Category: Europe

UK’s Cameron wants to put a halt to excessive immigration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Hey, good luck with that.

From the Law Enforcement Examiner:

According to Cameron [British Prime Minister David Cameron], illegal immigration has brought “real pressures on our communities up and down the country. Pressures on schools, housing and healthcare, and social pressures too.”

No kidding and we have reported previously on how Somalis are among those breaking into the UK.

Many of the immigrants who’ve recently entered the United Kingdom emanate from Middle Eastern and north African countries with Muslim majorities. Unlike in the United States, Muslim immigrants — legal or illegal — remain segregated by their own choice.

That made me laugh, I guess the author hasn’t been to Minneapolis, Seattle, San Diego, Columbus or even Lewiston, ME to see the cities within cities.

In England demonstrators get it that large numbers of immigrants are hurting the British economy, but our author wonders why the “occupy Wall Streeters” don’t get it.

The U.K. isn’t the only European nation considering a tough immigration policy. The Netherlands’ legislature is seeking tougher measures to curb rampant illegal immigration.

“Political leaders in the United States seem to always want to replicate European policies such as socialized medicine and other progressive public policy. So why don’t they wish to replicate what is now a hot topic in Europe? Why not replicate British immigration policy?” asks former NYPD detective Mike Snopes.

“President [Barack] Obama’s British counterpart mentioned pressures on schools, housing and healthcare, and social pressures that have resulted from Britain’s current immigration rules. Those are the same pressures the U.S. faces, as well,” claims economist Jerry Bendecker.

British cities, especially London, have endured violent protests by a population that is similar to the people in New York City’s Occupy Wall Street movement. However, a growing number of British protesters place part of the blame on uncontrolled immigration that reduces wages and lowers living standards.

My answer is that because it’s really not about jobs (or banks), the Wall Streeters are the dupes of Socialist/Marxist revolutionaries and at this time they see the immigrants as fellow Leftists.  As I have said before, if a majority of immigrants who entered the US said, you know I’m going to vote Republican, immigration (legal and illegal) would be stopped in a heart-beat.

Finns continue Somali terrror probe

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is an update of the story I posted here at the end of last month.

From AP at ABC News:

Finnish police have released a Somali woman arrested on suspicion of financing terrorism but are holding a Somali man as they further probe allegations that he recruited potential terrorists, authorities said Friday.

The pair’s arrests Sept. 7 were the first known terror-linked arrests in the Nordic country. Police said the two are suspected of links to the Somali Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.

Detective Inspector Kaj Bjorkvist said the 28-year-old woman, who is a student and arrived in Finland in late 2008, has been ordered not to leave the country.

“Our suspicions have not changed, but we no longer felt it necessary to keep her in custody,” Bjorkvist said. “The man asked to be released, but the police objected and he remains in detention.”

Bjorkvist declined to give more details about the suspects.

The National Bureau of Investigation said earlier that the 34-year-old male detainee is suspected of recruiting at least one person abroad to commit an act of terrorism, linked to al-Shabab, “in the direction of Somalia.” He has lived in Finland since 2005, has a residency permit and has held several jobs.

Read it all.

Terrorism investigation in Finland shakes up Somalis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is a story that is a bit confusing.  Perhaps something is lost in the translation, but the gist of it is that some Somalis have been arrested on terrorism charges (for what exactly is not clear) and the rest of the “community” has been shaken.

From Helsingen Sanomat

When the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) revealed two weeks ago Friday that it had started an investigation into suspicions of financing terrorism and recruiting for terrorist activities, many people of Somali background in Finland knew that something was going on.

It appears that the investigation centers around funding Al-Shabaab by sending remittances to Somalia.  The Somalis in Finland can’t really say who their families back in Somalia are hanging with these days.

People are also more cautious about sending remittances of money to Somalia. Some people wonder if just anyone might end up on a list of terror suspects if relatives have formed excessively close ties with the rebels.

“Not everyone in Finland knows what their relatives think about al-Shabaab, or ask what the money is used for”, Abdirahim Hussein says.

There is also no certainty about how many Somalis living in Finland actually support al-Shabaab. The issue is generally not discussed in public, as supporting the Islamist organisation is not allowed.

Read the whole article and see if you can follow it because next we are going to jump to Minneapolis for that Somali terror-funding trial on-going there.

Female Genital Mutilation comes to Ireland with third world immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Well, really all of Western Europe and the US too.   And, according to this article in Women News Network, one of the big problems is that the general public doesn’t know much about the horrific cultural practice and those who come in contact with immigrant children are basically unaware and untrained to recognize signs that a child is suffering.

From Women News Network:

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a topic that has been rarely associated with Western Europe, yet due to the arrival of immigrants and refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, female circumcision has become a specific Western concern. It is estimated that in the European Union alone, 500,000 girls and women live with FGM and every year another 180,000 are at risk of being circumcised.

[….]

Therein lies one of the greatest challenges surrounding FGM in Europe, according to Leye [Dr Els Leye, a scientist at the International Centre for Reproductive Health at the university of Ghent (Belgium)]: “Those people that are most likely to come in to contact with FGM victims – teachers, health care staff, police, childcare workers – are not aware that FGM is a real problem nor are they trained to recognize the symptoms.”

A Somali woman in Ireland is fighting the practice there.

Ifrah Ahmed (23) was circumcised in Somalia when she was eight years old. “I don’t remember much. We were a whole group of girls being circumcised together.” Ifrah was circumcised a second time when she was thirteen. “I was circumcised by a doctor so I was one of the ‘lucky’ ones; I know of girls that were circumcised with broken glass.

What I still don’t understand is how a doctor – an educated man – can do such things to young girls.”

Ifrah fled to Ireland five years ago, when she was just seventeen. Today, she is a vocal opponent of FGM and one of the main faces of the European ‘Ending Female Genital Mutilation’ campaign. “I don’t want other girls to go through what I went through, no matter where they were born or where they live,” she says.

Even in Ireland, the Somali community has ostracized Ifrah for her stand against FGM and the social pressure to conform to tradition, also abroad, cannot be ignored. “Somali men here have told me that I should stop attacking things which are part of our culture and Somali women tell me that it will be my fault if girls can’t find a husband because they have not been circumcised. I have received threats, yes. I have even gone to the police with certain voice-mails and have had to leave Dublin because I am so outspoken about FGM.”

Despite her personal ordeal and the opposition she faces from her own community, Ahmed continues her campaign and remains optimistic. Ireland recently passed legislation outlawing FGM. Will imposing a law provide the answer, I ask her? “Certainly imposing a law will help, but we still have a long way to go,” she admits. “What is more important is that the law is enforced. Without follow-up, any legislation becomes meaningless.”

So where is the US campaign against FGM (you know its happening here too!)?

I’m heartened to see and to report that the National Organization for Women (NOW) has a campaign against the “barbaric” practice.

It’s the china shop rule—you break it you own it!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is what Amnesty International says about Libya and that is how we also got tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees over the last four years or so—never mind that brutal dictators are gone and democracy is blossoming (well, maybe).

Here is a story from Voice of America last week that I never got around to posting:

European countries have been accused of a totally inadequate response to the refugee crisis on Libya’s borders. Hundreds of thousands of mainly sub-Saharan migrants were forced to flee Libya following the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests earlier this year.

[….]

Human rights group Amnesty International says they are being forgotten by the outside world.

Charlotte Phillips is a refugee activist for Amnesty.

“Many are from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea, countries where we know there are conflicts and people are being persecuted,” said Phillips. “These are people who have been displaced not just once, but twice. They’ve been forced to flee from their homes and they’ve been forced to flee again from Libya.”

Libya under Colonel Moammar Gadhafi attracted hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from across Africa and beyond.

[….]

Amnesty says just eight European countries have offered fewer than 700 asylum slots between them, and as Europe took part in the NATO bombing of Libya, it has a duty to take action.

“European countries can and must resettle refugees,” added Phillips.

Since Obama and his girls (Hillary, Samantha and Susan) helped to bring “democracy” to Libya by supporting the rebels, I assume Ms. Phillips will be telling us the same thing shortly (if she hasn’t already).

Check out how that rebel-run country is doing now, here!