As I said the other day, there isn’t much news about refugees in the US in the wake of the Chinese virus shutdown except for the fluffy-puffy storieslike this onefrom St. Louis where we learn about the challenging times (no jobs!) a new refugee family from the DR Congo is having as they arrived in the US (in March!) in the midst of stay at home orders.
Still no word when the US would fully open the refugee pipeline, however I see that according to data at the Refugee Processing Centerwe have admitted 35 refugees since May 1.
None came from the DR Congo. They came from various countries with the largest number (14) coming from Syria. Those 14 Syrians were resettled in Idaho, NY and NC.
Meanwhile the Chinese Virus has caused some shifting in target countries (we are told) with fewer migrants seeking asylum in Germany and more going to Spain. Of course that makes no sense to me as Spain has a huge death toll from the virus.
However, this was enlightening and surely explains the attraction to Spain: Spain is welcoming large numbers of asylum seekers from Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras. They must be flying into Spain and simply asking for asylum when they land.
Germany no longer top destination for asylum seekers in Europe
The number of asylum seekers arriving in the European Union decreased significantly in the first quarter of 2020. Spain has overtaken Germany as the country receiving the most asylum applications – suggesting that the coronavirus epidemic is shifting long-standing migration patterns.
Asylum applications in Europe down 25 percent
The number of asylum applications submitted to EU member states, Switzerland and Norway went down by 25 percent in the first four months of 2020, Die Welt reported last week, citing as-yet unpublished numbers from the EU’s asylum agency EASO.
From the beginning of January to the end of April, a total of 164.718 asylum applications were submitted. During the same period in 2019, more than 220.000 applications were received. This year, Spain received the most applications (37.471) – mostly from migrants from Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras.
The uptick in migration from Latin America means that Germany – traditionally the top destination in Europe for asylum seekers – fell in the first quarter of the year to second place, with 33.714 applications, of which 23 percent came from Syria, 9,3 percent from Iraq and 7,7 percent from Afghanistan.
The next top destinations included France with 28.710 applications, Greece (21.153) and Italy (8.025).
Another reason Germany may have lost its luster is that Germany requires asylum seekers to live in reception centers and there are an increasing number of reports of asylum seekers held in German refugee ‘camps’ infected with COVID-19.
Open Borders activists are raising a ruckus, but note that most of those who tested positive are asymptomatic or have only mild symptoms.
At least 70 people at a refugee home near Bonn have tested positive for COVID-19. News of the outbreak prompted calls for better protection for asylum-seekers and more testing at the often crowded facilities.
[….]
Most of the people who have tested positive for the virus either had mild or no symptoms, the district government said.
The residents who tested positive have been isolated, authorities said, adding that 60 people whose tests came back negative have been transferred to another home.
Testing ‘happening far too late’
News of the outbreak prompted swift criticism, with politicians urging for better protections for asylum-seekers.
[….]
Asylum-seekers in Germany are required to live in “reception centers,” or shared accommodations, during their asylum applications. Many live with several hundred other inhabitants, with some sharing rooms with strangers.
The conditions and lack of privacy in Germany’s facilities for asylum-seekers have long been criticized by refugee and immigrant rights groups, with the coronavirus pandemic raising fears among asylum-seekers and activists alike.
In case you are wondering how the Rohingya in Bangladesh are faring with the arrival of the virus, there is no additional news and apparently no spreading like wildfire yet. We are watching!
I’m posting this news because I have been following (for weeks!) the media’s hyper focus on the Chinese Virus and its potential threat to large refugee camps worldwide. Now it appears the first cases have arrived.
The value of social distancing (or lack of it) is about to be tested.
Over two weeks ago I told you that the carnage watch was on, see here.
In case you don’t think the Rohingya have anything to do with you, think again.
You need to know that Rohingya Muslims (there is no Muslim ban!) are being resettled in the US in large numbers (prior to the COVID shutdown) during the Trump Administration.
Here is one story about Rohingya refugees staging a political protest in Arizona a couple of years ago with a little information for you on the Rohingya back story.
See over 200 additional posts on Rohingya in myRohingya Reportscategory.
Their situation is much more complicated than the superficial media-created meme that depicts them as pure as the driven snow while Burmese Buddhists are their persecutors.
Coronavirus: Two Rohingya test positive in refugee camp
Rohingya camp at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Two Rohingya refugees have tested positive for coronavirus in the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh, officials say.
These are the first confirmed cases among refugees in Cox’s Bazar, where around one million Rohingya are encamped, a government doctor said.
Officials told the BBC that those infected were now being treated in isolation.
About 1,900 other refugees are now being isolated for tests.
The Rohingya in the crowded camps of Cox’s Bazar have been living under lockdown since 14 March.
In Greece, which is also home to large numbers of refugees, officials are hoping to relocate around 1,600 vulnerable persons from its camps to other countries as the pandemic eases.
Two migrants who reached Greece’s Lesbos island this week tested positive for Covid-19 and were isolated with no contact with refugee camps on the island.
Go here to read about the big Greek camps. A couple of newly arrived African migrants have tested positive for the Chinese virus, but notice that the big island camps are still largely not impacted.
Just in case you don’t also read my other blog, this is a crosspost from Frauds and Crooks this morning!
I’m sure you are all familiar with Drudge and the many similar sites that provide timely headlines in areas of the media that appeal to you.
This one appeals to me! Border Hawk!where you can see the latest news on a wide variety of subjects under the overall umbrella of immigration topics. It will surely save you lots of time every day if you are desperate to find more news on illegal immigration/refugees/border issues and more.
“We need to look at the more fundamental issue, which is class, which is racism, which is social status, which is income.”
(Rashid Musa chairman of the Swedish Young Muslims)
Never let a good crisis go to waste!
Invasion of Europe News….
I’ve written extensively (for years) about socialist Sweden’s welcome to migrants from the third world, but even with its arms wide open, Swedes can’t win. (See my Sweden archive.)
Now their welcoming society is responsible for killing off mostly Somali and Iraqi migrants as the government sought to keep its country and economy relatively free of draconian measures as those most countries have employed to (supposedly) stop the virus.
Here is the AP at ABC Newshelping to spread the social justice über alles message. Expect more stories like this one to help fuel division between the rich and poor (even in ‘socialist’ Sweden).
Coronavirus takes a toll in Sweden’s immigrant community
Rich skiers infect poor cabbie….
STOCKHOLM — The flight from Italy was one of the last arrivals that day at the Stockholm airport. A Swedish couple in their 50s walked up and loaded their skis into Razzak Khalaf’s taxi.
It was early March and concerns over the coronavirus were already present, but the couple, both coughing for the entire 45-minute journey, assured Khalaf they were healthy and just suffering from a change in the weather. Four days later, the Iraqi immigrant got seriously ill with COVID-19.
Still not able to return to work, Khalaf is part of the growing evidence that those in immigrant communities in the Nordic nations are being hit harder by the pandemic than the general population.
Sweden took a relatively soft approach to fighting the coronavirus, one that attracted international attention. Large gatherings were banned but restaurants and schools for younger children have stayed open. The government has urged social distancing, and Swedes have largely complied.
The country has paid a heavy price, with 3,175 fatalities from COVID-19. That’s more than 31 deaths per 100,000 population, compared with about 8 per 100,000 in neighboring Denmark, which imposed a strict lockdown early on that is only now being slowly lifted.
Inside Sweden’s immigrant communities, anecdotal evidence emerged early in the outbreak that suggested that some — particularly those from Somalia and Iraq — were hit harder than others.
Last month, data from Sweden’s Public Health Agency confirmed that Somali Swedes made up almost 5 percent of the country’s COVID-19 cases, yet represented less than 1 percent of its 10 million people.
Many in these communities are more likely to live in crowded, multigeneration households and are unable to work remotely. [I seriously doubt that large numbers are out working!—ed]
[….]
Sweden, Norway and Finland recognized early failings in community outreach in minority languages and are seeking to fix this. The town of Jarfalla, outside Stockholm, has had high school students hand out leaflets in Somali, Persian, French and other languages, urging people to wash their hands and stay home if sick.
[….]
But teacher and community activist Rashid Musa says the problem runs much deeper.
“I wish it were that easy — that you needed to just translate a few papers,” he said. “We need to look at the more fundamental issue, which is class, which is racism, which is social status, which is income.”
“The rich have the opportunity to put themselves into quarantine, they can go to their summer houses,” Musa said.
“I watch people wiping, disinfecting, masking, flinching, distancing themselves from nice looking couples with dogs. No amount of hand-sanitiser will save them from the state of this country and the people we have let in.”
(Katie Hopkins)
It happened in March, but made little news mostly we can only assume, and others have speculated, that it is because the violent act was perpetrated by a Somali woman against a beautiful innocent white child unknown to the attacker.
Emily Jones, Age seven
Early reports of the killing never mention a word about the identity of the attacker as a migrant from Africa.
I think that in addition to the political correctness of the media, much of the silence surrounding the horror is, yes, it was so horrible that people hide from the truth of it to protect their own hearts and to not have to face the blunt truth British writerKatie Hopkinssays of it.
Facing it means that one should do something about it and that is too fear-provoking for most who cower at the prospect of being labelled a racist!
Most people will avoid talking to you about Emily’s death because it is too terrible. The things we know are too shocking to mention in front of a grieving mum.
That your child was a happy little thing playing on her scooter in the park with her family on Mothering Sunday when she was stabbed to death, her life ended in one blow by a Somali woman, a stranger to you and to this land.
If these words are too brutal for the grieving, how is it possible these things can happen to the living, on an otherwise normal day?
Instead we tiptoe around the truth, soften our language. We do not talk of murder or of killing. We softly whisper that Emily was ‘taken from you’, like a reclaimed gift or prize, regretfully removed from your arms by gentle hands.
We are not supposed to talk, either, about the Somali killer who hides behind her color and her mental health.
That is only a bit of it.
Please read it all, and if you do nothing else today send this powerful letter to everyone you know!
At least 70 people at a refugee home near Bonn have tested positive for COVID-19. News of the outbreak prompted calls for better protection for asylum-seekers and more testing at the often crowded facilities.
