Category: Haiti

Boston: Haitians living in hotels as wards of the state

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum.  It’s a year since a massive earthquake devastated Haiti and by all the news accounts this week, international aide did not pour into Haiti, Bill Clinton and George Bush were not successful in raising money to re-build the country and where is the Obama Administration?   No where according to this article in the Boston Globe!  Critics say the Obama US Citizenship and Immigration Services is responsible for not moving fast enough to give “deferred action” status to all those Haitians who got in here by hook or by crook after the quake and now want to stay.

By the way, the Obama Administration did make Temporary Protected Status available to all Haitians illegally in the US before the quake.

The people discussed in this article, got in somehow after the quake and live in limbo.  Some got in through a need for medical treatment and don’t want to leave, others were probably snuck in across our borders with the help of NGO’s and now live in hotels or are homeless in Massachusetts (elsewhere probably too).

This is how the story in the Globe begins:

BROCKTON — The young schoolteacher fled Haiti after the powerful earthquake, the day she spent four terrifying hours pinned under a car and a pile of rubble. In Massachusetts, she found medical care to heal her grotesquely swollen leg, counseling to quiet her nightmares, and hopeful messages from the US government that it would help her start over.

But today, the one year anniversary of the quake, she is homeless, with no documentation to work or drive, and living in a Brockton shelter with her husband and two daughters, aged 3 and 2 months. She is among a flood of Haitians silently adrift across the United States. Many fled the horrific disaster, using visitor visas to enter the United States and stay with friends or relatives, hoping to stay, at least temporarily, to work and rebuild.

In April, a top federal immigration official said Haitians who fled the earthquake could apply for deferred action, a rarely used immigration benefit that could allow them to stay and work for a fixed amount of time. But hundreds of applications are still unresolved nationwide, and advocates say that many Haitians are still unaware that the option exists.

Because they are not permitted to work, many are becoming burdens on their families or finding themselves homeless, according to Catholic Charities and other advocates. In Massachusetts, some are reluctant wards of the state, which pays for food stamps, apartment shelters, or hotel rooms for destitute families.

“I just want to have legal status. I need to start over,’’ said the woman, who asked not to be identified because she has applied for deferred action and fears deportation.

No kidding, she and millions of others just want to start over in the US.

But Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that favors tougher restrictions on immigration, said the Haitians should return to their homeland, because the visas were supposed to be for temporary travel. He pointed out that other nations in dire straits, such as Congo, do not receive special treatment.

If the truly charitable leaders of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities, World Relief, Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society can’t find it in their hearts to find private charitable money for all those they help get across the border, then maybe it is time for them to go home.   Kind of makes you wonder if there really is a Cloward-Piven strategy to create chaos and bring down our welfare system—ultimately as well our form of government.

 

Increasing number of Haitians coming across US southern border…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…..and arriving in San Diego.   Gee, why San Diego?

From SignOn San Diego:

A record number of Haitians have arrived on America’s southern doorstep, asking for asylum or temporary parole just as the United States is set to resume deportations to Haiti next month — one year after the catastrophic earthquake in the island country.

About 150 Haitian families are accounted for via local charities or border enforcement. While the number is not huge, the growth compared to previous years is astonishing to immigration experts and local advocates and could signify an oncoming wave.

“Historically we have never seen that many,” said Michael McKay, director of refugee services for Catholic Charities, which is assisting 30 families who have applied for asylum or temporary parole. “My suspicion is the door is closing in other places and the word is out that they may be able to get help through the border here.”

Previously, the organization saw one or two Haitians a year, he said. Christ Methodist Church in San Diego is also sponsoring families awaiting immigration proceedings, McKay added.

Currently, 108 Haitians are being detained in San Diego. The majority of those individuals had presented themselves to port of entry officers, said Barbara Gonzales, southern regional spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In January, there were only four Haitians in custody.

[….]

Haiti has been in turmoil since a devastating earthquake Jan. 12 killed more than 230,000 people. Almost immediately, the Obama administration halted deportations and offered a temporary-stay program to those already in the U.S. when the temblor occurred. So far, 61,000 applications for temporary stay have been processed, according to U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.

61,000 Haitians have applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) so far!  Whew!  TPS was granted by the Obama Administration after the Earthquake in Haiti and allowed anyone already (at that time) illegally in the US from Haiti to stay until some date in the future when the TPS would be lifted.   But, guess what, TPS is usually just extended over and over, so they never go home, they become part of the amnesty lobby.

I don’t see how this new wave can get TPS.  It seems to me they would have to apply for asylum and prove some sort of persecution.

Why San Diego?  I think the word is out. Open borders activists are encouraging Haitians to come to San Diego and they probably have lawyers waiting to help them get into the US.

Also, Catholic Charities and not the City, County or State of California is running the refugee/asylee program in San Diego County.  See the Office of Refugee Resettlement list of states and the one county whose refugee programs are now being run by a “church” group federal contractor and the US State Department (we learned about it here just two days ago).  I still don’t get it—why doesn’t the ACLU see a separation of church and state issue with the refugee program.   And, I continue to be amazed that CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) doesn’t squawk about all the Christian and one Jewish federal refugee contractors.  Shush! I bet the State Department is hoping and praying CAIR doesn’t figure it out!

Endnote: Just a reminder that San Diego is also the city with the recent Somali terror probe.  Here we have a whole bunch of stories archived on San Diego Somalis and terror investigations and arrests.  It appears also that San Diego was a point of departure for some of the Somali missing youths who left Minnesota beginning in 2008 (maybe earlier) to return to Africa for jihad training with Al-Shabaab.

Two American women dead in New Hampshire….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….brutally murdered by men who are recent immigrants.   One alleged murderer is an illegal Haitian, the other a supposedly legal Kenyan.  Frankly, I am getting lost in my immigrant diversity is strength crime stories that need posting.  I have some from Washington State as well and a reader sent me some other recent events in New Hampshire besides these two heinous murders.   Hat tip to two readers for these New Hampshire stories.

In the first case, reported in the Concord Monitor, the illegal Haitian just took a gun next door and shot a married nursing student at point blank range as she got him a drink of water.  Apparently the confessed murderer gave a motive to authorities but that has not been released to the public.

The Haitian national accused of killing a 31-year-old nursing student in her Henniker home was in the United States illegally and confessed to shooting her in the head after investigators showed him forensic evidence that linked him to the murder weapon, according to a newly unsealed police affidavit.

Roody Fleuraguste, 22, told investigators that he took a .357-caliber revolver belonging to Molly Hawthorn-MacDougall’s father-in-law, loaded it with six bullets and walked next door to her home at 18 Rand Road, where he shot her the morning of April 29, according to an affidavit filed by the state police to support an arrest warrant.

“I did it. . . . I did it,” Fleuraguste said, according to the court filing.

Partially redacted versions of two affidavits in the case were unsealed yesterday by a Merrimack County Superior Court judge. The Monitor and the New Hampshire Union Leader filed motions asking that the documents be released to the public.

Read all the sad details.

In the second case, the supposedly legal Kenyan* was the father of the murdered woman’s child.   The child may have witnessed the brutal murder that involved stabbing, and possibly a beating with a hammer and being run over by a car.

From WMUR-9:

BRENTWOOD, N.H. — A man has been charged with stabbing and killing the mother of his son.

Police found Randi Huntley, 25, suffering from stab wounds near her home in Danville, N.H., on Tuesday afternoon. She died a short time later.

According to court paperwork, investigators believe Huntley died after being repeatedly stabbed and/or hit with a metal hammer, and she may have been run over by a car.

On Wednesday, police charged Jackson Mwangi, 28, with first-degree murder. He was arraigned in Exeter District Court, but no motive for the killing was discussed.

Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said afterward that at one point, Mwangi and Huntley had been romantically involved. Mwangi and Huntley had a 4-year-old son together but were no longer a couple.

[….]

He also said that Mwangi, a Kenyan national, is in the country legally, although he couldn’t say how long he had been in the United States.

* I bet we find out he was just as “legal” as Obama’s Kenyan Aunt Zeituni.

And to all the readers who are fuming and spluttering about how white American men are murderers too.  Yes, they are, but that is not the subject of this blog.  You are welcome to write a blog about evil white American men at any time.

Fear of rape enough to get refugee status in Canada?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A recent decision by a Canadian court could open the door for any Haitian woman believing she might be raped to seek asylum in Canada.

From The Star:

A groundbreaking Federal Court ruling has opened doors to Haitian women who are seeking refugee status in Canada because they are afraid of being raped in their own country, where sexual violence is a growing problem.

“It means a Haitian woman making a refugee claim on that basis should succeed, as long as conditions in Haiti remain as they are now,” said lawyer Raoul Boulakia.

Boulakia represents Elmancia Dezameau, a Haitian-born mother of four who sought refugee protection after arriving in Toronto in 2007, arguing she and her four daughters were at risk of being targeted for rape if she were returned home.

In support of her case, Boulakia filed reports from several international aid agencies, including Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, which identified rape as a systemic problem in Haiti, one that has worsened since January’s earthquake.

Does this mean all Haitian women are eligible for refugee status in Canada?  It sounds like it to this lawyer.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that if Dezameau won her case, all female refugee claimants from Haiti would automatically be granted refugee protection simply because they are women.

Pinard [a Justice] rejected that argument, saying female refugee claimants from Haiti will still have to prove their risk of being raped is more than a mere possibility.

According to this story from The Star at least, it sounds like she didn’t have to submit anything in court besides general reports that rape in Haiti was widespread.  So is the Justice saying she still has to prove she is personally threatened?

Rape as a weapon to terrorize women is used throughout Africa too, so does this mean all women from certain countries would be eligible for refugee status in Canada?   It is hard to tell exactly what this ruling does.

Haitians entering US through Canada-Vermont border

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

No one knows for sure why the Haitians who had been living in Canada after fleeing there some time ago to avoid deportation from the US are now re-entering the US.  115 have been caught so far.  I’m guessing there is some misunderstanting about the Temporary Protected Status (hinted in this article) that Obama gave Haitians already in the US illegally when the Earthquake occurred in January. 

From the Burlington Free Press:

Over the past two and a half months — ever since Haiti was devastated by a monstrous earthquake Jan. 12 — a growing number of Haitian expatriates have been trying to come back into the United States after departing the country just years earlier to avoid deportation.

As of late last week, the number of Haitians caught since the earthquake allegedly trying to enter the country illegally had topped 115, said Mark Henry, operations officer for the U.S. Border Patrol’s Swanton sector.

Of the 115, one was caught in New York and 114 were apprehended in Vermont, Henry said. The Swanton sector covers the border from New Hampshire through Vermont to Ogdensburg, N.Y.

Tristram Coffin, the U.S. Attorney for Vermont, said he would not speculate on why Vermont’s border was such a preferred option for the Haitians.

Betsy Horsman, a deputy U.S. Attorney who works on immigration cases out of Plattsburgh, N.Y., said she suspects the Haitians think they have a better shot of entering Vermont’s border undetected than they would in upstate New York.

“We’re known over here as being very aggressive,” she said. “I don’t know why they would choose Vermont unless there are a couple of places in Vermont they know about.”

Do they think Temporary Protected Status will work for them?

They also are coming back here hoping that an 18-month ban of deportations to Haiti put in place by the Obama administration after the quake might give them time to establish themselves in America and strengthen their case for permission to reside in the country permanently.

“I suspect this has a lot to do with the Temporary Protected Status policy because of the earthquake,” Henry said.

Church World Service involved?

Way back in 2007 we reported that a subcontractor of federal refugee contractor, Church World Service, was arrested for human trafficking in Canada.  They were smuggling Haitians to Canada.   Hope they are not involved in helping them back across the border now.  Obviously someone suggested Vermont.