Category: Immigration fraud

Now Somalis get Temporary Protected Status extension

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Basically what this means is that around 1000 plus Somalis (that they know of!) who got into the US illegally are now eligible to sign up to stay and work.

I’ve written about TPS extensively, just search for “Temporary Protected Status” to learn what a fraud this “legal” program is—there are a couple hundred thousand Central Americans (among others!) staying here permanently under this “temporary” designation, now Somalis continue to get a free pass too.

From Minnesota Public Radio:

St. Paul, Minn. — Somali nationals with no other legal means to stay in the US can now apply for temporary protected status.

The status allows Somalis currently in the US to stay here.

The government first designated Somalis as eligible for the status in 2001. The protection from deportation expires about every 18 months.  [And it is always extended!—ed]

U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano decided to reauthorize the status, citing the poor living conditions, armed conflicts, and lasting effects from severe drought.

John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota says few Somalis in the state have temporary status, but Napolitano’s decision will allow more to apply for the designation.

“The government basically has decided that things continue to be so bad in Somalia that even people who’ve recently arrived or who are transitioning between statuses should get this protection,” Keller said.

The Department of Homeland Security says about 250 Somalis nationwide are eligible to re-register for temporary protected status while fewer than 1,000 people will be eligible for the first time.

The truth is they have no clue how many are here with “no legal means to stay.”

Minnesota US Senator Klobuchar cheers the decision to allow our “friends” to stay, here.

I guess those Somali deportation stories are a bunch of hogwash!

Canada: Tamil Tigers on board the MV Sun Sea; Tigers in Oakland?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

So what else did you expect!

I should be writing about yesterday’s State Department meeting where federal contractors made their pitches for more refugees for FY2013 and I will get to that shortly (I hope), but to add a little variety to our stories about bureaucracy in Washington, I’m posting this update of a story I wrote about back in 2010—Sri Lankans loaded on ships and taken to Canada by human smugglers, here.  Canadian immigration officials are sorting through the nearly 500 illegal entrants from this one ship to sort out the terrorist Tigers from legitimate asylum seekers.

By the way, here is a little Tiger trivia:   Tamil Tigers are famous for pioneering the use of the suicide belt.

From the National Post:

Deportation orders have been issued against two more of the 492 Sri Lankan refugee claimants who arrived off the B.C. coast in 2010 aboard the smuggling ship MV Sun Sea.

In separate decisions, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada ordered the expulsion of both men, ruling one had engaged in people smuggling and the other had been a member of a Tamil rebel group.

The cases bring to 19 the number of Sun Sea migrants who have been issued deportation orders to date. All have been declared inadmissible to Canada due to their involvement in terrorism and crime.

“Canada opens its doors to those who work hard and play by the rules. However, we must crack down on those who seek to take advantage of our generosity, often for financial gain,” Julie Carmichael, spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, said Tuesday.

Neither of the latest deportees was named in the heavily edited rulings released to the National Post, but one was found to have served in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam between 2005 and 2006, when he was in his mid-20s.

Read the whole article, there is lots of interesting information about trafficking and what it costs and who is making a fortune from it.  Makes me wonder again who is trafficking Somalis into the US.

Sri Lankans to Oakland!

This reminds me that the US State Department and the International Rescue Committee helped Australia with a little illegal immigration problem of theirs by taking illegal alien Sri Lankans off the Australians hands in 2010 and placing them in Oakland, CA.   Here is the story I wrote nearly two years ago.   And, this is a point I made in my testimony to the State Department—Congress should forbid the use of this program for other foreign policy objectives.

Just a reminder that the International Rescue Committee’s Anne Richard has been confirmed as Obama’s pick to head the State Department refugee program.  Another contractor is now in charge of doling out the federal bucks (your bucks!).  She started her work this week by traveling to Switzerland, Iraq and Jordan.

More delays in the Tennessee Somali sex trafficking case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, what do you know—refugee immigration documents are inaccurate for some.

(Previous posts on this case can be found here)

From AP at NECN.com (raise your hand if you’ve seen this story mentioned anywhere on the mainstream media!):

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — A federal trial involving more than a dozen defendants accused in a sex trafficking ring run by Somali gangs has faced a series of delays.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes again this week ordered jurors to return on Monday as defense attorneys argued that the defendants, many of whom are refugees from Somalia, were juveniles at the time the alleged crimes occurred.

The indictment said three gangs called the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws were forcing teenage girls into prostitution and operated in St. Paul, Minnesota; Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville.

After selecting a jury last month, the trial was delayed last week when prosecutors turned over thousands of documents and audio recordings from the investigation to defense attorneys on the eve of trial. Both defense attorneys and federal prosecutors have repeatedly declined to comment about the case.

Who exactly is my mama, and when exactly was I born?

Many, but not all the defendants, are described as refugees who came to the United States as young children. [What about the others, were they born here, or came illegally?—ed] Police have relied on immigration paperwork to determine their ages, but defense attorneys have argued in court that information in those documents are routinely incorrect due to cultural and language issues.*

One defendant, Abdirahman Abdirazak Hersi, has a date of birth listed in police records as Feb. 20, 1990, but his mother testified in court Wednesday that he had been born in Somalia on Dec. 1, 1991, and that her sister was incorrectly listed as his mother in immigration records.

His attorney has asked the judge to dismiss some of the charges against his client because he would have been a juvenile at the time of the offenses and he never had a juvenile status hearing that would determine whether he would face the charges as an adult.

* Or due to fraud!   New readers may not know that the family reunification portion of the Refugee Resettlement Program was (maybe still is!) closed for years beginning in 2008 when the State Department discovered widespread fraud primarily from Somalia and East Africa.   The “family” members turned out not to be related at all.  Here is my original reporting.  And, as of this writing (July 2011)—fewer refugees coming to the US due to security concerns—the program had not resumed.

New Hampshire: Trial of Rwandan “refugee” costing the government millions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We previously told you the story of  Beatrice Munyenyezi, here, who is being charged with lying to get into the US by lying about her alleged role in the Rwandan genocide.   Two weeks ago her trial ended in a mistrial, but the government will retry the case beginning in September.

From the Union Leader (hat tip: Jeanine):

One of the attorneys who defended a Manchester woman accused of lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide to gain U.S. citizenship estimated her recent prosecution and trial in federal court in Concord cost taxpayers between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Manchester attorney Mark Howard, a former federal prosecutor who represents Beatrice Munyenyezi, 42, said taxpayers will bear the cost of both her defense and her prosecution because the court deemed her to be indigent.

The three-week-long trial in U.S. District Court ended in a mistrial two weeks ago when jurors couldn’t reach a verdict, but the government said Friday she will be retried.

That trial will likely cost an additional $1 million, Howard said.

If to this point in the story you are thinking maybe it isn’t worth it (the re-trial), read on.  So much for the much vaunted screening we supposedly do on refugees entering the US:

Munyenyezi came to the United States with her three daughters in 1998 as a refugee and had worked for the Manchester Housing Authority for $13 an hour.

Munyenyezi has been jailed since her arrest in June 2010.

At trial, the government alleged Munyenyezi controlled local militia in the area of Butare, Rwanda, and oversaw roadblocks being constructed. The government further asserted she controlled those roadblocks and directed others to identify people who were Tutsis, then segregated them to be raped and killed.

Two witnesses testified she killed people, including a nun, shooting the nun herself after ordering her to be raped.

In earlier reports on this case we had learned that Ms. Munyenyezi had been resettled in the US by Catholic Charities.

A quarter of a million “temporary refugees” seek permanent resident status now

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve mention the Temporary Protected Status program on many occasions on these pages.  Readers need to know that a quarter of a million Central American illegal aliens living in the US are now making a push to be granted permanent resident status.   Here is a post I wrote two days ago at Potomac Tea Party Report explaining the political agitation for amnesty campaign launched yesterday in DC.

Also, you should visit Mark Krikorian (Center for Immigration Studies) writing on the topic here at National Review Online.