Category: Iraqi refugees

Maine: Gee, no jobs for educated refugees, what a surprise!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Nor are there jobs for your college graduate kids!

Just now as I turned off the TV, President Obama was being interviewed about how to create more jobs and yesterday the Republicans were announcing their plan to flood the job market with both uneducated and educated immigrants for their big business donor friends, yet here is a story from Maine boo-hooing about no jobs for educated refugees!

University of Southern Maine audience listens to plight of refugees who can’t find work!

From Maine Public Broadcasting Network.  (Hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’)  An Iraqi with a college degree from Iraq took part in panel discussion on jobs hosted by Catholic Charities of Maine among others.  I guess there are no more struggling job-seekers among the Americans in Maine!

Portland resident Sarah Mahdi came to the U.S. with a college degree, but, like many immigrants, has had trouble getting it recognized in the U.S. It’s not an unusual problem. Maine educators and other service providers are now looking for ways to make it easier for educated immigrants to find suitable jobs or further their educational opportunities.

[…..]

“When I first came to the States I just wanted to study,” said Mahdi, who was among a handful of immigrant students sharing their experiences Wednesday night at a panel discussion in Portland. The panel was organized by the University of Southern Maine’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, and Catholic Charities Maine.

New Mainers Resource Center uses tax dollars to help immigrants prove they actually have a legitimate college degree.

One place immigrants can turn to is the newly-established New Mainers Resource Center, one of the several service providers on hand at Wednesday night’s event to offer advice. The center’s program co-ordinator, Sally Sutton, is talking to George Dakonsa, who arrived here from the Democratic Republic of Congo seeking asylum four months ago.

“I have a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance,” he says. “I’d like it if they can help me to evaluate.”

The center was recently opened by Portland Adult Education with the aim of specifically helping college-educated immigrants in their search for suitable employment or further education. Co-ordinator Sutton says with immigrants like Dakonsa come an opportunity to breathe new economic life into the state.  [Would someone please explain exactly how they are breathing new economic life into the state!—ed]

That bad ‘ol Maine governor is at it again—-how dare he try to balance the state budget!

The New Mainers Resource Center, however, may end up being a short-lived venture. It’s meant to be a two-year pilot project funded at $75,000 a year.

But the program could be eliminated after its first year – just one small part of the nearly $34 million in spending cuts being recommended in a report commissioned by the LePage administration, looking for ways to balance the two-year budget.

Governor LePage needs to continue working on something else!  Maine has become a go-to state for asylum seekers.

Check out this article from The Free Press from earlier this month:

Maine has become known to many central African asylum seekers as a place where they can find community support as well as temporary financial assistance while they have their visas and work permits approved. Often they arrive on tourist or business visas, sometimes with forged documents. While many asylum seekers are well educated and come from financial means, the money doesn’t last long and many end up in homeless shelters while their applications are being processed.

Maine happens to be one of a handful of states that does not require proof of citizenship. All asylum seekers must show is that they are applying for asylum. Unlike official refugees, such as many in the Somali and Sudanese populations who are resettled in Maine by the U.S. State Department [and Catholic Charities—ed], asylum seekers do not qualify for any other state or federal benefits while they are applying for asylum. The whole asylum approval process can take from one to two years and it typically takes at least 150 days for asylum seekers to be eligible to legally work once approved for asylum.

See also, Maine the welfare magnet one of our top posts of all time.

One more thing….so much for the importance of educated refugees!

Reader ‘tomasrose’ sent us this comment to our earlier post about Bhutanese low-skilled laborers and the US State Department (as headhunters) bringing them in for businesses:

I spoke with a refugee from the middle east just last week and he confirmed, of course, refugees are coached in what to say to improve their chances at coming to the U.S.. One of the things he said is they hide any education they might have. If the U.S. thinks you are educated your chances of moving to the U.S. are lower. He cited an M.D. from Baghdad who told refugee officials he was a menial laborer and, presumably, would be happy to work the same jobs in the U.S.. Had he advertised his credentials as a doctor, he would have a better chance at going to one of the Scandinavian countries, but to get the U.S. he had to really dumb his resume down.

Iraqi refugee rapist found guilty in Colorado; Diana West reports the story nationally

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Author and one of the best investigative researchers in America, Diana West, has made the Colorado rape story a national story here at Townhall.   As we noted in our report on the trial of “Steve-O,” an Iraqi man who “helped” American soldiers in Iraq and who in turn was granted asylum in the US because a soldier befriended him, horrific cases like this one rarely make national news in large part, I believe, because it goes against the melting pot mythology surrounding Islam and our immigration policy that has opened America’s doors to an alien culture.

But, Diana West, says it best at Townhall.    See her blog post this week too, here.  She did some serious digging and reveals that Jasim Ramadon (aka Steve-O, aka Jay Hendrix) was a problem from his earliest days in America.  Why was that?

Two Iraqi men in their 20s have been convicted of a bloody sex crime in Colorado that left the victim, a woman in her 50s, in need of immediate surgery and a colostomy bag. Three other Iraqi men, also in their 20s,were convicted on lesser charges as accessories.

Four points set this case apart. First, there is its brutality: Law enforcement officers describe the July 2012 assault as “rare” and “horrific” and “one of the worst in Colorado history.” Second, all of these men once assisted U.S. military forces in Iraq as informants and interpreters. Third, every one of them received permanent residency status in the U.S., due in part to efforts made by U.S. military members on their behalf. Fourth, this extraordinary case and the ties that bind it to the U.S. military and the war in Iraq have received little coverage.

You must go read the whole thing!   She has uncovered some amazing additional facts including the laughable news that Ramadon once made an appearance on Oprah.

Here is the conviction story from earlier in the week at The Gazette.

As I’ve said previously I would like to see some brave members of Congress introduce legislation that would put the financial burden of criminal trials and the cost of incarceration of “refugees” and “asylees” on the US State Department and not on the local county or state where the refugee has been placed.

There also needs to be thorough consideration of deportation in cases like this one.  Send Ramadon back to Iraq and let him take the consequences there rather than burden the taxpayers of Colorado with the cost of his imprisonment for possibly a life term.  Imagine the demands Ramadon’s “religion” is going to place on the prison system there.

Colorado: Iraqi refugee rape trial underway

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The arrest of five Iraqi refugees in Colorado Springs in 2012 is a story we reported at the time (here, and here I was looking for an update).  I had wondered what happened to the five accused of raping an unconscious woman they somehow got to their apartment.

Jasim Mohammed Hasin Ramadon is on trial now in Colorado.

Perhaps the most stunning thing about the case is that an American military man helped at least one of the accused get into the US and wrote a book about it!  The Special Immigrant Visa program, designed to help those who ‘helped’ Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan get into the US more easily, may well have been the vehicle for Jasim Mohammed Hasin Ramadon to become a “new American.”

Now thanks to reader Jewell, here is an update on the case from The Gazette:

Is he responsible for a horrific rape that nearly killed a Colorado Springs woman – or a patsy tapped by his co-defendants to shoulder the blame?

An El Paso County jury on Wednesday heard clashing portrayals of Jasim Mohammed Hasin Ramadon, a 21-year-old Iraqi immigrant accused of “shoving” his hand into the rectum of a semiconscious woman, causing severe internal bleeding.

Charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, Ramadon – also known as Jay Hendrix – could face up to the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

Sarmad Fadhi “Levi” Mohammed is already serving 16 years for shoving his penis in the woman’s mouth.

His trial, which is expected to last two weeks, comes after an 11-month delay during which the case was held up as the Colorado Supreme Court considered an evidentiary dispute between prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Charged in the July 2012 assault at a west Colorado Springs apartment complex were Ramadon and four other Iraqi immigrants, all of whom were brought to the United States with the help of military members after assisting troops in Iraq.

One co-defendant, Sarmad Fadhi “Levi” Mohammed, 26, is serving 16 years to life in prison after a jury convicted him last year of placing his penis in the woman’s mouth. Three others were accused of lying to police about what they knew of the rape and ended up with misdemeanor convictions.

Read on.

As we suggested with the Utah refugee rape/murder trial that just concluded, maybe lawmakers in Washington should be insisting that the US State Department help defray the enormous cost to local tax payers when “refugees” they admit to the US commit crimes.  These trials and decades of incarceration cost the “welcoming” state a lot of money in the end.

And, also like the Utah case, this dreadful story will not reach the mainstream media outside the state especially as that same media is now working hard to get those Syrian Muslims into the US.

Just as an endnote if you didn’t have time to revisit our first post on the arrest, here is what we learned:

Ramadon was featured in “A Soldier’s Promise,” a combat memoir by Army First Sgt. Daniel Hendrex  published in 2009 . Hendrex met the 14-year-old Ramadon  while deployed to Husaybah, a town in Al Anbar Province in Iraq , according to book reviews on  Amazon. According to reviews, Ramadon encountered Hendrex’s soldiers in December 2003, and pleaded with them to arrest him in exchange for key information about local insurgents. The book chronicles Ramadon’s relationship with Hendrex’s unit, of which he became an intricate part, ultimately earning the nickname Steve-O, the review reads.  Later, in exchange for his services, Hendrex helped Ramadon immigrate to the United States.

Watch for it! More Iraqis coming our way?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Still not close to the number of Syrians entering Jordan, but the pace of Iraqis on the run is increasing (again!).

Iraqis have only one place to go—Jordan. Saudi Arabia takes no refugees!

Just when you thought one Muslim civil war was over and we could stop taking their “refugees,” along come the Islamists to fire things up again as we learned this weekend in the news from Iraq.  It reminds me of the game ‘whack-a-mole!’

A BBC story on the resurgence of fighting in Fallujah inserts these paragraphs which doesn’t bode well for the US getting a break from Iraqi refugees—the largest group of refugees we resettled in FY2013—almost 20,000!

BBC:

Meanwhile the conflict appeared to be having an effect on the flow of Iraqi refugees into Jordan.

The UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said registration had increased fivefold since the beginning of December, though most new refugees came from minority communities in Baghdad.  [Minorities also include Sunni Muslims—ed]

Smaller numbers were coming from Anbar province, where the fighting was taking place, and from the majority Shia community, the UN said.

An average of 415 Iraqi refugees a week are now entering Jordan, compared with 500 Syrians per day, it added.

Saudi Arabia does not allow refugees to come across the border, and if they manage to get in they are deported—even the Muslim ones.

This is our 599th post on Iraqi refugees.

Canada quandary: what to do with convicted Iraqi refugee child sex offender?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Fearing for his life, he doesn’t want to be deported back to Iraq, so Canadian officials are thinking of returning him to society in Canada!

Child molester Khatab Ismail: Deportation? or release to family in Canada?

From CTV News (emphasis mine):

 An Iraqi refugee who repeatedly molested a young boy in Canada over a two year span has served his sentence for the crime but remains in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency.

Immigration officials have attempted to deport Khatab Ismail but Ismail fears a return to his homeland would put his life in jeopardy. Iraq does not want him returned and is refusing to issue travel documents.

If Ismail does not voluntarily agree to be deported, immigration officials may decide to release him into Canadian society next month.

Representatives with the Calgary Police Service say they are extremely concerned by the possibility Khatab Ismail, a man who has been deemed an untreated sex offender and a danger to the public if released.

Read it all.

His family says he will be killed in Iraq for this crime in Canada.  They don’t explicitly say it, but we all know that homosexual activity in Muslim countries can bring a death sentence (officially or unofficially!).  If it was a female child he molested, then maybe not so likely.

Those Iraqi refugees have been busy lately, see our entire archive here.   Our Canada archive is here.