Category: Iraqi refugees

European countries deporting Kurds

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why not?  The Kurdish region of Iraq is now safe.  I think this case shows clearly that getting into Europe, Australia, Canada or the US is really the goal and most so-called “asylum-seekers” are in truth economic migrants using turmoil at home as an excuse to move out.

Maybe these countries have Kurdish gang problems as we do in Nashville!

From Rudaw:

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region– Around 11,000 Kurdish asylum-seekers are facing deportation from Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands, according to the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR).

Aras Rasoul was detained by British police after checking in at a train station, a routine required of rejected asylum-seekers. He says that he was sent back to Iraq in a plane blindfolded, among 56 other asylum-seekers.

Rasoul had only £50 when he was deported, and was not offered any assistance to reintegrate into society when he returned to the Kurdistan Region. His experience is not an isolated one. Hundreds of young Kurdish men have been deported to Kurdistan due to improved conditions and have had similar experiences.

“Conditions for Kurdish asylum-seekers in Europe are getting worse,” said Amanj Abdullah, head of the Kurdistan branch of the IFIR. “European countries use asylum-seekers as a political card and the Iraqi government has struck deals with them at the expense of the life and dignity of the asylum-seekers.”

Abdullah says that, if agreements between the Iraqi and European governments are not revoked, 35,000 asylum-seekers will face the possibility of deportation, “with 90 percent of them being Kurdish.”

White House’s Power: “doing rinkey-dink do-gooder stuff”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

But, would rather be making war!

Have any of you read the New York Times bestseller on President Obama by Edward Klein entitled, The Amateur?   I haven’t finished it yet but I almost fell out of bed recently when I read the chapter on White House Iraqi Refugee Czar Samantha Power.   Longtime readers may recall that I noted that Ms. Power (Mrs. Cass Sunstein), Susan Rice at the UN, and Hillary* were largely responsible for our engagement in the Arab Spring excellent-extended-adventure in Libya.  I called them Macbeth’s weird sisters in that post.

Klein confirms the role of the three in helping advance the further Islamification of Libya and quotes a White House source who calls the three the “humanitarian Vulcans.”

The gist of Power’s foreign policy (when to make war) theory is that war is o.k. for America when it is conducted to “protect” people.   She calls it the “Responsibility to Protect” described here by Stanley Kurtz; and the warmongers on the Left even have a shorthand way of referring to her doctrine as R2P.  Of course the situation in Syria and Obama’s lack of enthusiasm to protect Syrians comes immediately to mind, but that is a story for another day.

Back to Power, when European countries decided to jump into the Libyan civil war on the side of the rebels apparently Obama was reluctant to get involved, but, according to Klein, Power was itching for a fight and wanted to put her R2P to a test.   Readers here at RRW know how that turned out—tens of thousand of new refugees fled Libya into neighboring countries or tried to cross the Mediterranean resulting in even more people to protect (or is that the plan?).

As you read what Klein says be sure to remember that Power is the so-called Iraqi Refugee Czar in the White House National Security Council and that she was given the job of reforming the refugee program (which we hear nothing about these days).  Too “rinkey-dink” for Mrs. Cass Sunstein?   (Emphasis below is mine).

Klein:

Among Obama’s foreign policy advisers, Samantha Power, the far-out leftist firebrand, complained that the administration’s cautious, first-dono-harm, approach to the Arab Spring had effectively sidelined her in White House Councils.  She said she’d been relegated to “doing rinky-dink do-gooder stuff,” such as advocating on behalf of beleaguered Christians in Iraq, and no longer had as much access to the President.  She was itching to get back in the fray, and she saw an opportunity in Libya.

Let me repeat that!

She said she’d been relegated to “doing rinky-dink do-gooder stuff,” such as advocating on behalf of beleaguered Christians in Iraq.

In fact she would like to do more big stuff, nothing “rinky-dink,” like maybe invade Israel as some believe she is advocating in this clip.

* Power called Hillary a “monster” during the 2008 Presidential campaign and resigned from the Obama team (for awhile).

Resettlement to “welcoming” Minnesota slowed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Well, not just Minnesota but everywhere.  There is nothing new in this story.  I’m posting it here because while the Israelis riot AGAINST more Africans coming across the Israeli border, recognizing the potential destruction of the social fabric, this article highlights the desire by Minnesota’s social service agencies and the “faith” community to “welcome” more to Minnesota.

The refugee program has been slowed because of the discovery (oops!) of Iraqi terrorists having been resettled in Bowling Green, KY and probably some other cases we haven’t heard about yet.    By the way, a reader from Kentucky told me recently that Bowling Green is 10% Bosnian Muslim now thanks to the Clinton Administration’s phony-baloney Bosnian war and refugee resettlement contractors.

Here is the Star Tribune article boo-hooing about the slow flow of refugees to Minnesota:

Fewer feet are stepping across Minnesota’s welcome mat.

Stricter screening measures for refugees hoping to enter the United States from countries deemed a security risk have allowed fewer people to reach Minnesota from hot spots around the world.

The total number of refugees arriving in the state dropped from 2,107 in the 12 months ending in September 2010 to 1,856 in the 12 months ending in September 2011, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services.

So far, only 758 refugees entering the U.S. have landed in Minnesota in the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 2011.

Not to worry! The pace will surely pick up in the summer!

Workers at both state and federal refugee agencies predict the numbers of new arrivals to Minnesota will pick up soon as the government fine-tunes the new screening process in time for summer, historically the busy season for refugee resettlement work.

Readers, there is nothing special about summer, it is just that the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30th and the feds and the contractors put on a big push to resettle as many as they can toward the approved cap before the new fiscal year begins.  And, since they are likely to even get smaller numbers of refugees in 2013, they want to get all the bodies they can get in 2012.

Most refugees going to Minnesota are Somalis.

The recent decline in refugee numbers nationally and locally began nearly two years ago, after U.S. officials sought to tighten screening process for refugees coming from Iraq mainly, but it also has affected refugees from Somalia.

See my recent post about Somali chain migration to Minnesota hitting a snag, here.   Same reporter for the Star Tribune, Allie Shah, wrote that story—must be on the Somali beat (or the Muslim beat).

Addendum:  Silly me, I should have linked this post from January 2011 that is one of the top posts here almost every day.

Minnesota: Iraqi Muslim gets 3 years for ripping off food stamp program for $3 million

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Does that sound about right to you?  Three years in jail for $3 million worth of fraud!   And, then the OBAMA Justice Department has to throw in a lesson on the phony economics of the redistribution of wealth!

This is one of the largest food stamp rip-offs I’ve reported so far in my extra-curricular hobby of reporting on immigrant fraud schemes.   I wonder if maybe we could persuade that Minnesota Humphrey School that is so interested in how much immigrants benefit the economy of Minnesota to track the criminal fraud schemes too?

Note to readers:  I started writing this post last night and used this article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but this a.m. most of the text is gone (here is what I had last night from the story):

The former owner of a corner market in St. Paul argued before his sentencing on a massive food stamp fraud that his illegal behavior “was the product of stress and psychological instability” attributed to his ex-wife dying in the collapse of the I-35W bridge in 2007.

Khaffak S. Ansari, 46, of Arden Hills, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in St. Paul to three years and five months in prison for making illegal redemptions for cash and ineligible merchandise at the Stryker Avenue Market.

The government contended that Ansari trafficked more than $3 million in food stamp benefits from January 2006 — well before the bridge collapse — through October 2010.

Ansari argued that the figure was closer to $1.5 million. Sentencing calls for him to pay $2.4 million in restitution. [How much do you want to bet that money is already out of the country!—ed]

According to a law enforcement affidavit filed in the case, the average food stamp redemption for a similarly sized store in Minnesota between 2004 and 2009 was slightly more than $320,000. Over that same period, Stryker’s redemptions were nearly 10 times that.  [So, someone was ripping-off the taxpayer as early as 2004—ed]

In presentencing court filings, the government argued for a four-year prison term for Ansari. The defendant sought as little as three years, pointing out that his ex-wife, Julia Blackhawk, was killed in the bridge collapse three months after their divorce.

Stress made him do it!

“The nature and circumstance of the offense . . . was a product of stress and psychological instability after the death of Mr. Ansari’s [former wife] in the Highway 35W bridge collapse,” his attorney argued in a presentencing document.

This morning I see there is a much more interesting article on Ansari at the Chicago Tribune written by reporter David Hanners* of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.  And, by the way, I am sure it didn’t escape your notice that Ansari had divorced his wife prior to her death on the bridge and that he had been trafficking and scamming the US taxpayer as early as 2006 (possibly earlier) and she died in 2007.

So Ansari is a refugee from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq!

His father, a doctor! made a plea to the judge to keep his sentence to as few years as possible with this sob story:

Ansari’s father, Dr. Tawfiq Ansari, a physician in North Carolina, wrote Magnuson, asking him to show “leniency and mercy to a man who was not himself for the past five years, and who loves his new adopted country so much.”  [Way to show your love of America by ripping us off! Is it justified because we are only infidels?—ed]

He said that his son, a Shi’a Muslim, had been tortured under Saddam Hussein’s Sunni regime in Iraq and that his son’s wounds “were not healed just hidden very deep inside.”

The father told the judge that after his son settled in Minnesota and opened the market, he seemed to be doing better. He married Julia Anne Kreider in September 2005, and the couple had a son.

In June 2006, Ansari filed for divorce. [He filed for divorce!—ed] It was granted in May 2007, and the couple “maintained a civil relationship for the sake of their son,” the father wrote.

But on Aug. 1, 2007, Julia Blackhawk, as she was then known, was one of 13 people killed in the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis.

“That left Khaffak in extreme shock and confusion,” Tawfiq Ansari told the judge. “The death of Julia turned to be a turning point in Khaffak’s life, he drifted into depression and self guilt. He started to have mood swings and an uncaring attitude towards life and his business.”

He said his son told him several times “that Julia’s death was his fault and he had to be punished for it.”

O.K. so let’s punish the guy!

Obama’s Justice Department doesn’t miss an opportunity to promote their economic redistribution theories even in a press release about a fraud case!  

LOL!  Not a mention in the release about the Muslim refugee sob story though.

Justice Department: Food stamps fuel the economy through trickle-down welfare!  Huh?  Couldn’t you also say that if the dollars were left in the hands of those who earned them (rather than the government taking them through taxes) that would also fuel the economy and do it more fairly!

From those brilliant economists at the Justice Department:

According to a 2010 USDA report, when properly functioning, SNAP benefits move into
the local economies quickly. This is important for the families that receive the benefits and the communities where the benefits are spent because SNAP has an economic multiplier effect. When SNAP operates as designed, every $5 spent in benefits generates $9 in economic activity. This benefit is supposed to accrue not only to the eligible families but also to the grocery stores where the food was purchased, the distributors who delivered the food, and ultimately the farmers who produced it. According to recent estimates, every $1 of spending on SNAP increases GDP by as much as $1.79 — a significant multiplier effect, and an increase of $1 billion in SNAP spending generates as many as 17,900 total full-time jobs.  [1, 7 and 9 must be the favorite numbers of the ‘economists’—ed]

* Way to go Mr. Hanners!  Thanks for your more extensive reporting!  This is an example of the massive food stamp fraud going on in these ‘mom & pop’ stores across America—it is a huge story in need of some real investigative reporting!

Fishy “hate crime” story in El Cajon

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

CAIR and the Muslim grievance lobby are trying oh-so-hard to elevate this tragic murder of a young Iraqi mother in California to be on par with the Trayvon Martin circus in Florida.   I’ve been reading about the case elsewhere and there is something fishy about it.

Here is the story from Reuters, sans some red flags, but with a serious reference to the very un-serious Southern Poverty Law Center:

Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of five, was found brutally beaten in the dining room of her rented home last week by her 17-year-old daughter, police said. She died of her wounds on Saturday.

Local police are investigating the killing as a possible hate crime because of a note found next to Alawadi’s unconscious body that threatened the family and was reported to have labeled her a terrorist. An FBI bias crimes squad is assisting.

Alawadi’s death comes at a time of renewed anti-Muslim sentiment nationwide. The number of anti-Muslim hate groups tripled to 30 in 2011, according to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which advocates for civil rights.

Take a couple of minutes and read this hilarious piece by Daniel Greenfield at Frontpage Magazine where he tells readers how he and his cat became a SPLC “hate group.”  Reuters reporter Mary Slosson should read it too!

Not a racist “hate crime” yet say the police because they are probably checking out the story of certain family members (Muslim honor killing maybe?):

“We are considering the hate crime aspect, but we are not labeling it as such,” El Cajon Police Lieutenant Mark Coit said. But he could not reveal any details on the status of the case.

El Cajon, second largest settlement of Iraqis in the US.  Many came to escape the Saddam Hussein regime (something we don’t hear much about from the refugee industry which wants everyone to believe all Iraqi refugees are a result of the evil US actions in Iraq).

El Cajon is in the heart of East San Diego County, which is home to the second largest Iraqi community in the United States, behind Detroit. More than half of El Cajon’s 100,000 residents are of Middle Eastern descent.

Like Alawadi’s family, some of the city’s Arab residents are largely Shi’ite refugees from Iraq who arrived in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s after fleeing their homeland in the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s 1980 invasion of Shi’ite neighbor Iran and the long war that followed.

But the town has seen an even larger surge of Iraqi newcomers since 2008 through a U.S.-funded refugee resettlement program, often joining relatives in the area, said Michael McKay, Deputy Director of Refugee Services at the Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego.

For more on problems with refugees in El Cajon, see our archives on the city here. You will see one story about the Iraqi-Mexican drug rings.   A little warning to Iraqis involved in the illicit drug trade perhaps?  Lots of potential angles here to keep the police busy.