Utah political operative urges Utahns to oppose Trump pick for refugee program head

I told you the other day, that the Trump Administration is putting up Utah resident and former State Department Foreign Service Officer, Ron Mortensen, for the top post at the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The position requires Senate approval and this is the beginning of what lies ahead for Mortensen on The Hill.

Holly Richardsen
Holly Richardson wants Utah’s Senators to block Trump nominee to head refugee program

There is nothing of major significance in the opinion piece by Holly Richardson (it is the same old stuff used against anyone with Mortensen’s views), but we learned a few more nuggets about the Mormon Church’s open borders viewpoint and its welcoming attitude toward Muslim migrants.  And we learned more about Senator Mike Lee (once the darling of the conservative Tea Party movement in America).
From the Salt Lake Tribune:

The irony is thick. The very week that The New York Times published an opinion piece on “What Islamophobic Politicians Can Learn From Mormons,Donald Trump nominated an immigration hardliner, Utahn Ron Mortensen, to oversee refugees and migration. As the Times piece points out, since 2015, 49 states have had Republican officials publicly attacking Islam. The one standout was Utah. Now, one Utahn with strong anti-immigrant positions could ascend to a position of prominence.

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Maine: Somali refugees charged with welfare fraud

What else is new!  The only thing new is the change in location from Minnesota to Maine and this time it is medicaid fraud and not daycare fraud.
This news is from the Somali capital of Maine—Lewiston—and from earlier this month.
Tip of the iceberg?
From the Sun Journal (hat tip Frank):

PORTLAND — Two men from the Twin Cities charged with welfare fraud appeared in federal court Monday seeking release from jail.

Lewiston like Somalia
No mugshots of Ahmed and Osman that I could find, but figured this older photo would suffice to illustrate the story!

At an afternoon hearing, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John Rich III ordered Abdirashid Ahmed, 38, of Lewiston released on $5,000 bond after seizing his passport.

Rich said Ahmed would be equipped with an electronic monitoring device to ensure he does not leave Androscoggin County.

Ahmed was kept Monday night in federal custody at Cumberland County Jail. He was expected to be escorted Tuesday morning to Lewiston and released into the custody of the U.S. Probation Office. He must get permission from that office if he were to seek to leave Androscoggin County in the future, Rich said.

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Trial opens in case of another Uzbek refugee charged with plotting terror in his home country

We remember when Jamshid Muhtorov was arrested attempting to leave the country in 2012 and I have wondered what the heck was going on that his case was not going to trial.

Jamshid-Muhtorov--30291984_3085_ver1.0_320_240
Why didn’t we just let him leave? Why was protecting the Uzbek government our problem?  Indeed, why was he here in the first place?

Before reading on, you might want to revisit another notorious case of an Uzbek refugee sentenced to prison in Idaho who subsequently tried to kill the prison warden where he had been incarcerated, see here.
Now to the story from Denver about Jamshid Muhtorov where we learn the trial delay was due to his lawyer’s efforts to challenge the use of information from NSA surveillance:

Trial underway for refugee who challenged NSA surveillance

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Tyson Foods bringing "ethnic empowerment network" to a town near you

This story from Garden City, Kansas makes me wonder—-who is deciding the future for your meatpacking town, the citizens, or Tyson Foods?

tyson-foods-garden-city
Tyson Foods in Garden City, Kansas

I have a pretty large archive on Garden City which is one more heartland city that has been changed by the arrival of US State Department-planted third world refugee workers over the last decade or so.

The story leads me to believe that everything is not peace and love when diversity comes to town….

….and that Tyson Foods has a huge stake in keeping the immigrant worker supply train on the tracks!

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St. Cloud, Minnesota citizens are entitled to an open discussion about their changing city

Ten years ago this month, RRW published its first of what would be many posts on St. Cloud, Minnesota, a small city targeted by Lutheran Social Services of MN and the US State Department for the resettlement of mostly Somali refugees.

Jeff Johnson surrounded
Council member Jeff Johnson surrounded in October 2017     https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2018/05/18/st-cloud-city-council-member-jeff-johnson-refugee-resettlement-program/602537002/

When blog partner Judy wrote this post about the mistreatment of a service dog by Somali students it was the first time I had ever heard of St. Cloud, Minnesota.
In those ten years we have published dozens of posts on the demographic change there and the controversy it has created.
Our experience has been that the St. Cloud Times has been biased against anyone who wants to have a discussion about the change, but this story by reporter Jenny Berg is surprisingly balanced!  What happened?

Not just the ‘insensitive’ numbers guy: Jeff Johnson keeps refugee conversation going

 
It is a long story, but really worth reading. I was particularly interested in one theme expressed throughout:

Concerned citizens have a right to expect transparency from government officials at all levels.

In fact, it is that very lack of transparency that gave rise to this blog!
There would be no Refugee Resettlement Watch beginning in July 2007 if there had been an open and honest discussion in Hagerstown, Maryland that year and if the Hagerstown Herald Mail had investigated and explained the details of how the small city in a red county had been chosen for resettlement and how the process would work going forward.
See what I wanted to know in 2007! I’m still working on getting those answers for every American town and city! You have a right to the answers (without having your character slimmed!).