Category: Other Immigration

Editorial at Immigration Daily is woefully uninformed

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The ILW.com, an organization for Immigration Lawyers, publishes an online news service entitled Immigration Daily.  Its publication for March 9th, contains a commentary entitled, “Ice endangers America” in which they complain that while ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is chasing busboys, terrorists get away with murder.  Huh?

ICE is sending terrorists a clear message – its open season on America. ICE’s raids focus on gardeners and busboys, letting terrorists off the hook.

Then after a litany of complaints about ICE raids:

All this while there are clear dangers on American soil that ICE is turning a blind eye to.

So, what “terrorists” are getting away?  In the middle of one long run-on paragraph there is this:

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune recently quoted FBI director Mueller saying “Shirwa Ahmed, the first known suicide bomber with U.S. citizenship, apparently was indoctrinated in Minnesota.” US taxpayers’ hard earned money is given to ICE to protect our homeland, not to chase dishwashers and carpenters.

Now, although I might agree with ILW that we didn’t do such a hot job (that is an understatement) of heading off the missing Somali men,  one case has nothing to do with the other.  The FBI, doing the terrorism investigation, is in the Department of Justice and ICE is in Homeland Security.  Shirwa Ahmed was in the US legally (originally as a refugee through the US State Department) and was according to media reports a US citizen.

I’m going to bet that ICE has enough people on staff to handle the illegal busboys and shouldn’t have to be involved in issues under the jurisdiction of the State Department and the Justice Department (FBI).

Come to think of it,  maybe I’ll take that above title back, was it ICE that let Omar Jamal off the deportation hook?   Ahmed’s case does not make ILW’s point, but Jamal’s might.  You can imagine though if ICE was snooping around (I hope they are!) and did investigate whether some of the Minneapolis Somalis are here illegally, ILW would be the first to complain!

NumbersUSA calls for immediate suspension of (virtually) all immigration due to jobs crisis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

On Friday, Roy Beck, head of NumbersUSA one of the largest immigration watch dog groups called for the Obama Administration to shut the immigration spigot so we could cope with the spiraling job loss crisis.    While losing 651,000 jobs in February, immigrants continue to stream into the US.

Nothing has changed since last year when 138,000 new foreign workers were added to the U.S. each month on average.

Beck charges that business interests are teaming with the Democratic Administration and Democratic leaders in Congress to continue the flow.

Following the lead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Pres. Obama, Senate Majority Leader Reid and House Speaker Pelosi refuse to respond to the plight of unemployed American workers and consider a suspension of most immigration and foreign worker programs.

Cut the numbers drastically.

We at NumbersUSA have said since November that the national jobs disaster requires an immediate suspension of all immigration and temporary foreign work programs except for spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens, a controlled number of emergency refugees and a few thousand truly extraordinary skilled workers for whom no American substitute is available.

I’m supportive of NumbersUSA’s initiative, I just wonder what that “controlled number of emergency refugees” would be.

See the NumbersUSA video linked permanently under our banner at the top of the page.  Beck demonstrates very graphically how we can’t save the world but we are sinking the US trying to do that.

Applying Alinsky’s Rule 13 to Arizona Sheriff Arpaio

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you have been following immigration issues in recent years, you’ve certainly become  aware of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who uses unorthodox methods to manage prisoners including illegal aliens in his charge.  He is perhaps most famous for requiring male prisoners to wear pink underwear.

A campaign orchestrated by leftwing open borders groups is now underway to oust Arpaio by bringing a Justice Department investigation against him.  I told you about that here a couple of weeks ago.

This is another example of Saul Alinsky’s Rule 13, the same strategy that Obama, a devoted student of the Alinsky school of political warfare, attempted to use (unsuccessfully) against Rush Limbaugh in January (here).   Simply stated in Alinsky’s strategy to destabilize communities one picks a target, freezes it, personalizes (demonizes) it and thus polarizes it.  It is a method to separate this particular person from his or her supporters.  Here is what I said (quoting Alinsky) in January of the attempt on Limbaugh:

Now, here are some more things to remember from Alinsky’s Rule 13 from “Rules for Radicals:”

* In conflict tactics there are certain rules that the organizer should always regard as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and “frozen.”

* Obviously there is no point to tactics unless one has a target upon which to center the attacks. [Alinsky makes it very clear here, that for instance you can’t attack something broad like ‘conservatives’, one must focus the attacks on a person.]

* Let nothing get you off your target.

* It should be borne in mind that the target is always trying to shift responsibility to get out of being the target. [Good luck with that when you’ve taken on Limbaugh, he will relish being the target!]

* With this focus comes a polarization. As we have indicated before, all issues must be polarized if action is to follow. [He then discusses how the person, the target, must be the personification of evil. One cannot effectively defeat the other side if people believe that person has some good qualities.]

Yesterday’s demonstration against Arpaio in Phoenix is Alinsky Rule 13 at work.

PHOENIX — Tensions rose between two large groups of protesters in downtown Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.

At issue, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s stand on immigration and his policy to detain undocumented immigrants.

A group of about 1,000 people turned out to march from Steele Indian School Park, along Central Avenue to protest Arpaio’s practices.

Best counter-strategy for Arpaio is the same as Rush Limbaugh used—-Alinsky Rule #5—-laugh yourself silly over their so obvious tactics.

Who could we do this to?  Off the top of my head, maybe George Soros.   Wouldn’t that be fun!

Beheader said headless wife can’t reach paradise

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update March 14th:  Beheader pleads not quilty, at Jihad Watch here.

Daniel Pipes, Middle East scholar and anti-jihad fighter, has a column today on the New York State beheading case with a new piece of information. He writes:

A reliable source informs me – and this is breaking news – that the police found Muzzammil repeatedly told his wife that she had no right, under Islamic law, to divorce him. They also quote him stating that Aasiya, because beheaded, cannot reach paradise.

Presumably this is why he beheaded her.  After all, what’s the point of killing a wife who dishonors you if she’s going to go right to paradise? And it makes clear why beheading is a favorite method of killing by jihadists. Remember Daniel Pearl, among many others? 

I remember as a child hearing once in a great while about kidnappings or gruesome murders and being frightened and haunted by them. I feel somewhat like that now about this case; maybe that’s why I keep writing about it. I never heard of beheading as a child, except in folk tales. Probably the only Muslims in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s were foreign students at the University of Pennsylvania, and I doubt they were adherents of Sharia.

Pipes also brings up the question of whether this is an honor killing or generic domestic violence:

Did Aasiya die in a crime of passion or to reinstate a family’s reputation? Was the violence generic or specifically Muslim? The Islamic Society of North America opts for domestic violence while the National Organization for Women‘s New York State chapter sees an honor killing.

The crime at Bridges TV fits neither model exactly, suggesting we need more information to determine its exact nature. But as the forces of political correctness inevitably bear down to exclude an Islamic dimension to the murder, the motive of family reputation must be kept alive. Enough with the pleasant deceits – time has come to utter hard truths about Bridges TV.

If you want to read more deeply into the issues raised by this case, a previous column by Pipes has many facts about the case, a review of Muslim reactions, and a discussion of honor killings. And an older column, continuously updated, follows the fortunes of Bridges TV, the cable channel the murderer and his wife founded.

Muslims speak out about beheading

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Some American Muslims are facing the questions raised by the beheading of Aasiya Hassan by her estranged husband, which we reported on here and here.  The Associated Press reports:

The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax.

The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. — the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing — is another crucible for American Muslims.

It especially shocked people — Muslim and non-Muslim — because the couple was so modern and apparently assimilated. And many have commented on the irony that they founded a TV station to improve the image of Muslims. Here are two statements from Muslims:

“Muslims don’t want to talk about this for good reason,” said Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, a Muslim author and activist. “There is so much negativity about Muslims, and it sort of perpetuates it. The right wing is going to run with it and misuse it. But we’ve got to shine a light on this issue so we can transform it.”

There is evidence of movement in that direction in the 10 days since the Hassan slaying. In an open letter to American Muslim leaders, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali of Sterling, Va., vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said “violence against women is real and cannot be ignored.”

He urged that imams and community leaders never second-guess a woman in danger, and said women seeking divorces because of physical abuse should not be viewed as bringing shame to their families.

Ah yes, those vicious right-wingers who notice things like abuse of women among Muslims. Nevertheless, this is progress. Read the whole article for some more reactions.  I’m glad to see some Muslims are talking about it. But the reaction from Muslims seems minimal, given the number of organizations devoted to advancing Islam and protecting Muslims’ rights.  A google search for CAIR and beheading brings only the news that CAIR had given the murderer an award. Will they take it back now? And a search for MSA (Muslim Student Association) and beheading brings up a report on a speech by David Horowitz at Emery University last Wednesday:

He spoke against honor killings among radical Islamists, noting the case of a Muslim television station owner who beheaded his wife in Buffalo, N.Y.

“Why isn’t there condemnation of beheadings? Because it’s in the Qu’ran? Come on!” Horowitz said, raising his hands and his voice.

Horowitz called on the Emory Muslim Students Association to protest the honor killings, adding that if the MSA does so, he will pen a personal letter of praise.

No report on how the MSA responded. But we can guess. They probably consider Horowitz the bad guy for bringing up such an offensive subject, not the Muslim who beheaded his wife.

Update 2/27/09: See my post, Beheader said headless wife can’t reach paradise.