Category: Other Immigration

H-1B visa racket uncovered in US, “tip of the iceberg”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Not a refugee issue but certainly part of the problem these days with too many foreign workers taking jobs Americans will do and want to do, the H-1B visa program allows companies to bring in skilled workers on a temporary basis.  You can read all about how the program works here, at the ICE website.   Hat tip:   Dinah Lord

From the Hindustan Times:

US federal authorities have claimed to have unearthed a major H-1B visa racket with the arrest of at least 11 persons, most of them suspected to be of Indian origin.

Though the officials did not reveal the citizenship of those arrested, the names released indicated that almost all of them are either Indian or persons of Indian origin.

Vision Systems Group, an IT company headquartered in South Plainfield New Jersey, has been indicted on 10 federal counts including conspiracy and mail fraud charge.

[….]

US Attorney Matthew Whitker alleged that Vision Systems Group, with a branch office in Coon Rapids, Iowa, used fraudulent documents to bring H-1B visa workers into the country, he was addressing a press conference at Des Moines, Iowa.

The Government is seeking the forfeiture of $7.4 million in proceeds raised through the alleged offences. “This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as this investigation goes,” he said.

Man wants Americans to understand Muslims better; beheads wife

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Is this a bizarre story or what? The media can’t avoid saying Muzzammil Hassan is a Muslim, since he founded a cable TV station for the express purpose of helping Americans understand Muslims.  This report in the Buffalo News is typical:

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.

“He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead,” Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning.

…Muzzammil Hassan is the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, which he launched in 2004, amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light.

The best comment came from Trina Hoaks of the Examiner:

Whoa! If this man wanted to help Americans better understand Muslims, this was not the way to go about it – or maybe it was.

She reports this additional fact.

Apparently, Aasiya recently filed for a divorce. She must have been worried for her own safety as it was reported that she had a protection order against her husband.

It’s happened before — wife leaves husband, insane husband kills wife. But beheading? I guess we wouldn’t understand; it’s a Muslim thing. Maybe Bridges TV will explain it to us.

I could go on here about the honor/shame culture of Muslims, but I don’t have time now. It’s important, though and I will return to it.

Update: Whoops, Ann and I were posting at the same time. It’s okay; we emphasized different things.

Update Feb. 15: Here’s some good commentary on this story from Mark Steyn on the lack of coverage in the mainstream media — Headless Body in Gutless Press:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YWVlZDFkN2RmOGE1YWMzMmY5YjBiZThkYTIxN2Q5ZDU=

Children’s Health Insurance law includes funds for legal immigrant children

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We missed this story last week.   Hat tip to Joyce today for tipping me off.

President Barack Obama’s administration has brought to Washington a new attitude toward the issue of immigration, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.

In comments to a small group of Hispanic journalists, Emanuel cited Wednesday’s ceremony where Obama signed into law a bill reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The chief of staff pointed out that the law increases the number of youngsters covered by SCHIP, as the program is known, from 7 million to 11 million, including – for the first time – children of legal immigrants.

More immigrant goodies on the way?

The expansion of SCHIP to immigrants’ children represents “an advance” on what the Obama administration plans to do on behalf of immigrants during the next four years, Emanuel said.

Immigrants and jobs causing uproar in Shelbyville, TN again!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update Feb. 16th:   MSNBC has more.

Update Feb. 15th:   More on the story here.  See the editorial today also.

Vans full of immigrants from many countries were driven from Nashville to Shelbyville, TN Sunday evening to sleep on the sidewalks and wait for the employment office to open Monday morning—all seeking a limited number of jobs at a nearby Tyson’s chicken processing plant.   Longtime readers will recall we have written extensively on Shelbyville’s efforts to cope with the large Somali population that Tyson’s had previously attracted to the town.

On Monday we reported on the scuffle that broke out among those waiting in line.  Today’s article by Brian Mosely goes into some detail about how that incident evolved.   By the way, Mosely received a statewide Associated Press award last year for his investigative series on the Somalis of Shelbyville.

Egyptians are among the immigrants arriving this time.

As an organizer from Nashville searched for housing and services for about 50 Egyptian men and their families who want to move to Shelbyville to be close to their new jobs at Tyson Foods, the county mayor said that the food giant should hire Bedford County residents first.

It seems the Coptic church (the Nashville congregation) is helping the Egyptians find work, but these are not refugees in the usual sense.    Although the way the Copts are treated by Muslims in  their homeland, they might as well be refugees.   This particular group is composed of successful recipients of diversity lottery visas.

Father Boutros said Wednesday that the Egyptians were not refugees, but legal immigrants that were admitted to this country through a lottery visa.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Diversity Lottery (DV) Program makes 55,000 immigrant visas available through a lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

[….]

“They don’t know anything about the states, so they’re starting from scratch,” Michael said of the families. “Father Boutros asked me to come down to find out what we can tell these families about this town.”

One of the first things they need to know about the town is that, like other cities in America right now, jobs are scarce and Americans want Americans to get the jobs first.  And, they need to be aware of the  town’s recent rocky history with the Somali Muslims.

Concerns have once again risen in Shelbyville about immigrants and refugees coming to Bedford County to apply for jobs at the Tyson Foods poultry plant.

Law enforcement were called out early Monday to quell a disturbance at the state unemployment office downtown after about 150 people, including a large number of refugees and others brought from Nashville by various charitable organizations, began cutting in line for the coveted jobs.

But readers of the Times-Gazette and others in the community have expressed anger that the jobs are being taken by large groups of foreign nationals instead of local people.

So now if you are wondering why I titled this post as I did, go read the comments to this story and see what I mean by an “uproar.”

Thousands of Liberians living in the US will soon be deported (maybe!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You learn something new every day!   Thanks to Blulitespecial for sending this CNN article.  I had no idea we gave temporary protection to citizens of countries undergoing civil unrest.    Amazing!   Does that mean that instead of hauling tens of thousands of  wealthy “refugees” from Iraq and paying their airfare and all of their expenses we could just let them come here for awhile on their own dime and set a date for them to return to Iraq?   Just wondering.

Thousands of Liberians living in the United States face deportation March 31 when a federal immigration status created for humanitarian purposes expires.

Corvah Akoiwala is worried about what will happen to his children, born in the U.S., when he is sent to Liberia.

In the 1990s, a bloody civil war raged through the West African nation, killing 250,000 people and displacing more than a million, according to a U.N. report. The United States extended “temporary protection status” to all Liberians who could get to America, and 14,000 of them took advantage of that humanitarian offer.

Temporary protection status is an immigration status somewhere between political asylum and refugee status. Administered by the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is extended to nationals of countries facing civil unrest or natural disaster.

For years, the temporary protection status for Liberians was extended as the situation there worsened under dictator Charles Taylor. But Taylor was ousted in 2003 and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected Liberia’s first female president in 2006. In 2007, citing the progress in Liberia, President George W. Bush signed an order of “delayed enforced departure” for Liberians who had been under temporary protection status, giving them 18 months to return to Liberia.

Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island wants them to stay.

Many of these Liberians have become important parts of the communities where they live in the United States,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island. There is a large Liberian community in his home state.

But then why have temporary humanitarian assistence if they are all allowed to stay?   Good question!

Critics say Liberians should go back to Liberia when their status runs out.

“It is time for people to go back and rebuild their country,” said Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. Stein underlines the temporary in “temporary protected status.” He said for Liberians to stay when their country is at peace would be an abuse of U.S. hospitality.

“It makes a mockery of the concept of short-term temporary humanitarian protection.”

So what do you think the chances are that those ICE airlines flights I told you about yesterday fly to Africa?

By the way, the country of Liberia was founded by freed American slaves who wanted their own country in Africa.