Convenience store scam of another sort

11/26/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is beautiful alert! Middle eastern immigrants accused of ripping-off Hispanic immigrant who had won a $1 million dollar lottery ticket!

For new readers, this doesn’t have anything to do with food stamp fraud or refugees, but since we post on convenience store criminals who happen to be immigrants, this one is worth a mention.

And, I am assuming the perps here are from the Arab world somewhere, but stories like this one rarely ever mention the nationalities of the alleged crooks.

From the New York Daily News:

Nabil Jaghab, 57, the owner of Peninsula Deli & Grocery in Nassau County, and his son, Karim, 26, have been charged with second-degree grand larceny after allegedly telling a customer with limited English that he only won $1,000 from his lottery ticket.

This deli sure is a ripoff.

Nassau County police say a deli owner and his son tried to scam a customer out of his $1 million lottery ticket by telling him he was owed only $1,000.

Nabil Jaghab, 57, the owner of Peninsula Deli & Grocery in Hempstead, and his son, Karim Jaghab, 26, were arraigned Saturday on charges of second-degree grand larceny.

Cops said a 34-year-old Spanish-speaker with limited English bought the $10 “Unwrap the Cash” scratch-off lottery ticket Thursday at the convenience store.

Instead of following protocol and directing the man to a State Lottery office to claim his prize, Karim allegedly told him the ticket was worth $1,000 and gave him the “winnings” straight out of the register.

On Friday the victim, suspecting he’d been ripped off on his scratch-off win, returned to the deli and began to press Karim about how much he’d won, according to police.

There is more, read it all and watch the clip. I wonder if the Hispanic winner is here legally?

Guess these crooks hadn’t heard about fellow New Yorkers, a Palestinian father and son, who tried to pull off a similar theft of a lottery ticket, but who have just earlier this fall been found guilty. We reported that case here.

For would-be bloggers, I’m telling you that writing a blog devoted to convenience stores owned by immigrants and the multitude of frauds they perpetrate would be a very fun undertaking. You would have new material every day! See our complete archive on food stamp fraud by clicking here.

In wake of typhoon, push is on for Temporary Protected Status for Filipinos

11/25/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Problem is, once granted the “temporary” right to live, work, get a drivers license legally in America they don’t go home! About a hundred thousand illegal Salvadorans make that point daily—they’ve been here since 2001 under TPS status and whatever natural disaster gave them the right to stay has long since been forgotten.

Two peas in a pod! Senators McCain and Rubio want any legal or illegal Filipinos in US to get to stay!

Usually granted for 18 months, TPS designation is just extended and extended as we saw here recently with Somali TPS.

If this lobbying push is successful anyone from the Philippines in the US legally (on a limited visa of some sort) or illegally can apply to stay under TPS and then when/if Congress passes so-called ‘Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ they will get to stay forever!

From Global Nation (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for undocumented Filipinos picked up bipartisan congressional support, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) urged the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to grant the status.

Currently allowed under immigration laws for countries impacted by a natural disaster resulting in a “substantial, but temporary, disruption of living conditions,” TPS will provide temporary immigration relief to undocumented Filipino immigrants currently residing in the US.

In a letter to DHS Acting Secretary Rand Beers, NaFFAA national chair Eduardo Navarra wrote that “this benefit will alleviate their fears of deportation to a devastated country and allow them to work and stay in the US temporarily. With this authorization, Filipino nationals can continue providing material and financial support to the homeland, especially at a time when they are in dire need of help.”

J.T. Mallonga, NaFFAA national vice chair and president of the Filipino American Legal and Defense Fund (FALDEF), explains that there are precedents where the US administration acted on similar requests.

“Following the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti two years ago, the US designated TPS to Haitian nationals, allowing them to continue living and working in the country for 18 months,” Mallonga said. “The same should be done to Filipinos, and it must be done soon.”

Other nationals from countries devastated by natural disasters, such as Honduras, Sudan and El Salvador, have also been granted TPS before. [And, they are all still here! because even if TPS does expire, no one deports them!—ed]

Obama can designate TPS without Congress, but some Senators and Members of Congress are on board with the proposal.

With members of Congress weighing in on the issue, Navarra has conveyed his thanks to a bipartisan group of US Senators and US Representatives who have endorsed the call for TPS.

“Although congressional approval is not required, their strong message of support is very encouraging,” Navarra said. “We hope more members of Congress will do the same.”

In a Nov. 19 letter signed by 20 US Senators, the signatories assert that “providing TPS is critical to humanitarian relief efforts as it both protects individuals who would be endangered by returning to their country of origin and it allows the home country more time to recover before accepting returnees.”

Among those signing the letter are Senators Harry Reid, John McCain, Robert Menendez, Marco Rubio, Mazie K. Hirono, Richard Durbin, Orrin Hatch, Barbara Boxer, Tim Kaine, and Patrick Leahy. On the House side, 30 US Representatives called on DHS to “exercise its authority to designate the Philippines” for TPS, considering the “daunting rescue and restoration efforts” facing the country. The signatories include Representatives Edward Royce, Zoe Lofgren, Trent Franks. Robert Scott, Xavier Becerra, Judy Chu, Peter King, Colleen Hanabusa, Tammy Duckworth, and Michael Honda.

The next time you hear someone say, ‘I’m o.k. with legal immigration, it’s illegal I have a problem with,’ remind them that Refugee Resettlement, the Diversity Visa Lottery and Temporary Protected Status are all legal programs!

CDC: Majority of US cases of TB in 2012 among the foreign-born

11/17/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A Tennessee reader sent me the 2012 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the incidence of Tuberculosis in the US.

It is interesting to note that although the number of cases has dropped slightly from 2011, we still had 9,445 cases in the US and 63% of them are among the foreign-born population. (It sure is a good thing we have Obamacare to take care of the expensive meds for all these people!—right?)

Also of interest is that the states which have the highest number of refugees—California, Texas, New York, and Florida—also have the most TB cases (although the largest number of cases are from Mexico! not from the top-sending refugee countries).

Here is a bit from the Executive summary:

In 31 states, ≥ 50% of TB cases occurred among foreign-born persons (Table 34).
In 8 states, ≥ 70% of TB cases occurred among foreign-born persons (Table 34).
In 3 states, ≥ 75% of TB cases occurred among foreign-born persons (Table 34).
In 10 states, ≥ 75% of TB cases occurred among foreign-born persons (Table 34).

Scroll to the bottom of Table 34 and note that Wyoming, which takes no refugees! and is likely the least diverse state in the country, has the fewest cases. BTW, Vermont which has here-to-fore been the least diverse state (and still may be) won’t be for long because the refugee contractors are busy resettling refugees there.

Also from the summary:

In 18 states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington), ≥ 70% of TB cases occurred among foreign-born persons

When you visit Table 6, note that Mexico is the top sending country for TB to America. And, of course the Mexicans are not arriving as refugees but as illegal aliens.

Does anyone know if when they do those questionable studies of how much immigrants contribute to the local economy whether they factor in the cost of treating difficult diseases?

And, when refugees and migrants move around the US, does anyone track them to be sure they stay on their TB meds? Maybe it’s in the full report, here (200 plus pages), but I didn’t read the whole thing.

Update: Superbugs could erase a century of medical advances, here.

Saudis crack down on foreign laborers; bring out security forces; camels next?

11/12/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Why the crackdown? They don’t want the cheap foreign laborers competing with Saudi citizens for jobs, and they are concerned about the amount of remittances ($$$) being sent out of S.A. (take note Gang of Eight!).

Longtime readers know that we have often mentioned the fact that Saudi Arabia takes no refugees and immediately deports any who sneak into the country.

In this case, the foreign workers may, at one time, have had visas to work in S.A., but now they are given the boot.

From Reuters via Yahoo.news (emphasis mine):

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian police clashed with foreign workers in a poor district of Riyadh on Saturday, nearly a week into a visa crackdown in which thousands have been detained and one man killed by police.

Security forces in riot gear fired into the air and used truncheons to disperse large crowds as scores of men ran through the streets, some throwing stones and other objects at cars and police, according to Reuters witnesses.

Two people were killed of which one was a Saudi while the other one was unidentified, the Saudi police said in a statement late on Saturday after it detained 561 people involved in the disturbances in the Manfuhah neighbourhood of southern Riyadh.

The police added that 68 people were injured.

Most of the foreign workers involved in the clashes appeared to be Africans.

In a previous statement, the police did not refer directly to Saturday’s clashes, or say how many had been injured or detained, but said that in light of “what has happened”, the authorities had designated a location for people to surrender voluntarily.

Authorities this year said they would no longer turn a blind eye to foreign workers breaking visa rules by working for companies that had not sponsored their entry into the world’s top oil exporter.

The intention is to end a black market for cheap imported workers, cut the foreign labour force, reduce the flow of remittances to other countries and make more private sector jobs available for Saudi citizens.

And, I bet there is some ethnic nationalism going on here too!

There is more, read it all.

Will the camel crackdown be next?

Meanwhile a Saudi camel has been found to carry the deadly MERS virus. Imagine the problems ahead if the virus can move back and forth between the camel population and the human one.

From Breitbart:

The Saudi government said Monday that a camel has tested positive for MERS, in the first case of an animal infected with the coronavirus that has killed 64 people worldwide.

A camel owned by a person diagnosed with the disease had “tested positive in preliminary laboratory checks,” the health ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The ministry said it was working with the ministry of agriculture and laboratories to “isolate the virus and compare its genetic structure with that of the patient’s”.

Yikes! There might be as many as a million camels in S.A. says this wildlife website.

We have written about the MERS virus here and how it might threaten the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Catholic group withdraws funding from YMCA over its affiliation with “refugee” group

11/12/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It is not often we see something like this from a Catholic group.

Catholic funding was withdrawn from the YMCA because the Y was affiliated with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights which is promoting gay marriage.

Readers should know that the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (like its partners in Tennessee (Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition) and Massachusetts (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition)), is just basically a hard Left open borders community organizing group which has the word “refugee” in its title to give it cover for agitating on all sorts of Leftist goals.

Here is the story in Opposing Views (emphasis mine):

The YMCA at Illinois University at Urbana-Champaign is paying a hefty price for refusing to cut ties with a group that publicly supports gay marriage.

The Catholic Church gave the YMCA an ultimatum: stop working with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, or lose your $60,000 grant.

The YMCA’s director told WICD-15 that while they take no position on gay marriage, it is important for them to not allow anyone to influence who they work with.

The University Y board met several weeks ago and voted to remain in the coalition.

The University YMCA sponsors programs, organizations and organizations of all kinds. The Y’s director says their partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights allows them to help “hundreds in the community each year.”

The University YMCA plans to launch a campaign to raise money to continue its work with the local immigrant community, according to the News-Gazette. The University Y has received money for immigration work from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development since 2010.

The initial grant was about $4,000 but increased this year to about $60,000. But the Church sent the Y a notice in September: in order to receive the funding, the University Y’s executive director, Mike Doyle, would have to testify that the organization was not involved with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.