Category: Other Immigration

Switzerland taking Malta’s illegal aliens now too

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….but didn’t let the public know for months!

Longtime readers know that we have followed the story of poor Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, that has become the target of human traffickers with their African cargo for years.   The problems for Malta were exacerbated during the Bush Administration when the US State Department began transforming illegal aliens, especially Somalis, into refugees and resettling them in the US thus setting up Malta as an even greater magnet for Africans hoping to win the resettlement lottery and get to the US or Europe.

If you want to follow the whole sorry tale, just type Malta into our search function.

Now we see that Switzerland has quietly taken some of the Africans.  I was interested to see this line in the story at Malta Today yesterday suggesting that this was not a popular move by the Swiss government:

Although the refugees arrived in Switzerland in April, their presence has not been made public until today.

Here is the gist of the story:

Switzerland has accepted 19 North African refugees from Malta, Berne’s Justice Minister Simonetta Sommeruga told Swiss radio today.

Although the refugees arrived in Switzerland in April, their presence has not been made public until today.

Switzerland’s acceptance of the refugees is part of a European Union program known as ‘Eurema’, whose goal is to distribute North African refugees from Malta among European countries.

Actually I’m reminded of a post I wrote in January of 2011 where some of those arriving on Malta said they didn’t want to go to the US, but rather preferred farther north in Europe where the welfare goodies were better than the US.

Here is a line from that 2011 story:

“When I stayed In Switzerland they gave good house, and good life, good money and good education. Malta is small, they can’t.” [a Somali woman]

 So these 19 hit the jackpot.  And behind them will be another 19, and another, and another.

Guilty! Another African-owned convenience store defrauded US taxpayers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one more in my ever-growing archive of food stamp fraud cases involving immigrant-owned or managed convenience stores in the US.

And, home health care frauds are starting to pop-up more frequently too.  Honestly, I think there are seminars taught abroad on how to get into the US and set up a scam!

Here is the latest story from Flint, Michigan on food stamp trafficking.  This guy got $750,000 of your tax dollars!  And, he somehow was previously guilty of immigration fraud and visa fraud.  So how did he even get permission to transact food stamp purchases?

Flint, MI – The owner of a west Flint market was convicted today in Flint federal court for conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud after witnesses testified he paid cash in exchange or food stamp benefits.

Jurors returned the guilty verdict against Noha T. Fofana after evidence showed that his store, Mandingo African Market, redeemed more than $750,000 in food stamp benefits between February 2009 and July 2011.

An analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that the market’s average food stamp redemption amount was $26,798 per month – compared to an average of $5,479 monthly redemption for other convenience stores within a .8 mile radius.

The United States Attorney Office of the Eastern District of Michigan claimed that Fofana and Akhir McFarland, who had previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing in federal court, conspired to manually enter Bridge Card numbers, a debit card-like device that electronically tracks benefits, and PINs order to transfer the benefits to the market’s bank account.

I sure would love to see how he managed the immigration fraud, so if anyone happens to come across that send it my way!

Immigration authorities must be notified of the conviction.

Fofana, who also goes by the name Nganio Fofana, previously served time after being convicted of visa fraud and unlawfully obtaining naturalization in federal court.

Home health care fraud may be even a greater scam!

When I visited the website of the US Attorney Office of the Eastern District of Michigan looking for more information on the above case, I saw this July press release about an Indian couple indicted in a HUGE Medicare scam case.   I’m telling you there is some international cabal (and it probably involves some US immigration attorneys) teaching ‘Scams 101,’ subtitled suckering the US taxpayer!

A federal indictment was unsealed today in Detroit charging two individuals for their participation in a series of separate Medicare fraud schemes involving home health services, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced.

McQuade was joined in the announcement by Acting Special Agent in Charge Edward Hanko of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh, III of the HHS-OIG Office of Investigation.

Charged in the indictment were Usha Shah, 63, and Deepak Shah, 63, both of West Bloomfield, Michigan. According to the indictment the Shahs were allegedly involved in fraudulent claims submitted to Medicare totaling more than $8.8 million through their company, Miracle Home Health of Southfield, for home health care services that were medically unnecessary and/or never provided.

In addition, the court documents allege that the Shahs engaged in a conspiracy to pay cash kickbacks in return for obtaining Medicare beneficiaries’ whose Medicare identifications were used to bill the Medicare program.

For more stories here at RRW on food stamp fraud, a side interest of mine, just type those words into our search function and dozens of previous posts will appear.

Illegal alien kids lining up for two-year work permits, will bring even more competition for scarce jobs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update August 16th:  This is funny, the Chicago story I linked in my previous update has modified the numbers of “dreamers” who lined up in Chicago.  It is now 11,000 instead of 50,000.  Also, see my post at PTPR today about CASA de Maryland advising its ‘clients’ to not file if they have had any run-in with the law.

Update:  50,000 illegal alien “kids” lined up in Chicago today to apply to get two-year work permits and volunteer to be  fingerprinted and investigated.   Whew!  No wonder Chicago is in such trouble—imagine what it has cost just to put that many non-citizens through school!

….. and wouldn’t you think that those in the refugee resettlement business would be worried since the kids who got here illegally will be able to legally work under the Obama “amnesty” and compete for jobs with legal refugees?   No one involved with refugees seems to ever express that concern.  Why is that?

Funny thing is that the only real employment that might come out of this are the immigration attorney jobs!

But I digress, here is the story from Minnesota as the Obama “amnesty” gets underway today (hat tip: Cliff):

At last, the wait is over for Pedro Ramos Ortiz.

Starting Wednesday, he and thousands of other young illegal immigrants in Minnesota can apply to stay under a new policy that would spare them from being deported.

“I had to wait for a miracle and here it is,” said Ortiz, 27.

Two months ago, President Obama announced that the federal government will allow illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children and who have attended school here the chance to stay and receive a work permit. The president’s action does not offer citizenship or permanent residency.

As many as 1.7 million people nationwide may be eligible to escape the threat of deportation under the new policy.

Meanwhile, local immigration lawyers say they’re preparing for a deluge of clients wanting to apply.

“In my office, everybody’s nervous,” said Mary Baquero, an attorney in Minneapolis. “We’re talking about how we’re going to handle it, because a lot of people are going to apply.” Her office has scheduled conferences for Thursday, Friday and Saturday for immigrants interested in applying; already, those sessions are full, she said.

It’s been a busy summer for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, which serves low-income immigrants.

The center has hosted public workshops and has fielded phone calls from people wanting more information about the new policy.

Read it all in the Star Tribune.

Requirements of the Obama work permit process will mean not one “kid” will have been given his reprieve before the election!

Last month I wrote about the Obama election year gimmick here at my other blog.  This is a summary of what we learned then:

* The dreamer kids must pay a $465 processing fee.

* According to the report I posted (interesting that the story is no longer available!), the feds expect to approve 890,000 applicants (they think they will receive 3000 applications a day!) and they aren’t staffed-up yet to handle the application process.  (BTW, we admit around 70,000 refugees a year and the unemployment rate is likely as much as 60% or higher in some parts of the country.  What will 890,000 additional low-skilled workers do to those numbers?)

* They expect 151,000 to be rejected after going through the lengthy application process and I want to know what happens to the “rejects.”

* If they make it through the process they get a 2-year work permit, no citizenship.  What then? Do they have to go through this again in two years?

* The kids (up to 30 years old!) will be photographed and fingerprinted (LOL! so much for the Holder/Perez Justice Department’s objections to photo-IDs). And, the feds will know where they and their family live.

* Here is the timeline which clearly indicates that no “dreamer” will get through the process until after the election:

2-10 days to scan and file application

4 weeks for photos and fingerprints

6 weeks for background check

3 months for government to decide if one is granted a work permit or rejected (again, what happens to rejects?)

It will be interesting to see if the “kids” get much out of this or whether the O-man snookered a whole lot of “dreamers” (again!).

“Stakeholders” invited to National Refugee Consultation next month

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Every year those involved in the refugee resettlement industry hold a national pow-wow to discuss the program.  Here is this year’s invite to “stakeholders.”   If you are a taxpayer, you are a stakeholder!

From Eskinder Negash, Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement:

Dear Friends,

It is my pleasure to invite you to the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s (ORR) 2012 National Consultation, Transforming Hope into a Brighter Future, to be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, Virginia on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 and Thursday, September 20, 2012. The annual Consultation serves as a platform for our stakeholders to exchange ideas, engage in discussions, and broaden relationships that will shape and grow the program. This year, as in years past, I look forward to your participation, at a time in which the refugee program faces new challenges and explores new directions.

Go here and follow links to sign up!

If you can’t make it to Arlington, VA, ask your member of Congress to send a staffer to represent you.

Registration closes August 31st.

CASA de Maryland’s New American Initiative!

And, hey, you can have a twofer when in the DC area!   You can follow-up the refugee pow-wow by going a few miles up Interstate 95 to Baltimore and catch the National Immigrant Integration Conference here scheduled to begin on September 22nd!   Update:  Here is my post on this meeting at my other blog.

Feds “supposedly” cracking down on food stamp fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Regular readers know I have a side interest in following food stamp fraud—not the kind where individuals buy stuff they aren’t allowed to buy—but the big fraud of buying food stamp benefits for cash (they call it trafficking).  I maintain that there is a massive industry in the US where ‘foreign’ investors buy convenience stores and mom&pop gas stations and go into the food stamp fraud business buying benefits for 50 cents on the dollar from individuals and then collecting the whole dollar from you!

If you search RRW for “food stamp fraud” dozens of posts over the years will come up from across the country.

Now we learn that the Agriculture Department has supposedly suspended huge numbers of stores in one quarter alone.  I just don’t buy it.   There are surely that many fraudsters, I just don’t see this many being shut down.

From the Washington Post:

Concannon [Undersecretary of Agriculture] said that in the third quarter of this budget year the department fined or temporarily disqualified some 574 stores for violating program rules and permanently disqualified 1,016 stores for trafficking in food stamp benefits.  [in one quarter?–ed]

I’m a broken record, but some real investigative reporter needs to expose this fraud.  I think there is a worldwide network of criminals, aided by American immigration lawyers, getting into the US through legal “investor” programs managed by the US State Department.  The criminals not only pad their own pockets, but are sending your food stamp money abroad.