Category: Other Immigration

Catholic Charities of Houston-Galveston accused of covering up sex abuse incident

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Oh brother, here we go again!

Readers may not know that the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement doles out federal grants to all sorts of agencies and “church” groups to care for abandoned immigrant minors who have either entered the country illegally on their own, or been dumped by illegal immigrant or refugee parents on the move.  For more on ORR’s programs for unaccompanied minors, go here.

Turns out Texas has thousands of them (LOL! wanting a taxpayer supported college education I’m sure, but that’s another story).

This story is about how a multi-million dollar federally funded Catholic Charities agency in Houston is in deep doo-doo after allegedly attempting to cover up a sexual abuse incident last summer.

Here is some of the shocking report at the Houston Chronicle:

Senior management with Catholic Charities attempted to mislead federal officials about a sexual assault at St. Michael’s Home for Children, doctoring incident reports and failing to seek medical treatment for the child victim for days, according to a federal report.

The report, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, and a letter from the director of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) detailed the findings of a federal investigation into a July 1 sexual assault at the north Houston shelter for immigrant children.

Managers with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston “deliberately misled” federal officials about the incident, which involved the anal penetration of a child at the shelter and implicated two other youths housed there, according to federal documents.

The findings prompted ORR, which places children and teenagers caught crossing the border without family members into temporary care, to begin removing all the children and teens from the three area St. Michael’s shelters run by Catholic Charities – a process still under way.

In a statement issued Friday, Catholic Charities officials said that “when Catholic Charities learned of ORR’s concerns, the individual employee at St. Michael’s responsible for those concerns was subsequently terminated.”

“Catholic Charities is working with ORR and has every expectation that it will meet ORR’s recommendations and address its concerns and reopen the St. Michael’s Program soon,” the statement said.

The statement also said that Catholic Charities reported the sexual assault to Texas Department of Family and Protective Services officials within 24 hours of the incident, though state records show the incident was “self-reported” by the shelter on July 13.

Federal investigators conducted an unannounced site visit in August to investigate the sexual assault, reporting that the Catholic Charities senior management doctored initial reports to omit details of the sexual assault and tried to pressure staff not to disclose details of the incident to “protect the program,” according to the report.

“The ORR monitors found significant concerns, including the fact that management had full knowledge of the extent of the assault and submitted erroneous … reports to this office, which deliberately misled ORR,” the agency’s director wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to the president of Catholic Charities.

ORR moving the kids out.

On Sept. 8, ORR’s director sent a letter to Bonna Kol, the president of Catholic Charities Galveston-Houston, detailing the results of the investigation and saying the agency planned to remove all of the children from the organization’s care until the “corrective actions” called for in its report were addressed.

St. Michaels says with federal money (taxpayer funding) cutbacks they are closing anyway.

Joanie Wentz, vice president of development and communications for the organization, insisted the closure was not related to the July 1 incident. She said the St. Michael’s program, which is approaching its 25th anniversary, suffered a $1 million cut from the federal government in the last budget, reducing the number of beds from 88 to 52 and resulting in the layoffs of 19 employees.

The other day I told you about how much federal money was going to Catholic Charities of Ft. Worth, here—enough for  the creation of fiefdom, but chicken scratch compared to the Houston CC!   Check out how much government money goes to Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston, the one crying poor mouth now.  Here is their most recently published Form 990.   Out of a gross income of $29 million, you, the taxpayers gave them $21 million that year!

So how many abandoned immigrant kids are there?  The Houston Chronicle goes on to report:

U.S. immigration officials placed 6,074 immigrant and refugee children in the care of ORR in 2009, the most recent data available. More than half of those – some 3,200 – were detained in Texas, the statistics show. [And, they need to go to college subsidized by you too—no they didn’t say that!—ed]

The Houston Chronicle reporter did a very detailed piece so I recommend you read the whole thing.

We have written a lot about problems in Houston, check out all the posts, here, where Houston is mentioned.

Shelbyville, TN police and local officials blamed for “racist” raid

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 30th:  ICE confirmed that the arrests were part of a nationwide sweep and not as retaliation for any report or meeting that took place a week or so earlier.

Update September 23rd:  More news from Shelbyville on this story, here.

Those law enforcement and other officials in Shelbyville, TN never seem to be given any slack by the pro-migration activists operating with taxpayer funding in Tennessee.  I’m convinced that the propaganda film I just mentioned again in my previous post is being used to whip some people into a frenzy (but then that is what propaganda is for, right!).

The federal agency tasked with dealing with illegal alien criminals in the US—ICE—arrested some known criminals in Bedford County and the local authorities were heaped with blame (tarred and feathered! you might say) through some “report” they had never heard of.

Here is how the story from the Times-Gazette begins:

Officials are denying that a federal raid targeted community activists who claim a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination in Bedford County against Hispanics.

The accusations came after the reported arrest of three residents by federal immigration officials and the publication of a report calling for a Department of Justice investigation.

Last Monday, members of several organizations held a hearing in Shelbyville during which Hispanic residents complained they were the victims of illegal detention and racial profiling by local law enforcement. A report was generated entitled “The Forgotten Constitution – Racial Profiling and Immigration Enforcement in Bedford County, Tennessee.”

The 16-page report was produced by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), with input from Latinos Unidos de Shelbyville (United Latinos of Shelbyville), and Bill Geissler of Shelbyville, who is a member of SOCM (Statewide Organization for Community EmpowerMent). The document was authored by Sarah White and Salmun Kazerounian, who both work for the Legal Aid Society in Tullahoma.

The report makes the claim that “(t)o be an immigrant or refugee in Bedford County is to be treated with suspicion or outright hostility by one’s own government, whose offices still exhibit vestiges of the overt racial apartheid of years past,” also leveling a variety of accusations at Shelbyville police, the sheriff’s department and jail, as well as the court system.

However, neither Sheriff Randall Boyce, Shelbyville Police Chief Austin Swing or Circuit Court Clerk Thomas Smith were aware of the report, or the claims, until copies were provided to them by the T-G on Monday.

The report is available online here.

Read it all!

LOL! They just love that word “apartheid” don’t they (it just means to keep separate), but funny it is never used to describe how most immigrants self-segregate themselves in their various clans and neighborhoods where it is considered normal (good apartheid).  Only those of white European ancestry are never allowed their own neighborhoods (bad apartheid).

Come to think of it, Obama’s ICE couldn’t have been helping with the timing of all this—-nahhh!

CIS: Most new jobs in Texas went to immigrants

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

[This is cross-posted from Potomac Tea Party Report with some minor modifications.]

The Center for Immigration Studies released today the shocking results of their analysis of Governor Rick Perry’s claims about the economic “success” of his home state of Texas.  Most new jobs in the state went to immigrants!

Here is the introductory section of the news release from CIS (emphasis mine):

Governor Rick Perry (R-Texas) has pointed to job growth in Texas during the current economic downturn as one of his main accomplishments. But analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) data collected by the Census Bureau show that immigrants (legal and illegal) have been the primary beneficiaries of this growth since 2007, not native-born workers. This is true even though the native-born accounted for the vast majority of growth in the working-age population (age 16 to 65) in Texas. Thus, they should have received the lion’s share of the increase in employment. As a result, the share of working-age natives in Texans holding a job has declined in a manner very similar to the nation a whole.

Among the findings:

*Of jobs created in Texas since 2007, 81 percent were taken by newly arrived immigrant workers (legal and illegal).

*In terms of numbers, between the second quarter of 2007, right before the recession began, and the second quarter of 2011, total employment in Texas increased by 279,000. Of this, 225,000 jobs went to immigrants (legal and illegal) who arrived in the United States in 2007 or later.

*Of newly arrived immigrants who took a job in Texas, 93 percent were not U.S. citizens. Thus government data show that more than three-fourths of net job growth in Texas were taken by newly arrived non-citizens (legal and illegal).

*The large share of job growth that went to immigrants is surprising because the native-born accounted for 69 percent of the growth in Texas’ working-age population (16 to 65). Thus, even though natives made up most of the growth in potential workers, most of the job growth went to immigrants.

*The share of working-age natives holding a job in Texas declined significantly, from 71 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2011. This decline is very similar to the decline for natives in the United States as a whole and is an indication that the situation for native-born workers in Texas is very similar to the overall situation in the country despite the state’s job growth.

*Of newly arrived immigrants who took jobs in Texas since 2007, we estimate that 50 percent (113,000) were illegal immigrants. Thus, about 40 percent of all the job growth in Texas since 2007 went to newly arrived illegal immigrants and 40 percent went to newly arrived legal immigrants.

*Immigrants took jobs across the educational distribution. More than one out three (97,000) of newly arrived immigrants who took a job had at least some college.

*These numbers raise the question of whether it makes sense to continue the current high level of legal immigration and also whether to continue to tolerate illegal immigration.

This is a devastating report, please read the whole thing.  The results of this report also help explain Perry’s instate tuition for illegal aliens law in Texas—they are an important voting block for him.

Texas is the third largest recipient of refugees in the US after California and Florida.  Indeed, just a couple of days ago I reported on how your federal tax dollars were going to Catholic Charities of Fort Worth for job training for immigrants, here (most likely taught in CC’s Taj Mahal of a building taxpayers also paid for!).

I feel like a broken record, but urge everyone to stop saying “legal immigration is o.k., it’s illegal I have a problem with”—our legal immigration system is filled with fraud and abuse and must be reformed and the numbers admitted to the US reduced!

And, once again, establishment Republicans, and of course Democrats, continue to fail to see the huge impact the immigration issue will have on this election.

Muhammad pleads guilty in Wichita food stamp fraud case

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is really not much new in this story that I haven’t reported from the dozens of other similar convenience store food stamp fraud cases I’ve posted, but…

….Note that a seller of stamps was also charged and plead guilty.  I’ve only seen that happen in a couple of cases over the last four years.

From KWCH-12 Eyewitness News:

The U.S. District Attorney’s office announced that a Wichita couple that owned a grocery store and a food stamp recipient have pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud.

Entering guilty pleas were:

Muhammad Qadeer Akram, 46, Wichita, Kan., the former owner of Alnoor Grocery Store, 5220 E. 21st in Wichita, one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, one count of food stamp fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Shama L. Qadeer, 38, Wichita, Kan., Muhammad Qadeer Akram’s wife, who was a co-owner of the grocery store, one count of conspiracy to commit food stamp fraud, one count of food stamp fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Tequita L. Higgins, 28, Wichita, Kan., one count of food stamp fraud. [She is a seller of her food stamp privilege–ed].

In their pleas, Muhammad Qadeer Akram and Shama Qadeer admitted to entering into a conspiracy with others to defraud the United States Department of Agriculture by giving cash to recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, in exchange for SNAP benefits.

The District Attorney’s office said the scheme was to give SNAP recipients cash for their benefits, about 50-to-60 cents on the dollar, and keep the rest of the benefits for themselves. They would run SNAP transactions to make it appear SNAP benefits were being used to purchase approved food items at their store.

In one instance, on Nov. 5, 2010, they gave a SNAP recipient about $150 in cash in return for SNAP benefits totaling $308.79. In another instance, $503.33 was credited to their account for a SNAP transaction. They gave the SNAP recipient $250 and falsified reports to make it appear the recipient had purchased approved food items. The indictment alleges $450,000 in similar transactions.

In her plea, Higgins admitted using her Vision card at Alnoor Groceries. She received about $150 in cash in return for a $308.79 SNAP transaction.

By the way, I don’t see any mention of ICE being involved so I suppose these fraudsters are here legally.

Uncle Omar Update

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A bunch of articles have crossed my desk over the last few days about Obama’s illegal alien Kenyan uncle arrested in Massachusetts in late August.  Reader ‘blackpanther’ says he won’t believe the story until it comes from the White House.

Blackpanther, here is one pretty definitive statement from Obama’s front man—Jay Carney—to CNS News:

He will be treated like any other illegal alien (yeh right! let go!):

President Barack Obama’s uncle, facing deportation for being in the country illegally, will not be treated differently than anyone else under U.S. laws, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told CNSNews.com on Thursday.

“I would refer you to ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and DHS [Department of Homeland Security]. It will be handled like any other immigration case,” Carney said.

CNSNews.com also asked, “Was the president aware that his uncle was in the United States as an undocumented immigrant?” But before the question was completely asked, Carney interjected, saying President Obama “was made aware of this issue when I walked into his office and, among other subjects, mentioned it to him and he was completely unaware.”

Carney apparently was speaking in reference to when the president first learned of his uncle’s arrest. Carney did not say whether the president knew his uncle was in the United States illegally.

Here is another story, this one from the Boston Globe, telling us that Uncle Omar has been a fugitive from the law since 1992.

Then there is one from the Boston Herald in which Aunt Zeituni let’s us know what she thinks of her nephew, calling him “your president” to a reporter.  You think she still might be smarting for being snubbed and not invited to family functions at the White House (or LOL! at nearby Martha’s Vineyard only a week or so ago!).

Reached at her apartment in a South Boston public housing complex today, Zeituni Onyango said of her brother’s arrest: “Why don’t you go to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washingon, D.C. and ask your president? Not me.” She then hung up on a reporter.  [She was granted asylum so Obama is technically her president now too!—ed]

If I were Obama, I would be treating these “relatives” nicely, afterall, they surely know stuff about him that the public has never heard before.

Then this is great!  NumbersUSA calls on readers to contact Congress to “Plug the Uncle Omar Loophole!”

Learn more about what you can do here.