Category: Other Immigration

California food stamp fraud bust and a suggestion

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you are a regular reader this will sound like the same old story about immigrants running a food stamp fraud scheme.  It is.

From News 10 in Sacramento:

SACRAMENTO, CA – Two Stockton convenience store owners/operators charged with defrauding the government and taxpayers of $193,608 in food stamp benefits have pleaded guilty to one count of unauthorized use of food stamps.

Lauren Horwood, spokeswoman for the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California, says Sukhwinder Singh, 54, and Charan Singh Dhillon, 58, admitted that beginning in 2007, they began to illegally buy food stamps for cash, typically at 50 cents on the dollar.

As part of the plea deal reached with federal prosecutors, Singh and Dhillon forfeited more than $90,000 in cash and a BMW. [but they ripped off at least $193,000!—ed]

Singh owns Fast and Easy Mart, Dhillon owns Quick and Stop Mart, and they’re co-owners of Quick Stop Mart, all in Stockton. All three stores had been approved to redeem food stamps.

You know they could solve this whole problem overnight if the federal government allowed only large reputable food stores to take food stamps.   No more food stamps redeemed at convenience stores and this taxpayer rip-off would end instantly.

By the way, you too can help identify food stamp scammers.  If you have a convenience store nearby and notice a lot of traffic in and out of the store and especially if the shelves are understocked, those are both tip-offs that the store might be a scam.   Maybe you can engage some frequent visitors to the store in conversation and get a tip that way.   Then report your suspicions to your local police and they will take it from there.   But, be patient, it can take 18 months or more from tip-off until arrest as the investigation requires setting up a sting and then it takes time to unfold.

Use our search function for ‘food stamp fraud’ and see dozens of similar stories.

Presidential “call to arms” on immigration

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Hey, wait a minute, what happened to the new civility—call to arms (a summons to engage in active hostilities)?

Two days ago the White House held a meeting of 70 pro- immigration activists (no, that is wrong, they called them “stakeholders”), including Al Sharpton (huh?), former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the AFL-CIO’s Trumka to say it wasn’t going to be easy to get immigration reform and that everyone is going to have to work together.   So, why now, why a hastily called meeting when he had two years with a Democratically controlled House and Senate to get the job done for them?

Pro-immigration forces say Obama screwed up in his first two years and now is in desperation-mode to keep his immigrant base happy.

This is from Southern California Public Radio.   In a quick search, I couldn’t find a larger publication that might have written about the story (emphasis mine):

In what was described as a “last-minute meeting,” President Obama met at the White House on Tuesday with 70 labor, law enforcement and political leaders, including former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the current president of the Los Angeles City Council. The topic – immigration – hasn’t placed high on the list of Congressional priorities.

[…..]

LA City Council President Eric Garcetti said the president issued a “good call to arms” for shared effort on immigration reform. Garcetti said the president admitted it was “not going to be easy,” but he wouldn’t abandon the topic.

“(The president) said, ‘this is not going to be easy, but I am not going to abandon this. I’m going to be alongside you, but I can’t do this by myself. And that we have to change the conversation. We have to get back to a place where we humanize and recognize the contributions of immigrants,'” said Garcetti.

Last year, the US Senate [thankfully–ed] failed to pass the Dream Act. It would have created a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who attend college or serve in the military. Garcetti said the president didn’t want that legislation to be Washington’s last word on immigration reform.

Immigration activists plan a protest Thursday night outside Sony Studios in Culver City where Obama is hosting a political fundraiser.

Maybe that last line gives us a hint as to why the meeting was a “last minute meeting.”  Obama has learned that his immigrant/Hispanic base is going off the reservation.

Immigration lawyer: Most actively anti-immigration White House in a long time!

You think the open borders gang is pretty unhappy about our dear leader?  You got that right!  Check out a couple of posts at Immigration Daily to see just how angry they are!

This is Greg Siskind not exactly holding back in his criticism of the big talker (Obama):

Absent the speeches and the meetings, strictly judging by the ACTIONS of this Administration, this is arguably the most anti-immigrant White House we’ve seen in quite some time. Whether Latino voters and another pro-immigration constituencies support the President in 2012 fearing that the GOP candidate would be even worse is still an open question.

Read it all.

Or, how about this from immigration lawyer Matthew Kolken (emphasis mine):

Obama gathered a bunch of people together yesterday to talk about immigration. Among the invitees was the person who oversaw the deportation of more immigrants over a two-year span than at any other time in the history of the United States, the richest man in New York, an aging movie star, the police, the COO of Facebook (“Like”), and Al Sharpton.

You know who Obama didn’t invite: an experienced immigration lawyer, a seasoned immigration judge, or members of Congress who ultimately vote on immigration reform legislation. The conspicuous absence of any individual who has in-the-trenches experience with the implementation of the immigration law from an immigrant’s perspective, or the lawmakers who can actually do something to fix the problem is very telling.

What it reveals is that this President is more interested in creating a photo-op to garner votes for his reelection than figuring out a way to craft bi-partisan legislation that will infuse some equity into our beyond broken immigration laws. Or better yet, putting an end to his own administration’s draconian deportation quotas.

This President has been giving lip-service to immigration reform for over two years now. His do nothing and blame the Republicans strategy isn’t fooling anyone.

You can’t say he is a completely do nothing President, heck he is over in Libya helping create more poor refugees with his war effort.

Read the rest of Kolken and Siskind’s blasts and note that Kolken lists the invitees to the photo-op and includes a film clip of Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Congress’ greatest Open Borders advocate, saying he might not support Obama in 2012 (yeh, well, who else would he support?).

Just a reminder, I told you about a similar White House meeting to push immigration reform in the summer of 2009 here.    Check Kolken’s White House list and then the one from 2009 and note how many advocacy groups are missing.   These guys (Kolken and Siskind) have a point, Obama wanted a ‘friendly’ group for a White House photo opportunity, plain and simple.

Temporary Protected Status is NEVER temporary

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I want pro-migration advocates to show me and our readers any case where we granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to a group of immigrants and then returned them to their country later.  We even have El Salvadorans here on TPS!    I’ve been writing about the Liberians for two years (first post is here). They were granted TPS many years ago and each President* simply extends the deadline for their return to Africa. Eventually they have homes and businesses and the plea is made that we couldn’t possibly uproot them now.

Now (hat tip:Lynn) we learn that Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) have submitted a bill to give Liberians who were sheltered by us (through TPS) permanent residency.

From the Daily Planet:

Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison introduced the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2011, H.R. 1293 in March, and Senator John Reed (RI) introduced the companion bill, S.656, in the Senate. The bills would allow Liberians to finally adjust their immigration status from temporary to permanent.

For years, immigration advocates have been making the case for permanent US residency for Liberians who are in the US on temporary immigration status. They argue that while Liberia is now post-civil war and on its way to recovery; it cannot handle a sudden influx of returnees. Additionally, they argue that Liberians have established new roots in their adopted homes including Minnesota which is home to over 30,000 Liberians.

Ellison says they enrich communities in Minnesota, yes, like the Somalis in St. Cloud?  In reality these are the voters who will keep the likes of Ellison (our first Muslim Congressman) in office.

In a statement supporting the bill, Ellison said, “Liberian-Americans enrich our communities in Minnesota and we owe it to them to finally resolve their immigration status.”

Will Libyans be next?   I would not be surprised if this is the program through which we will bring Libyan “refugees” from Obama’s war with Gaddafi!

* Note here that George Bush did say it was time to go home to Liberia, but ultimately Obama extended their “temporary” stay in America.  And, also note that Liberians participated in the amnesty demonstrations in Washington, here.

Mexican “refugees,” the Catholic Church and organized labor….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….the gang’s all here!

Here is an article that is so chocked full of interesting information, I don’t know where to start.   So, just a few things that caught my eye.

There is an increasing campaign by pro-migration forces to refer to illegal aliens coming across the US/Mexican border as “refugees” escaping the drug violence.   This article in Mexidata.info opens with your standard dramatic effect.

Shrouded in burka-like attire, the anonymous woman was suddenly transformed into “nobody.” Her eyes concealed by a pair of huge shades, the Mexican woman told the large crowd assembled at central El Paso’s Catholic Daughter’s Hall how she came to live in the United States without papers.

Once a professional with a bright future ahead of her, the woman claimed she left Mexico because extortion, kidnapping, murder and threats cascaded on her family in a land of impunity.

Part of a growing population of Mexican refugees from the so-called drug war, the mystery presenter spoke of a “constant pain in the stomach and pressure in the chest” that well up from living with a constant fear of deportation and possible separation from her refugee children.

The meeting was put on by a Catholic Church-related organization (ho-hum what else is new):

The refugee’s captivating speech was heard at an April 2 immigration forum organized by Annunciation House, a Catholic-sponsored migrant shelter in El Paso.

And, here we have the involvement in migration issues of Marxist organized labor:

In remarks to the forum, Texas state Senator Jose Rodriguez (D-El Paso) said anti-immigrant sentiment was sweeping Mexico, Europe, the US and his own home state, where more than 100 pieces of “anti-immigrant legislation” were recently introduced in the state capital of Austin.

Simultaneously, a state budget deficit of $23-$27 billion was encouraging a state political leadership wielding “wrong priorities” to put education and social services on the chopping block, Rodriguez contended.

A long-serving El Paso county attorney before he won the seat formerly held by retiring state Senator Eliot Shapleigh last year, Rodriguez endorsed comprehensive immigration reform, grassroots mobilization and cross-border labor organizing initiatives like the one pursued by the United Electrical Workers and Mexico’s Authentic Workers Front.

Rodriguez said anti-immigrant and anti-labor measures have galvanized numerous public protests in Austin during the current legislative session, with a big, statewide day of action on April 6. “Pressure has results,” he insisted.

I doubt legitimate American electrical workers have any interest in socialist labor organizing and migration issues involving Mexico—-except if they knew union bosses were busily importing workers (voters) to compete with them.

Read the whole article it’s very informative.

In Maryland, black legislators favor immigrants over black Americans

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the contention of writer and Maryland conservative activist Ron Miller in his opinion piece yesterday on the eve of an important vote in the Maryland legislature.  Miller, the author of ‘Sellout: Musings from Uncle Tom’s Porch‘, is commenting on the Maryland legislature’s  controversial vote, likely to come today, on a bill to give in-state college tuition rates to illegal aliens.

From Southern Maryland Online, entitled, ‘Black on Black crime in the General Assembly‘:

Before I go down this path, I want to be crystal clear that House Bill 470, which went to the floor of the House of Delegates Tuesday, and proposes to offer in-state tuition to the children of illegal aliens, will adversely affect all Marylanders.

This bill is fiscally irresponsible given our state budget crisis, and it is a violation of the rule of law. It is an affront to all law-abiding Marylanders and the tens of thousands of legal immigrants who followed the rules to come here.

It will contribute further to making Maryland a sanctuary for illegal aliens, who already cost our state $1.4 billion a year in benefits and services for which they didn’t pay and for which they’re not eligible. They will come here in droves from neighboring states like Virginia, which are much less hospitable to them.

That said, I’ve watched with amazement as the black delegation in the Maryland General Assembly applies the thumbscrews to their own constituents in the name of party loyalty. By showing favor to illegal aliens, these legislators are telling black people, who suffer from an 11.2 percent unemployment rate in our state, compared to 6.2 percent for whites and 8.8 percent for Hispanics, that they don’t matter.

Let me break it down for you. Young blacks make up the lion’s share of the black unemployed in Maryland, and in the nation as a whole. The latest figures show that 45.5 percent of black teens in America are unemployed. Their biggest competition for the low-wage, low-skill jobs for which they qualify? Illegal aliens….

Mr. Miller goes on to use information from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in which the Institute admits American citizen blacks are disproportionately hurt by immigrant labor.   Read on.

But, note that in the quote Mr. Miller used from MPI they could not resist a back-handed slap at American black workers:

….employers actually prefer the immigrants, and believe that they have a stronger work ethic and lower rates of turnover out of low-wage jobs.

Just a reminder to readers that although earlier this year the Migration Policy Institute hosted a meeting where a speaker admitted black workers were hurt by immigrant labor, here, they seem to have no qualms about being pro-migration.  Indeed that meeting prompted me to look more deeply into the agenda of the Migration Policy Institute and this is what I found—far Left funding from the likes of George Soros and his network.  They might put on the patina of being a “nonpartisan and independent” policy outfit but they definitely have an open borders agenda.

Miller ends his good piece with this comment:

“Party trumps race.” I hope all you unemployed young blacks in Maryland remember that as she [State Senator Lisa Gladden] and her colleagues are throwing you under a bus loaded with illegal aliens, and then backing over you.