Category: Other Immigration

Kingston, NY: More immigrants nabbed in food stamp fraud bust

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’m guessing they are Indians this time.   Longtime readers know that this type of food stamp fraud appears to be rampant throughout the US where immigrants run ‘mom and pop’ convenience stores.  This is not little stuff like buying goods that aren’t allowed on food stamps, these are generally busts involving hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars when card holders are given cash at 50 cents on the dollar by the store clerk.  The scammers then submit the full dollar for reimbursement from you—the taxpayer.

From Mid Hudson News:

KINGSTON – Two men are under arrest, charged in connection with a 10 month investigation into fraud and potential money laundering, Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright said Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from state taxpayers through the operation, it is alleged.

Kuldeep Singh and Surinder Kumar have been charged have been charged with grand larceny in the fourth degree, felony misuse of food stamps, falsifying business records in the first degree and scheme to defraud in the first degree.

The charges allege the men, along with another individual, Kanwarjit Sing, have been operating an extensive food stamp fraud and unregistered money service business out of the Sunoco Convenient Mart on Broadway in the City of Kingston.

Kingston Police officers conducted a sting operation with undercover officers using food stamp cards to purchase alcoholic beverages, gasoline, cigarettes and in exchange for money.

For each transaction, the men would skim 50 percent profit, which would be reimbursed by the state.

For more details, visit Mid Hudson News.

I suspect the E-2 Treaty Investor program should be investigated as the source for all the convenience stores owned by immigrants, as I have mentioned many times previously.  If you have a little seed money to invest you can get into the US from certain countries, buy a convenience store and start the money factory for oneself.

For the dozens of locations in the US where we have observed this form of fraud, use our search function for ‘food stamp fraud’ and it will return pages of posts on the scam—-all virtually set up the same way.

NumbersUSA: Balance of power shifted on immigration yesterday

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A couple of hours ago Roy Beck of NumbersUSA reported that changes in the House and Senate yesterday send a message that immigrant numbers may see a decline for the first time since the 1920’s, and that amnesty for illegal aliens is even farther on the back burner than it has been since Obama was elected President.

The cause of immigration enforcement and numerical reductions was a huge winner in Tuesday’s elections, promising that immigration issues will finally be addressed as job issues in the next Congress.

I’m not sure there has been a Congress since 1924 — and certainly not in the last 50 years — that had a membership more interested in reductions in overall illegal and legal immigration than will be the one that was elected yesterday.

NumbersUSA has a color-code to help members and the general public ascertain the position of elected House and Senate members on immigration control that breaks down like this:

To analyze the results, NumbersUSA in advance of the elections assigned every current Member of Congress and every candidate to one of three categories based on extensive review of their actions, their official stances and statements in the media. The three categories were:

MORE IMMIGRATION: Support high current levels of new foreign workers, with many favoring letting illegal aliens keep their jobs

UNCOMMITTED: Immigration positions not clear

LESS IMMIGRATION: Favor stronger enforcement to open up illegal-alien-held jobs for unemployed Americans, with many favoring reductions in legal immigration, too.

Learn more here.

 

Merkel: Multiculturalism has failed in Germany

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to three readers for forwarding me this piece from the BBC yesterday in which Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, says that lack of assimilation by mostly Turkish and Arab immigrants is the cause of growing social unease in Germany.

Attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany have “utterly failed”, Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

She said the so-called “multikulti” concept – where people would “live side-by-side” happily – did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate – including learning German.

The comments come amid rising anti-immigration feeling in Germany.

A recent survey suggested more than 30% of people believed the country was “overrun by foreigners”.

The study – by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation think-tank – also showed that roughly the same number thought that some 16 million of Germany’s immigrants or people with foreign origins had come to the country for its social benefits.

In typical politician fashion however Merkel goes on to tell her audience of mostly younger members of her political party that immigrants are still welcome—they just need to learn German quickly and not separate themselves from society by creating the well-known Muslim ‘no go zones.’    Good luck with that.

Read the whole story.

Geert Wilders is on trial, and so is freedom of speech

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Geert Wilders is an outspoken Dutch critic of Islam, and of unchecked Muslim immigration into Europe. He is also the head of the Freedom Party, which has soared in popularity and is part of the newly formed government coalition. And he is on trial for his speech, in a proceedings that should horrify the civilized world. There is a lot of commentary on his trial; here’s some of the best.

Pamela Geller says In Wilders trial, free speech is also on trial at Big Journalism.

In what can only to be described as a throwback to the seventh century, Dutch Parliamentarian and anti-jihad warrior Geert Wilders was back in court Monday on specious “hate speech” charges filed by a corrupt, criminal dhimmi court in the Netherlands. How dare they subjugate their Western values to Islamic supremacism in this dangerous farce?

Check out the photo of a man holding a sign saying: BEHEAD THOSE WHO INSULT ISLAM.

Mark Tapscot says Freedom of Speech on trial in the Netherlands is a hint of things to come in America, at the Washington Examiner.

Dutch political leader Geert Wilders has fought this Islamified PC and is now on trial for doing so, accused of committing a “hate crime” by speaking these lines:

“We must stop the tsunami of the Islamization. This hits us in the heart, in our identity, in our culture.”

Soeren Kern gives a good summary of what led up to the trial, and what is going on now:

Wilders is being prosecuted after complaints following an August 2007 essay titled “Enough is Enough: Outlaw the Koran, published by the Dutch newspaper De Volksrant, in which Wilders called the Koran “fascist” and compared it to the book Mein Kampf. Wilders also wrote: “I’ve had enough of Islam in the Netherlands; let not one more Muslim immigrate;” adding “I’ve had enough of the Koran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book.” A year later, he released the documentary film “Fitna,” in which he calls on Muslims to rip out “hate-preaching” verses from the Koran.

In a February 2008 interview with Britain’s leftwing Guardian newspaper, Wilders said: “Islam is something we cannot afford any more in the Netherlands. I want the fascist Koran banned. We need to stop the Islamization of the Netherlands. That means no more mosques, no more Islamic schools, no more imams.” He added that Islam was “the ideology of a retarded culture,” and said that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims.”

In February 2009, the British government led by Prime Minister Gordon Brown banned Wilders from entering Britain on grounds of Islamophobia. That ban was lifted in October 2009 after a British court ruled that the entry ban was illegal.

The attempt to bring Wilders to trial was initially dismissed after the Public Prosecutor (OM) originally said that Wilders was protected by the right to free speech. But an appeals court overruled him and ordered that Wilders be charged. The case against Wilders was initiated by the extreme left anti-racism group called Netherlands Admits Color.

Some of the most prominent legal scholars in the Netherlands have spoken out against the case, arguing that “this prosecution does not befit a civilized country.” Adding to speculation that the proceedings against Wilders are pre-cooked, the Amsterdam court is refusing to allow Wilders to call four legal scholars as witnesses because the judges say they have already “learned enough” about the case from other sources.

And he describes the influence Wilders has had on Dutch politics:

The trial comes at a moment when Wilders is close to seeing many of his policy goals realized. On September 30, Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) agreed to support a new minority government made up of the Liberals (VVD) and the Christian Democrats (CDA). Following inconclusive elections in June, the new government is expected to take office in October with a tiny majority (76 seats in the 150-seat parliament). It will be led by Mark Rutte, the VVD leader, as prime minister.

In return for the support of Wilders’ 24 seats in parliament, his political allies have promised to ban the burqa, turn away more asylum-seekers and cut immigration from non-Western countries in half. Under the pact, radical religious leaders could be barred from entering the country; immigrants convicted of crimes would be expelled more rapidly, and those who failed an integration exam would lose their residence permits.

The coalition government also plans to pursue more Euroskeptic policies, and invest in Dutch relations with Israel. “This is an historic event for the Netherlands,” Wilders said after reaching the coalition agreement. “We will be able to rebuild our country, preserve our national identity and offer our children a better future. We want to stop the Islamization of the Netherlands.”

How similar this is to politics here. A ruling class of elites does all it can to impose political correctness and multiculturalism, even at the cost of the survival of their own nation and civilization. But the ordinary people see exactly what is at stake, and as soon as a politician is brave enough to speak out, he gains an enormous following. Wilders is having an effect all over Europe, as his message resonates and his courage inspires.

See our previous posts on Geert Wilders here.

Three arrested in Seattle on food stamp fraud charges

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars

Here we go again, another food stamp fraud bust, but this one is different.  This time its three Asian women instead of Muslim men.  Let me say right up front, I have alerts set for food stamp fraud and have virtually never gotten an alert involving anyone with names like Smith, Jones or Baker.  I’m not saying Americans don’t do food stamp fraud, but there seems to be (in my unscientific analysis) a heck of a lot more immigrants participating in the big frauds, like this one.  It seems that large immigrant communities are also a required ingredient.  [I can hear the politically correct raging as I write this!]

From The Seattle Times:

Three people, including the owner of a grocery store, have been charged with food-stamp fraud in connection with a two-year undercover investigation that federal officials say could involve millions in transactions.

Federal prosecutors have charged Elsa Ma Kwong, 46, the owner of the Seattle Chinese Herb & Grocery in the Chinatown International District, where the investigation was focused, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Two other women, Ahn Thi Nguyen, 53, and Muoi Ly, 65, both of Seattle, were also charged with allegedly facilitating the fraud by serving as “runners,” who found people to participate in the fraud.

Be sure to read the article because this use of “runners”  is something new to me, and I have read a lot of food stamp fraud stories.

Here then was the giveaway to investigators, duh!

When Kwong most recently applied for permission to participate in the SNAP program in 2009, Kwong estimated that she sold about $90,000 in groceries a year from the market. However, a review of the store’s redemption history showed it had redeemed more than $2 million in SNAP benefits between June 2009 and June 2010.

$2 million of your tax dollars in one year!

Meanwhile, food stamp recipients are at an all time high!

Blaming the economy and unemployment, Bloomberg reported (hat tip: Drudge) yesterday that 41.8 million Americans are now on food stamps.  Surely many need the help but these large numbers of fraud busts indicate to me that lots of ‘needy’ people need cold hard cash more than food!  And they know how to get it at the corner grocer or convenience store!   I wonder if we can extend banking regulations to these mom & pop stores?

The number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to a record 41.8 million in July as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government said.

Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a year earlier and increased 1.4 percent from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 20 straight months.  [When you click on ‘statement’ it takes you to a fabulous chart of how much food stamp use has gone up state by state—ed]

Search RRW for ‘food stamp fraud’ to see dozens of fraud cases similar to Seattle’s.