Category: Other Immigration

Immigrant food stamp scam guilty plea in NJ

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Your tax dollars:

For new readers, this is one of my side interests—food stamp scams by immigrant store owners and employees.   This isn’t small potatos fraud but fraud that costs the US taxpayers millions each year. 

This is the first scam I’ve reported from NJ, and it may be the first for immigrants that appear to be from India.   Most of the scams I’ve reported previously have been those perpetrated by Muslim immigrants.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The owner and two employees of a Westville convenience store pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding the federal food stamp program, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

Mehal Mothon, 48, of Berlin, admitted illegally debiting more than $280,000 in cash at his Citgo Food Mart, 1010 Delsea Dr., using the electronic cards now employed to provide food assistance.

Mothon, who has owned the store since June 2006, is charged with conspiring to embezzle from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mothon taught employees Lakhwinder Singh, 42, of Cherry Hill, and Palwinder Singh, 30, of Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, how to work the scam. The two, who are cousins, also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to embezzle, which carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. All three were arrested on April 1.

In the scheme, a customer would ask an employee to swipe his food stamp account card in return for cash. The employee would retain about half of the amount as a fee.

The crime is known as “trafficking” among USDA investigators. It is illegal to use the government-issued cards to collect cash. Investigators say they have uncovered similar illegal operations at two other South Jersey markets this year.

[…..]

Employees at two Camden markets also were arrested this year for defrauding the USDA of a total of nearly $800,000 in similar food-stamp card operations.

Use our search function for “food stamp scams” and you will see the many posts I’ve written on the subject previously.  In my most recent post on the topic, prior to this one, you will find some additional background on this growing problem.

Canada’s new “immigrant” from America

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update November 13th:  He has been released from custody, here.  Will have more later.

Vancouver seems to have more than its fair share of possible terrorists sneaking across the border.  First, we heard about the Sri Lankan ship that came ashore with “refugees” and now we hear about a mysterious ‘American’ who was stopped while coming across the border into Canada with nearly $1 million in GOLD.

VANCOUVER, B.C. — Paranoia and naivete led a Syrian man to lie about why he was crossing the border with nearly $1 million in gold and what’s been called “terrorist resources,” says the lawyer for the man who has been held as a potential security threat since early last month.

Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver.

“He didn’t want to be taxed on it,” lawyer Phil Rankin said Tuesday.

The Saudi-born would-be immigrant to Canada holds Syrian citizenship, but had been in the US since he was 17.    Besides the illegal amount of cash and gold he was carrying he had a few other suspicious items in his possession.

…. his actions, along with other politically-charged items found in his vehicle, are now being used by government officials to build a case depicting him as a national security threat.

The 35-year-old faces the Immigration and Refugee Board on Thursday to learn whether authorities have grounds to keep him in custody

He’d been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada.

[…..]　

Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002.

They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a scarf adorned with the images of a former Israeli prime minister and a U.S. president depicted as monkeys.

His lawyer says the items are easily explainable.  Read the whole article for the explanations!   The lawyer concludes:

“I think they’re [he and his brother in America] probably sympathetic to what’s going on in the Middle East,” he said, but that’s no indication of “sinister” activity.

Oh, and did you notice, he is a flight instructor.  Me thinks this lawyer has an uphill battle.

Lou Dobbs leaves CNN

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update November 12th:  Immigration Daily is gloating and suggesting if Lou Dobbs is out, amnesty is in.  I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to make that prediction.  As CNN dies, Dobbs may find a more powerful gig elsewhere.

Outspoken immigration critic and likely the only independent thinker at CNN has announced he is finished there.  It is not clear what he will do next, but it is clear that CNN will continue to sink further in the ratings.   From the NY Times:

Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said Wednesday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.

“Some leaders in the media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving,” Mr. Dobbs said just after 7 p.m., suggesting that he would remain involved in the civic discourse, but perhaps not on television.

“I’m considering a number of options and directions,” Mr. Dobbs added.

Wednesday’s program will be his last on CNN, one of his employees said earlier in the evening.

We previously told you about attempts by the Southern Poverty Law Center to get him fired, here.  And, more recently we mentioned the shooting at his NJ home, here.

USCCB lobbied hard for Pelosi Health Care bill

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Cliff Kincaid at Accuracy in Media lines up some of the reasons why the US Conference of Catholic Bishops helped push the Pelosi/Obama so-called health reform bill over the finish line late Saturday night and wonders where is the separation of church and state.

Kincaid explains and suggests some reasons why the USCCB might be in Pelosi’s pocket, including their immigration advocacy.  After you read this, I’ll add one more reason he has missed.   Hat tip:  Janet Levy

The AARP and American Medical Association supported H.R. 3692, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, but a careful analysis of the media coverage demonstrates that it was the U.S. Catholic Church that provided the winning margin. Yet, the liberal media are failing to raise the issue of the alleged separation of church and state.

Contrary to some media reports, the U.S. Catholics Bishops never opposed a national health care scheme. In fact, their main objection was to a provision for federal funding of abortion. Once that provision was eliminated, the Catholic Bishops embraced the bill.

On Saturday, after Catholic lobbyists had finalized a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most prominent Catholic in the U.S. Government, the Politico reported that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had “delivered a critical endorsement” to Pelosi “by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions.” The anti-abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat, passed. Hence, the Bishops are now officially in favor of a bureaucratic plan that could spell the end to freedom of choice in health care and financially bankrupt the U.S.

“A half dozen lobbyists for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops joined negotiators in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office to come to terms,” reported the Christian Science Monitor.

[…..]

NBC’s Doug Adams reported that the Catholic Bishops were “lobbying hard.”

The shocking turn of events once again demonstrates the extreme left-wing drift of the Catholic Church, which is the nation’s largest religious denomination with 67 million members and run by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But their role in passing Pelosicare is not the only evidence of such a turn. The Bishops poured more than $7.3 million of parishioners’ money into the corrupt left-wing organization ACORN over the last decade before publicity over the organization’s scandals forced suspension of the funding.

Please read Kincaid’s whole article.

Here is what Kincaid has missed—federal funding.   The USCCB is the largest federal contractor* for resettling refugees and running immigrant programs in the US.  That $7.3 million that went to ACORN is chump change and may not have even come from parishioners—it might have come from taxpayers.  

We recently learned that 100 Catholic Charities got a whopping $85,557,665 from the US Treasury to run their many immigrant and other welfare programs in 2009 alone!

Add to the $85 million dispersed around the US to Catholic Charities, note that the US State Department funded the DC office of the USCCB to the tune of $25 million (FY2009)!   I sure hope the USCCB is keeping their refugee money separate from their lobbying money.  Anyone doing any auditing?  What do you think, Pelosi had a little leverage here!

There is more.  We are funding with our tax dollars a multi-million dollar far left Catholic expansion of power throughout the government.   Take the case of Tennessee where Catholic Charities is now in charge of the millions of dollars that goes to Tennessee each year for refugee and immigrant federal programs.   The federal regulations mandate that a state agency manage the program for the many “church” and other non-profit groups operating to take care (LOL!) of immigrants within the state.  In Tennessee there is no state overseer, the fox essentially has the hen house.

So if one questions the issue of separation of church and state, think about the fact that Catholic Charities of Tennessee and the US State Department/Dept of Health and Human Services (the federal government!) make decisions for Tennessee regarding refugees and immigrants.  There is no decision-making role for the state or local government in deciding who is resettled in the state or how many.  The only role is that the state and local governments supply welfare assistance.  States should be guarding against this trend.

If amnesty is given to millions of  illegal aliens, as the USCCB is also lobbying for, you can be sure these Catholic offices roles will expand even further.  This is how the federal government with the help of its quasi-government agencies, like Catholic Charities, usurps the role of state governments.

We have already heard that Pelosi twisted many arms and offered loads of pork to legislators to secure their vote, certainly the USCCB had a lot of funding to lose if they didn’t go along with the program.  And, who knows what they were promised in the future.

* Here are the Top Ten federal contractors resettling refugees, running immigrant welfare programs AND lobbying!  They have 300 plus subcontractors.

Catholic leaders: Illegal entry does not define who you are

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

There is nothing earth-shattering here, but since we had previously discussed the National Association of Evangelicals on the issue of amnesty, I thought it only fitting to tell you about how leading Catholics are working toward Comprehensive Immigration Reform (called Amnesty for short).  

This is an account of a conference a few days ago at Georgetown University at which Cardinal McCarrick says the window is closed at the moment to push for Amnesty—no kidding!

From the National Catholic Reporter:

“A toxic political atmosphere” is preventing much-needed humane reform of the “broken immigration system” in the United States, Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said Nov. 3 at a forum on immigration and human dignity at Georgetown University.

Calling for “comprehensive immigration reform,’ the retired Washington archbishop said, “We have to change what is broken, lest more people will suffer. We have to be courageous and persistent and change the system.”

McCarrick was lead speaker of a three-member panel at the forum, put on by Georgetown’s Woodstock Theological Center and co-sponsored by CLINIC (Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.), the Migration Policy Institute and the Jesuit Conference, USA. More than 300 people attended.

In one way or another all the speakers urged new attention to immigration reform — which McCarrick bluntly said is now on a political back burner to the more currently dominant issues of the economic crisis, U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the health care reform debate.

The golden opportunity for immigration reform two years ago is gone, and those seeking comprehensive, humane reform need to watch closely for the next open window and seize it, he said.

“Our receptivity to immigrants defines who we are” as Americans, said Donald M Kerwin Jr., a Woodstock Center associate fellow and vice president for programs of the Migration Policy Institute. “What immigrants want today is what your parents and grandparents wanted” as immigrants in previous generations.

Kerwin, who for 15 years was director of CLINIC, a national program established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to provide legal assistance to refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrants seeking visas and legal residency in the United States, sharply disputed the use of “illegal aliens” or “illegal immigrants” as terms defining or identifying those who enter the country without legal status.

“The rejection of ‘illegal alien’ is not a quibble. … It’s a line drawn in the sand” to say that these are human beings with rights and legitimate aspirations, whose illegal entry does not define who they are, he said.  [I think it says an awful lot about them!]

A little research into CLINIC

I don’t have time today to look too deeply into CLINIC (some interesting stuff on their website) because I am going away for a few days and have to get out of here, but I was curious who was funding this legal office.   Turns out you are—not entirely, though!  On average CLINIC gets about a half a million dollars a year from the US taxpayer to legally defend immigrants including refugees, and apparently to lobby.    The money passes through a Washington, DC office run by Kerwin for 15 years.

If you are interested check out their latest Form 990 here.   And, also go to that wonderful new source of information USA Spending.gov for information on their federal grants.

By the way, as regular readers know the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, one of the top ten federal refugee contractors,  is one of the largest recipients of federal grant dollars.  I wonder do they ever consider that if millions of illegal aliens are legalized overnight that they will compound even further the poor job prospects for legal refugees.

And, why are we giving millions and millions of tax dollars to rich churches and their political activities?