Category: The Opposition

Guatemalan gang violence biggest excuse to grant illegals asylum

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve reported previously that immigration lawyers are working overtime in the US trying to figure out all the new angles to use for illegal aliens entering the US and asking for asylum.

Here is the definition of asylum I posted late last month in a post about “narco-refugees:”

Refugee status or asylum may be granted to people who have been persecuted or fear they will be persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, and/or membership in a particular social group or political opinion. [I don’t see listed here people who are afraid of crime in their home country.—ed]

US asylum was never intended for those just wanting to run away from a crime-ridden country where the government doesn’t protect its people adequately, or for people looking for economic benefits in the United States.  (I used to say looking for work, but now I mean taxpayer supplied benefits).

So here (from Southern California Public Radio) are some excerpts from the story about a poor kid who claims he was going to be killed by gangs (Why? Are they just killing random kids or was he into something he shouldn’t have been?).

Death threats from the maras – or gangs – in his native Guatemala are the reason Ronald Aldana says he left.

Go read the article about how he got across the border with the help of his illegal alien sister who had crossed years earlier.  It will really steam you!

Lots of kids on the way and the Office of Refugee Resettlement is helping them (I’m sure the kids have heard about Obama’s Dream Act and how they can go to college in Maryland on the taxpayers dime!).  The numbers of “unaccompanied” youths is skyrocketing.  (See my post last month)

Meanwhile, KIND [Kids in Need of Defense*] worked with the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement to fact-check Aldana’s story and represent him in court. Eventually, the U.S. government granted him asylum because he was a minor who fled organized violence in his native country.

KIND’s director Wendy Young says Aldana represents a big surge in kids who’ve arrived alone in this country during the last couple of years. Only a lucky few, she says, gain asylum.

They have been doing this for decades for various reasons—gangs are only the latest ploy.   If amnesty goes through Congress during the new Obama Administration all of these people will be allowed to stay, get their stuff, and VOTE.

The founder of Homies Unidos, Alex Sanchez, is a former gang member from El Salvador who gained asylum from violence in his homeland during the 1990s. He explains that young people throughout Central America have left their countries for decades now, fleeing war, seeking opportunities for their families or escaping natural disasters. But according to him, these days, the main push factor is a dramatic rise in gang violence.

The “kid” featured in this story is now shacking up with his girlfriend and her family, working part-time and dreaming of bringing the whole clan up from Guatemala.  Oh, and you know, if he was doing any work “part-time” that was steady work, the reporter would have mentioned it.

More than three years after he crossed the border, Ronald Aldana is now 20 years old. He lives in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles in a small apartment with his girlfriend, her parents, and her siblings. He left his sister’s cramped apartment because he didn’t want to burden her, he says, but she still helps him out with money.

Aldana recognizes he’s lucky to have gotten asylum. It allows him to work part-time, and soon, he’ll be able to apply for a green card, too.

When that comes through, he says, he’ll look for a way to move his parents and five siblings out of their native country and into the US. But that won’t be easy: First he’ll need to prove that he has the financial means to support them all.

And, the beat goes on (and on, and on)!

P.S. Don’t forget those Guatemalans are working another angle too—Temporary Protected Status!

* Kids in Need of Defense is a Washington DC legal ‘business’ run by former Ted (don’t bring them to Hyannis) Kennedy staffer Wendy Young.   The organization took in $4 million in its most recent year reported to the IRS, here.  $1.2 million came directly from you as government grants (p. 9).   I don’t have time to do more on this, but I bet there is lots of juicy information that could be unearthed about this outfit.

New Obama policy: LGBT immigrants cannot be deported if in homosexual relationship

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

It’s official now.

Presumably includes illegal aliens…..

From Human Rights Brief (title: US Recognizes LGBT rights for Immigration, Asylum and Refugee Purposes)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated as official, written policy that non-U.S. citizens in long-term same-sex relationships with U.S. citizens and facing deportation are eligible to have their deportations suspended under a 2011 policy of prosecutorial discretion. Under this administrative framework, U.S. law does not change but DHS will not enforce existing orders of removal for this particular class. The DHS policy under the Obama administration has been to focus enforcement resources on deporting unauthorized aliens who pose a security risk to the United States, and consider other factors when a person is not a risk. If an immigrant does not have past criminal convictions, immigration officials deciding whether to pursue removal are instructed to consider factors such as family relationships and the age at which the individual entered the United States.  The new instructions clarify that “family relationships” can include same-sex partnerships.

DHS officials previously indicated that that LGBT partners are protected under the prosecutorial discretion policy, but this is the first time the department has clarified that position in written instructions to its enforcement officers. The guidelines will prevent confusion in the field and also serve as documentation that can strengthen individuals’ cases for deferment after they have been apprehended. However, because the program is only an administrative policy, it can be withdrawn under a subsequent presidential administration.

So, here is the trick—enter the US illegally and find a same-sex partner and bam!—you are in!  And, truth be told, no one is coming into the bedroom to check-out your claim.

Oh, and by the way, look for more edicts like this from the Obama Administration if Romney should win tomorrow.  For the next two months they will be busy doing more of this and then if Romney tries to change it later, he will be called out as a racist homophobe—a twofer for the extreme Left wing!

Is White House “refugee czar” lying low to avoid scrutiny over Benghazi disaster and cover-up

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Are they keeping Samantha Power under wraps now so she won’t be tainted by the Libya scandal washing over Washington?  And, why would they do that?

Ever since the Benghazi disaster on September 11th, I’ve wondered where the third member of the “humanitarian vulcans” could be.  And, especially now as it appears increasingly likely that Benghazi could end the political career of US Ambassador Susan Rice and if all goes as it should, Hillary should be out too, I am puzzled by the complete silence on Samantha—the third member of the troika that pushed Obama into his Libyan adventure.

First, who is Samantha Power?

*  Power was born in Ireland and is a protege of George Soros.  Update:  Here is a better link connecting Soros and Power.

*  She is credited with being the brains behind something called R2P (shorthand for the Responsibility to Protect) a doctrine which says a country can (and must) go to war to avert a humanitarian disaster.

* She is married to Cass Sunstein, former “regulatory czar” in the Obama White House and author of a book Glenn Beck highlighted at length entitled “Nudge” and I think its self-evident where he wants to nudge us to!

* Power called Hillary Clinton a “monster” during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

* After Obama was elected he placed Power in the White House National Security Council.

* Interesting to me at the time was that she was tasked with reforming the Refugee Resettlement Program which is really the purview of the State Department.  (Incidentally, she and her task force did nothing other than get more money allocated to refugee contractors).  She was also crowned ‘Iraqi refugee czar’ in the White House.

* In Edward Klein’s book, “The Amateur”, she was quoted as saying she was sick of doing “rinkey-dink do-gooder stuff” like refugee issues.  Here is the quote as reported by Klein:

Among Obama’s foreign policy advisers, Samantha Power, the far-out leftist firebrand, complained that the administration’s cautious, first-dono-harm, approach to the Arab Spring had effectively sidelined her in White House Councils.  She said she’d been relegated to “doing rinky-dink do-gooder stuff,” such as advocating on behalf of beleaguered Christians in Iraq, and no longer had as much access to the President.  She was itching to get back in the fray, and she saw an opportunity in Libya.

* So, she got herself in the catbird seat on Libya and became the architect for our involvement in Libya!  (and what do you know—they produced more refugees!)

Here is a very telling piece posted at Irish Central on March 30th, 2011 entitled:  Samantha Power credits President Obama with Libya uprising.

We helped the rebels in Benghazi!  (Power)

Irish born White House foreign policy specialist Samantha Power said this week she believes President Obama’s two-year international campaign to promote human rights helped trigger the uprising in Libya against Moammar Gadhafi’s rule.

In a speech she gave on Monday at Columbia University Power, currently the director of multilateral affairs at the National Security Council, defended her strong support for the military operation against Gadhafi’s forces.

[…..]

Power claimed that the president, through a series of speeches he gave in various foreign capitals, had made it easier for other nations to stand with the United States against home grown tyrants.

Power responded to a question on the military operation to impose a no-fly zone, saying that “force can be justified on humanitarian grounds”

To underline her point Power added that the international coalition had acted to protect the rebel-stronghold city of Benghazi because of Gadhafi’s ruthless attacks. [gee, maybe Gadhafi knew something we didn’t know.–ed]

[…..]

Last week The New York Times revealed that Power, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had countered reluctant military leaders to persuade president Obama to launch military operations against Gadhafi’s forces, under the guise of protecting civilians.

So, back to my curiosity about where Power is hiding out these days.  She and Sunstein recently had another child so I figured perhaps she was home being mommy.  But, no, here she is with Valerie Jarrett just last week helping to empower women and girls.  What?  Sounds like ‘rinkey-dink’ to me.  I had to laugh when I saw the photo of Power hunched over the computer answering questions from girls, it’s as if she is saying it’s just little ol’ good person me, move along, no Vulcan here.

Why is she lying low on Libya?

Maybe, just maybe, because her fortunes have risen as Hillary’s and Rice’s are declining, and the White House wants to keep her out of the scandal so she is available…...for what?

Power is being mentioned as the next Secretary of State—-ahhhhhhh!

Here is one story, again at Irish Central.

And, check out this list of five potential Secretaries of State in a second Obama Administration!

1) Senator John Kerry

2) Ambassador Susan Rice

3) National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon

4) NSC Official Samantha Power

…she is considered a key architect of Obama’s Libya intervention. But remember, some conservatives and Israel proponents don’t like Power because they consider her pro-Palestinian.

5) Rep. Keith Ellison  (the new leader in Congress on all things refugee, here)

OMG!

Obama and his ruthless “humanitarian” women—Clinton, Rice and Power—must go!

Endnote:  A version of this post was published today at Potomac Tea Party Report.

Lewiston, Maine’s Mayor in hot water over remarks about Somalis

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update September 28th:  Thanks to reader ‘riveratlantic’ for alerting us, but it seems that the Mayor is saying different things to different people, here.

And, can you imagine it!  Lewiston, Maine is one of the Nation’s twenty five LEAST diverse cities, that in spite of the 6000 plus Somali refugees living there.

So what did the Mayor say that has brought  the wrath of Maine’s Global Institute down upon him?

Lewiston’s present Mayor told the BBC on 9/11 that first the Somalis were costing the city a lot of money and that they and other immigrants should leave their culture at the door and accept American culture! 

Ahhhhh! Get out the tar and feathers!

From Somali Multi-media:

Lewiston Mayor Robert MacDonald is once again facing criticism for remarks he made about Somali refugees in Maine’s second-largest city. In a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Mayor MacDonald said immigrants are “costing us a lot of money” and they should “accept our culture and leave your culture at the door.” Last year the mayor apologized for comments he made on election night when he said the wanted to make the city less attractive to deadbeats, many of whom don’t speak English. As Susan Sharon reports, members of the Maine Global Institute are now requesting a meeting with the mayor.

Mayor MacDonald’s comments were first broadcast by the BBC on Sept. 11 in a segment focusing on the resettlement of nearly 6,000 ethnic Somalis and Somali Bantus to Maine’s second-largest city over the past decade.

“If you want to become a citizen, that’s fine, welcome to America,” MacDonald said. “But you know what? When you come here, you come and you accept our culture and you leave your culture at the door.”

Read it all.

So, what is this Maine Global Institute I wondered?    I couldn’t find a website for it and only a directory listing at the Portland Chamber of Commerce that says they:

Support public and private efforts to help make Maine and Portland a more welcome place for inevitable demographic change.

I did however find this interesting article about a diversity study from Brown University that places Lewiston in the bottom twenty five cities for diversity in the US.  I’m thinking that if the city has 6000 Somalis and the rest of the people are native Mainers, yup, not enough diversity—only two colors!  Who knew!

From the article in The Forecaster we learn that the first meeting of the Maine Global Institute just happened and how lucky that Mayor MacDonald should say such politically incorrect things for them to blast just at this time.  And, what a coincidence that Lewiston’s former Mayor, who was gung-ho for more refugees, is Chairman of the Board of the Maine Global Institute!

Larry Gilbert, former mayor of Lewiston, is chairman of the board. Gilbert is also involved in the Lewiston-based Welcoming Maine, which works to integrate new Mainers into the city.

We’ve written about Mr. Gilbert on previous occasions.  Here in 2010 he was feted by none-other than John Podesta’s Hard Left Center for American Progress, a George Soros spawn, when the Mayor told Congress that Lewiston was a multicultural nirvana.   But, apparently not multicultural enough according to Brown University.

And readers, don’t be fooled, these little groups that appear to spring up locally, like the Maine Global Institute, are all part of an international organized network of new world order types shepherded by Soros and others of his ilk to ultimately erase borders.

We’ve written many many posts on Lewiston, so use our search function and just type in ‘Lewiston’ for all of those posts.   However, be sure to read one post in particular because almost every day this post from 2009 about Maine as a welfare magnet for Somalis ranks in our top most-read posts.

An afterthought!  You might want to contact the Mayor and give him some words of support, here.

With new bill, Muslim Congressman Ellison takes the lead to loosen restrictions on refugees….

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

….and to direct more of your tax dollars to so-called non-profit voluntary agencies (aka federal contractors).

Update and reminder:  Rep. Keith Ellison has the dubious distinction of having the most Somali constituents who left the country to join Jihadists in Africa, here.

So the powerful lobbyists for federal refugee contractors couldn’t find anyone other than Minnesota’s hot head Rep. Keith Ellison who called the Republican Party a “basically bigoted party” only a few weeks ago to carry their water in expanding refugee resettlement and getting more of your dollars into their coffers?  Really!

Readers, I have been suggesting for years that the real driving force behind the refugee program in recent years is to get more Muslim immigrants into the US, and you know with Ellison, a Muslim, now taking the lead on the program in Congress it’s the closest we’ve come to seeing that truth.

Way back in 2007, I wrote a post about an Imam from Maryland (Yahya Hendi) visiting Saudi Arabia and telling a Saudi audience that they had elected the first Muslim to Congress (Ellison) and that Muslims would control a number of US cities by 2015 (he is wrong on the year, it will take longer).  He admitted that Muslim conversions weren’t happening fast enough, so immigration is the ticket to swelling the US Muslim population.

Now here is Ellison introducing the “Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act” last week.

Get’em in faster (speed up the security checks?), get them job training to compete against Americans in our weak job market, and make sure they get a green card right away (presently they must wait a year).

Ellison’s press release:

WASHINGTON–Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-05) today introduced the “Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act,” which increases coordination and provides much-needed resources for new Americans fleeing war, persecution, or natural disaster.

The bill streamlines refugee processing abroad, while taking advantage of that processing time to provide refugees with English classes and work orientation training. It also allows refugees to be admitted to the United States as lawful permanent residents, saving scarce government and non-governmental organization (NGO) resources. [Do you find this as annoying as I do—these contractors just don’t want to be bothered with this extra work a year later.  They want to get their $$$ and be done with the refugees within 3-6 months and bring in another batch!—ed]

More money for the contractors!

 The bill strengthens refugee integration into local communities. In particular, it expands the public-private Matching Grant program, which has been highly successful in helping refugees become economically self-sufficient.

Brings more of your tax dollars to Ellison’s district where Ellison got elected with the help of the huge Somali population in his district.

“America’s refugee program should reflect our values of generosity and inclusion for all Americans—new and old. The ‘Strengthening Refugee Resettlement Act’ achieves this by making sure refugee families have the resources they need to be self-sufficient as quickly as possible. Strengthening support not only helps the 34,000 refugees who have come to Minnesota since 2000, but improves America’s image abroad.”

According to the University of Minnesota, Minnesota has historically had the highest number of refugees per capita. Between 1999 and 2007, over 34,000 people were resettled in Minnesota, from 30 different countries. Over 50,000 Somalis alone—many of them refugee–currently live in Minnesota.   [They are all refugees or illegal aliens—ed]

Ellison has kindly listed for us the hit-parade of federal contractors and immigration and open-borders lobbyists who support his bill:

Refugee Council USA  (this is the lobbying arm for refugee organizations)

Then he lists seven of the top nine major federal contractors who are on board with his bill.  These organizations receive millions of tax dollars to resettle refugees to your towns and cities while expending very small amounts of their own money.  These ‘church’ groups are not passing the collection plate to help refugees in any major way!

World Relief

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Ethiopian Community Development Council, Inc. (ECDC)

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Church World Service

The Episcopal Church

Interestingly, the two largest contractors: the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the International Rescue Committee are not listed.  I wouldn’t be quick to chalk that up to any policy concerns with signing on with Ellison but more likely just a bureaucracy problem as they are so big they probably couldn’t get approval through in a timely manner.

Watch for it!  By the end of the week we will see Obama’s refugee wishlist for 2013 which if all goes the way it always does, Congress will rubber stamp it!