Category: Where to find information

Handy guide to state refugee agencies

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a website page at Refugee Works that I came across the other day which lists which government contracting resettlement agencies are in your states.   I see the list may not be completely up-to-date because, for example,  it doesn’t have the new World Relief office in Ft. Wayne, but it’s a good starting point if you want to know who is responsible for bringing refugees to your cities and states.

My plan is to refer to it and link it on future  posts where I’ve written about refugee problems so that readers can know who is responsible for the refugees.

Obama lifts restrictions on detention for asylum seekers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Obama Administration, obviously responding to complaints from groups like Human Rights First and Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has reduced the time a prospective asylum seeker must spend in detention before being released into the US.  By the way, once released they are supposed to return for legal hearings.  I don’t know what the stats are for the number who do return, but I bet its pretty abysmal.  If the numbers were good AP would have reported that figure.

From AP:

Currently, foreigners who come to the U.S. without valid documents can be immediately removed from the country, without a hearing. Also, requests for release must be made in writing, ICE said.

Brian Hale, ICE spokesman, said the new policy also will apply to people seeking asylum and already in detention.

The advocacy group Human Rights First reported last April that from 2004 to 2007, the rates of temporary release of asylum seekers dropped from 41.3 percent to 4.2 percent.

The Bush administration toughened criteria for asylum seekers to win release from detention in 2007. Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, said those rules were “unduly harsh” and cheered the changes Tuesday.

Immigrant advocates wanted to see more details on the change before commenting.

Steve Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for tougher immigration laws, said detention ensures people show up for hearings.

“The overwhelming amount of people who apply for asylum don’t get it and that’s why they don’t show up. Lack of detention destroys the credibility and meaningfulness of immigration courts,” Camarota said.

It was only last month that we reported on the Africans going to South America and then attempting to get across our Mexican border, here.   So, when some fake asylum seeker, pretending to be escaping persecution, from say Somalia, Bangladesh, Iraq or even Saudi Arabia, slips into Vermont across the Canadian border we know to point a finger at Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont.

For more information and statistics go here.  Note that we granted asylum to 22,930 people who entered the US in 2008 and claimed they were being persecuted.  Chinese asylum seekers topped the list.  10,443 of the total number granted asylum were in the process of removal when a judge then granted them asylum.  I’m wondering how many of the Chinese were Muslim Uighurs (see my next post, here it is).

Successful asylum seekers get all the help from public assistance that refugees receive.

Fraud Digest, very cool site

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Maybe you heard yesterday that the Feds had busted Medicare fraud schemes in three cities, Detroit, Miami and Brooklyn, totaling about $60 million in taxpayer rip-offs.

But, since the mainstream media seems generally unwilling to name names when one of these busts occur, especially when they are busts of immigrant run home health care operations (you know, something the SEIU is really into), I found this cool site.  Apparently they run a continuous blog-like list of fraud information.   So, I couldn’t find a permanent link for the December 16th entry, but at the moment it’s at the top of the page, here.

On December 15, 2009, the Justice Department announced that thirty people had been charged in three cities for their alleged roles in schemes to submit more than $61 million in false Medicare claims as part of the continuing operation of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.

Here are some of the names from Miami:

Yudel Cayro

Courtesy Medical Group
Lissbet Diaz
Fred Dweck
Marlenys Fernandez
Alain Fernandez
Arturo Fonseca
Teresita Leal
William Madrigal
Antonio Ochoa
Francisco Portillo
Eduardo Romero
Shelilah Rotta
Silvio Ruiz
Armando Sanchez
Isis Torres

That reminds me, since we were just hearing about Somalis in Lewiston, ME a few hours ago here, most readers probably don’t know that Lewiston had a Somali home health care bust back in the summer here.

And, aren’t you glad that the Obama Administration is cracking down on Medicare fraud even when the alleged perpetrators are immigrants?

US Unemployment map is astounding

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Judy received this link to a map entitled the Georgraphy of a Recession.  It depicts over time how unemployment has progressed since the Democrats took over Congress.  Click on it and watch large swaths of the country turn from sunny yellow, to red, to deep purple and finally to black (10% unemployment).   No wonder refugees don’t have work!

By the way, note the bright spot in Northern Virginia and Maryland—-federal workers.

Keeping an eye on the numbers!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I just went to this handy resource, The Cultural Orientation Resource Center,to check on the final tally of Iraqi refugees who came to the US in FY2009 which ended on September 30th.  The number is 18,833.  But they have FY2010 already being tallied.  FY2010 began on October 1, 2009.  If you will recall the Obama Administration set the ceiling for this fiscal year at a whopping 80,000!

Go here and check out the numbers for the first month of the fiscal year.  Wow! Burma tops the list with 1,421, then Bhutan (Nepal) 1,223 and Iraq 803.  And, it looks like we are on a roll with letting in more Somalis with 400 in the first month alone! 

We have no jobs!  See new study from Center for Immigration Studies yesterday, here. (site off-line at the moment but it should be back up later)