Category: Who is going where

Hawaii-bound teen stowaway wanted to get back to Somalia

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update May 8:  Kid to be interviewed by police, Mom on the way? here.

Update May 5:  Teen released into care of California family service agency, here.

Update May 1: The latest episode of the Somali stowaway family soap opera, here.

Update April 29:  The story is turning into a soap opera!  CAIR involved too! Click here.  Voice of America story contradicts CAIR, here.

Update April 26:  Mom found in Ethiopia, wants to come to US, here.

Update April 23:  Father: Allah protected son.  Still no word on why father never called authorities about his missing son, here.

Of course you’ve seen the news.  Authorities are stunned that a teenage boy who stowed himself away in the wheel well of a plane that crossed the Pacific Ocean to Maui actually survived the ordeal.

He does not want to go back to California; he wants to go home to Somalia

CNN is now reporting that the boy is from Somalia and wanted to get home to his biological mother in Africa.  It reminds us (rather dramatically) that not all refugees are happy to be in America.

From CNN:

(CNN) — A 15-year-old boy who survived a flight from California to Hawaii by hitching a ride in the plane’s wheel well said he was trying to get to Somalia to see his mother, a law enforcement official told CNN on Tuesday.

The teen, who has not yet been identified, spent more than six hours on the ground before the Maui-bound jet took off, another government official says.

The boy jumped an airport fence in San Jose, California, shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, hours before Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 took off at 7:55 a.m., the official said.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, didn’t know when the teen climbed into the wheel well, but said the plane already was at the airport at 1 a.m.

Investigators say they don’t think the teen knew where the plane was heading and just went to the nearest aircraft.

There are a bunch of reports on the case, thanks to ‘pungentpeppers’ for sending them.

The general consensus of the stories is that the teen was unhappy living under crowded conditions in a house with his biological father, a stepmother and a huge batch of siblings.  He had also recently been in some trouble in school.   The reports vary on how long he has been in the US.

Here are a few:  UK Daily Mail,  NBC Bay Area, and NBC News.   ***Update***  More stories:  Sky News, ABC San Francisco, and more from CNN.

Why not cut the kid a break and have the humanitarians at the State Department find his biological mother and send him home to Somalia?

US State Department should provide airfare to unhappy refugees!

Which reminds me of a reform that is critically needed—any refugee who comes to America, is unhappy and wishes to return to his or her home country or to a camp should be given airfare to go home.  We don’t hear of the cases often (they are hushed up!), but some unhappy refugees do scrape together the needed airfare and do return to Africa or the Middle East.  We have heard from Iraqis from time to time looking to go back to Iraq.

Maybe take the airfare funds from the resettlement contractor’s cash.

Is the Governor of Wyoming calling RRW racist?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I don’t think so.  He is a Republican (right?) and that is something out of the Democrats’ play-book!  Any time someone disagrees with them on the issue of immigration, and they want to shut up the critics, out comes the “r” word.  It happens so often, it has become a joke!

Matt Mead and wife
Governor Matt Mead with wife sworn into office in 2011.

If he, or anyone on his staff, had followed our work over the last almost seven years, he would know that, first and foremost, we inform the public about a federal program that in our opinion has gotten way out of control and acts, to a great degree, in secrecy, while spending your tax dollars!

Our driving motivation is to inform you of the details of the US State Department’s refugee program so that you and your community may have a thorough discussion about what it is that the federal agencies (including ORR in Health and Human Services) in conjunction with a private contractor (Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, in this case) have in mind for your town or city.

The most important thing the governor said in the Casper Star-Tribune interview over the weekend is this:

At this point, Mead is working with volunteers to gain more information about establishing a refugee program in the state. Wyomingites will get to comment on a program as it’s developed, he said.

Please!  Anyone with concerns should ask to be involved as one of the “volunteers” he is working with and then Wyomingites should insist, at the very least, that hearings or public meetings be held in the Wyoming cities which are being targeted for refugee placement.

Here is more of what the Casper Star-Tribune reports from an interview with the governor:

CHEYENNE — Some of the opinions on the Internet about refugee resettlement in Wyoming are inaccurate and racist, Gov. Matt Mead said.

[….]

For instance, a blog called Refugee Resettlement Watch has a picture of a Gillette man and his family with the headline “The man who started the Wyoming refugee controversy.”

Refugee Resettlement Watch, run by a Maryland resident, also lists crimes committed by refugees throughout the United States, and in one place the site asks, “Are you ready for this in Wyoming?”

“In terms of the comments, I’ve seen some of those, too, in particular, the racist comments,” Mead said. “I don’t think that represents Wyoming. But it is hard to see and hard to read. And some of them, frankly, I will not read.”

Refugee resettlement in Wyoming is a worthy debate, Mead said.

“Let’s not have the debate in terms none of us would be proud of,” he said.

[….]

Ann Corcoran, who runs Refugee Resettlement Watch, did not respond to an email from the Casper Star-Tribune.

I’m so sorry to have missed that e-mail.  As regular readers know, I’m pretty awful about getting to all of my e-mail (what I wouldn’t give for a secretary or an intern!).  I apologize and going forward I should have more time to be more responsive to readers. I will e-mail the reporter today.

Then near the end of the article we learn this:

Mead’s spokesman, Renny MacKay, said Friday that the discussion of a program is in its preliminary stages. The governor’s office is looking at federal laws to understand the program. Mead doesn’t want to spend state money on it. Wyoming would work with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Just a reminder in case you (new readers) are confused:  The US State Department (in conjunction with the United Nations) chooses and admits the refugees.  Working with their major contractors***, the US State Department (Barbara Day) plays the significant role in deciding where the refugees will initially be placed.  They are running out of “welcoming” communities and they need Wyoming!

The Office of Refugee Resettlement in the US Department of Health and Human Services doles out grants to contractors (rarely to state or local governments) to care for refugees for a short time.  Because the program responsibility is divided by two major agencies of the federal government, it makes it more difficult for the average citizen or even state and local government officials to understand.

The program will cost the state of Wyoming money, but how much is always the ‘$64 thousand dollar question.’  Some states are attempting to figure out exactly what refugees do cost their state and local taxpayers (schools, healthcare, housing, crime etc.),  but the feds make getting that information very difficult.

Our coverage of the Wyoming controversy is here.  See for yourself if it’s “racist.”  And, don’t miss the opinion piece by Don Barnett that the Casper Star Tribune published last month.

The Casper Star Tribune has very early on editorialized in favor of refugee resettlement for Wyoming, here.

If the governor really wants to know how the program works, he might visit our fact sheet, here.  And, if he and his staff are ambitious, then they should check out our over 200 posts in a category we call ‘where to find information.’

***Nine major federal contractors, all others subcontract to the nine. In most cases these contractors (below) operate on 90 plus% federal funding.  No longer may they be considered private charitable enterprises.  They are also not financially audited, so between the major contractors and the 300 or so subcontractors it makes it hard to follow the (your!) money:

Kentucky: Twisted tale of Congolese “family” puts a lie to the thorough screening mythology

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A Congolese refugee says she was forced into domestic servitude by another Congolese refugee and has filed a federal lawsuit.

Sifa Ndusha hopes to bring her long-lost Daddy to the US real soon!

The story is here at Kentucky.com (Hat tip: Robin):

A Congolese refugee living in Lexington contacted a national human-trafficking hotline last April, saying she was being held in servitude, according to a federal lawsuit.

Claudine Nzigire Chigangu alleges in a lawsuit, filed Feb. 24 in U.S. District Court, that she was forced into domestic servitude by another refugee living in Lexington named Sifa Ndusha. The lawsuit says Ndusha took control of her money and immigration documents.

So if you are thinking this alleged trafficking began here in the US, you are wrong.  This pair had been living together in Uganda for years before being chosen by the UN as refugees destined for Kentucky!

Read this!  They don’t sound like “refugees” to me!   Did none of this come to light in the supposed screening process?

According to the lawsuit, in the summer of 2007, while both were living in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ndusha asked Chigangu if she would like to visit Uganda with her to take English classes. They ended up staying in Uganda for nearly four years, and Chigangu said she didn’t get to attend English classes. She said she was forced to stay home and take care of Ndusha’s house and children. Chigangu said she was not allowed to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the lawsuit, Chigangu said Ndusha created a false name and birth date for Chigangu when they came to the United States as refugees in 2011.

The lawsuit says Chigangu and Ndusha came to the United States in 2011, and Chigangu worked as a domestic servant for Ndusha, typically spending 18 hours a day cooking, cleaning and caring for Ndusha’s children.

Chigangu was able to escape on April 29, 2013, after calling the national human-trafficking hotline telephone number, the lawsuit says.

Kentucky resettlement contractor:  Don’t blame us!

Meanwhile, Barbara Kleine, Lexington office director of the Kentucky Refugee Ministries*** program, said she was aware of the lawsuit but could not comment on specific clients.

Generally speaking, Kleine said, refugees go through a screening process before they arrive in the United States. That process has more than 30 steps, including multiple interviews by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, she said.

Read the whole sorry tale!

There is more!  

Now what do you know!  The Ndusa “family,” which already has eight members living in the US, has located their long lost ‘Dad.’  Isn’t that sweet.  He will surely be reunited with his daughters in Lexington and soon after begin drawing Social Security!

From Kentucky.com a year ago:

The masked militia took Daddy away:

Sifa Ndusha was living with her family in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 when masked militia entered her home, killing her mother and taking her father.

[….]

Ndusha said she went to neighboring Uganda in 2007, and in 2011, she traveled to the United States as a refugee. In all, eight members of her family, including children and siblings, now live in Lexington.

And, Daddy will make nine!

Wait for it!  The next thing we will hear is that the “masked militia” has released her (also kidnapped) hubby so that he might come to America as well.

Wyoming are you paying attention?

***Kentucky Refugee Ministries is a subcontractor of New York-based Church World Service.

 

 

If Sayyid Qutb could see Greeley now!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Did you know that one of the founders of Al-Qaeda spent six months in Greeley, CO in the late 1940’s early 50’s and his view of decadent Americans gyrating with men and women’s bodies touching at a protestant church dance inspired his hatred for America and his subsequent work in designing a  manifesto of sorts which became the seminal work and inspiration behind militant Islam which to this day is terrorizing the world?

Here is a thoroughly informative article by Daniel Brogan which gives us the background.

Fifty-four years ago [now 65 years ago–ed], an Egyptian scholar arrived at the Colorado State College of Education in Greeley. He stayed for six months, sat in on a few classes, and did his best to sample day-to-day life in post-war America. When he left, he was quickly forgotten by the tiny community.

But Sayyid Qutb didn’t forget Greeley.

Time passed and the world changed. Colorado State College became the University of Northern Colorado and Greeley grew like the rest of the state. Qutb (pronounced KUH-tahb) returned to Egypt, where he became the foremost Islamic thinker of his time.

His articles and books were scholarly but passionate examinations of history, politics, and religion. He immersed himself in the Koran, compared it to the world around him, and came to a grave conclusion. Though the modern, liberal societies of the West preached freedom of religion, in truth, they undermined it. Religion and modernity, he concluded, could not coexist.

Qutb saw salvation in Islam, a religion that he believed offered true freedom. But for Islam to survive, a jihad would have to be fought to rid society of the West’s secular ways. Qutb envisioned an Islamic society ruled by Islamic law.

This was subversive stuff, even in the Middle East, and it wasn’t long before Qutb was thrown into prison, where he would stay for more than 10 years. Not surprisingly, prison only hardened his views. Qutb rewrote many of his earlier books and produced new ones at an astonishing pace, including a 30-volume masterwork entitled In the Shade of the Qur’an.

And through it all – right up until the day in 1966 when he was executed – Qutb remembered Greeley. What he had seen in those few months stayed with him through the decades and filled him with fear, disgust, and contempt. What he saw in Greeley made him hate America.

The story doesn’t end on the Egyptian gallows. In death, Qutb’s work became even more influential. Milestones, his best-known book, has been published in nearly 2,000 editions, and though many of his books have been banned in Egypt and other moderate Arab states, millions continue to illicitly circulate throughout the Middle East and over the Internet.

His writings have become both the inspiration and the blueprint for the fundamentalist jihad that now engulfs the world. Qutb’s work is to militant Islam what Das Kapital was to communism or Mein Kampf was to the Nazis. In American terms, he is Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine, all rolled into one. His disciples include Anwar Sadat’s assassins, and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian cleric convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up several New York landmarks. They include militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And they include a Saudi militant named Osama bin Laden.

Read it all—it is fascinating!  And, I doubt many Greeley residents or students at the University of Northern Colorado have a clue about the role their quiet American town played in world history.

Asad Abdi, the founder and co-executive director of the Global Refugee Center, instructs refugee role-playing.

Skip to April 2014 and we have Somali Muslim refugees instructing refugee role-playing. A propaganda stunt?

Greeley, CO became a US State Department “preferred” resettlement site a few years ago when Somali refugees were needed as laborers at local meatpacking plants.

We have an extensive archive on the controversy that erupted over demands regarding prayer times in the workplace, here (Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy) which is one way Muslims have begun to successfully change America (Al-Hijra!).  Qutb would be proud!

Last week, the Global Refugee Center, which was born out of the 2008 protests by Somali refugees in Greeley, participated in this propaganda stunt to continue to soften-up (welcoming!) Greeley for more refugees that are on the way.

From the Greeley Tribune (Hat tip: Joanne):

Nearly 40 people from around Weld County experienced the loss of family, limbs and property on Tuesday morning.

The experience was part of “A Walk in Their Shoes,” a refugee experience simulation hosted by United Way of Weld County at the Greeley-Evans School District 6 administrative building.

Qutb would be so pleased.  Changing America one refugee, one city, one state at a time!

I’m wondering, do they have a statue of Sayyid Qutb at the University of Northern Colorado?  Not yet?

 

Human Rights Watch: Lebanese becoming xenophobic (ack!)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

When they can’t squawk about racism, xenophobia is the next best thing!

One-millionth Syrian registered in Lebanon (that fact is the source of innumerable news accounts in the past week or so).

Whether it’s South African blacks not wanting an invasion of their country by members of their own race from elsewhere in Africa, or now Lebanese Arabs not wanting to be completely overrun by Syrian Arabs, to Leftists it is always about some deep dark evil lurking in the human character (unless one is a do-gooder Leftist of course).

Frankly it may be deep—a deep human desire to save one’s own group from complete annihilation—that comes to the fore when the invaders are too many in number.   The fear is a legitimate wish to preserve one’s own ethnic group and one’s own family and its livelihood.

It’s so humorous (annoying really!) to me to see that wish (for self-preservation) honored as immigrants come to America and are encouraged to maintain their own cultures/preserve their history, while the rest of us are encouraged to give up ours (see al-Hijra)!

I’m digressing……back to the Lebanese xenophobes!

From Time magazine:

With the conflict in Syria now in its fourth year, some Lebanese are growing increasingly hostile to the million Syrians taking refuge in their country.

[….]

“The increase in numbers has increased xenophobia,” says Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Read it all yourselves (if you feel like it).

What is the solution of course for groups like Human Rights Watch—save Lebanon from xenophobia by packing up tens of thousands of Syrians and sending them to Western countries?