Syrian refugees leaving Jordan and returning to Syria

06/26/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That’s a bit of news you won’t see in Western media where all the news is that millions of Syrians are fleeing and suffering.

9000 Syrians left the troubled Zaatari refugee camp near the Syria/Jordan border in just one month!

Here is the story from Lebanon’s Daily Star:

AMMAN: Nearly 9,000 Syrian refugees staying in Jordan left the kingdom for home this month, bringing the number of returnees to more than 68,000 in the past two years, a government official said Tuesday.

“Some 8,974 Syrian refugees voluntarily returned to their country in June, mostly from the northern refugee camp of Zaatari,” Anmar Hmud, the government spokesman for Syrian refugee affairs, told AFP.

“This brings the total number of those who returned in the past two years to 68,373 people.”

But Hmud said refugees are still streaming across the border to Jordan.

“More refugees continue to flee to Jordan. Around 12,200 Syrians sought refuge in Jordan this month,” he added.

Jordan says it is hosting more than 540,000 Syrian refugees, 150,000 of whom are housed in Zaatari camp, near the border with Syria.

In April, the UN refugee agency UNHCR reported that more Syrians were opting to return home from Jordan for a number of reasons, including reports of improved security in a number of border villages, and to protect their property.

The net flow is still going out of Syria, but some feel it’s safe enough in some parts of the country to return to take care of their stuff. We see this over and over again, there is a rush to resettle “refugees” in the West when in fact conflicts generally resolve themselves over time and it would be cheaper for America to support them in camps then to bring them to America!

So, I guess this means there is no big rush to resettle Syrians in your American towns and cities.

“Climate refugees” recognized in Gang of Eight bill now before the full Senate

06/25/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is one more reason, you must call your Senators today and tomorrow and tell them NO on “comprehensive” immigration reform. The word is that Janet Napolitano (or her successor) could decide that “climate-change refugees” are worthy of admitting to the US.

Climate refugees coming to a town near you? I love this illustration! It comes from Diplo (http://www.diplomacy.edu/blog/climate-refugees-new-concept-move)

For readers who have never heard the preposterous thesis on “climate refugees,” see our special category going back several years, here.

From Curtis Cartier of MSN News:

An amendment in the Senate’s immigration bill would address the flood of people fleeing countries affected by climate change.

TRUE: Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz’s amendment would potentially give legal status to climate-change refugees

Last week, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) offered an amendment to the immigration-reform bill currently being debated in the U.S. Senate, which would allow certain people fleeing countries that have been made uninhabitable by climate change to obtain legal status to stay in the United States. And with an estimated 32 million people becoming so-called “climate-change refugees” last year, there may be no shortage of applicants.

Schatz’s office sent a statement to MSN News outlining his reasons for introducing the amendment:

“… the immigration bill recognizes that some people in the United States have lost their nationality and are living in the country in limbo. They are not allowed to stay in the United States but they no longer have a home country to which they can return. The immigration bill establishes a new process for someone already in the United States to come forward and apply to be recognized as a ‘stateless person’ so that he or she can remain in the United States legally.”

As for assurance that passing the bill with the amendment wouldn’t prompt an influx of millions of displaced refugees, Schatz’s statement continues:

“The amendment would not allow foreigners to move to the United States because their nation is affected by climate change. This amendment to the immigration bill gives the Secretary of Homeland Security the discretion, but not an obligation, to take into account situations in which a person cannot return to their country because it’s uninhabitable due to climate change.”

Amendment mocked by conservative websites

The very existence of man-made climate change has become a hot-button political topic among certain Republicans and Democrats, and Schatz’s bill has already sparked derision and mocking from right-wing websites. Breitbart.com demanded that Republicans “pull the plug” on the immigration bill over the amendment, and Weasel Zippers compared people fleeing climate change to “refugees who are being terrorized by the Abominable Snowman.

The whole concept is worthy of derision however, those pushing it are dead serious and have been at their mission for years. Call the Senate! Here is a good summary of where we are!

Please tweet this and follow me on twitter. I’m AnnC@Refugee Watcher.

2,000 Syrian “refugees” already in the pipeline on the way to US

06/21/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to Northern Voices Online (a publication from Northern India), 2,000 Syrians have already been approved to come to the US in 2013, along with 30,000-40,000 additional Iraqis! I guess this is another bit of new information for the Republican immigration wizards, those boys in a bubble—Rubio and Graham.

Taking names? Angelina Jolie meeting with Syrian ‘refugees’ this week. Demotix / Splash News

WASHINGTON, Up to 2,000 Syrian refugees pre-approved by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would start new lives in America in 2013, US officials said late on Wednesday Kelly Gauger, a senior official with the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration responded to reporters at a briefing, marking World Refugee Day on June 20 (today), where she explained that DHS has not been able to gain access to Syria since March 2011, when demonstrations leading to the current conflict began.

The 2,000 Syrians coming to the US were interviewed in person and adjudicated more than two years ago, but would be subject to further US government screening.

As for Iraq refugees, Gauger noted there were also between 30,000-40,000 Iraqi refugees with pending applications. Since 2007, 86,000 Iraqis have been admitted into the US. [Someone tell Senator Rand Paul!—ed]

According to Simon Henshaw, also a senior official with the bureau, 70,000 refugees from around the world will be admitted to the US this year.

Refugees considered for resettlement by the US must have already fled their home country, and were referred by UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

The US typically accepts half of all UNHCR referrals. [I bet its a lot higher percentage than that!—ed]

Also, the Obama Administration has just extended Temporary Protected Status for Syrians already in the US, but I’ll post separately on that.

Somalis say Australia not taking African refugees

06/19/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

To add to Australia’s already deep troubles over thousands of Muslim asylum seekers arriving in boats, now Somalis are saying they have to go illegally to Australia because they aren’t being considered for refugee status there due to their skin color.

If you are a regular reader here you know Australia is in turmoil over the asylum issue. But, one thing that Australia and Canada have in common that we don’t have in the US is that the conflicts and public debate over refugee/asylum issues are out in the open in the mainstream media. When is the last time you heard any public debate on how many refugees we should be taking and from where in the likes of the Washington Post or the New York Times, or even Fox News?

Come to think of it, that story in the LA Times about the US taking Syrians may be one of the most forthright articles I’ve seen in the US press which normally stays mum when there is opposition to resettlement.

Here are two mentions of the latest headache for the Australian government. Somalis say they are going illegally to Australia because Australia won’t let Africans in through the front door.

From Radio Australia:

Somali refugees waiting in Indonesia, say they’re being forced to take dangerous boat voyages because Australia is refusing to resettle Africans.

The refugees say they have been told by the United Nations refugee agency, in Jakarta, that there’s no point applying to be resettled in Australia.

They wonder whether they’re being rejected automatically from Australia’s humanitarian program because of their skin colour.

Then here is The Australian (you will have to sign-in for the whole story):

PEOPLE-SMUGGLERS in Kenya and Somalia are telling Somalis seeking asylum they can easily get them to Australia through Malaysia and Indonesia. Australian Somali Association president Abdullahi Farah said he had been expecting an influx of Somalis arriving by boat as the message of an Australian option grew.

It comes as a woman was found dead on an asylum-seeker boat carrying about 60 Africans and people from the Middle East after it was stopped by HMAS Warramunga east-northeast of Christmas Island on Saturday.

Meanwhile little Collie in Western Australia was not consulted before being informed that asylum seeking families would soon come to live there. But, they say they will be “welcoming” to the “seed” community nonetheless. (The seed reference comes from Welcoming America, here, where refugees are seeds and your community is the soil in which they grow!).

Collie Mail:

LOCAL community leaders have expressed disappointment at a lack of consultation surrounding the relocation of asylum seekers to Collie.

The Collie Mail last week reported that nine families seeking asylum would be relocated to Collie later this month.

Collie Shire president Wayne Sanford said council found out about the plan through the press.

“There was no briefing to councillors before the decision to consider Collie was made,” he said.

Cr Sanford said he was disappointed the Department of Immigration did not consult with the local government body from a planning perspective.

“Collie is a very inclusive and welcoming community and I am sure the community will welcome these people and make sure they are provided with a safe and positive environment and support where and when needed,” he said.

So, for all readers who imagine you can escape to Australia, forget it!

Packing up and going home to Somalia!

06/07/2013 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Going home to hopefully rebuild Somalia!

Already 80,000 have left camps in Kenya and are returning to Somalia. So would someone tell the US State Department that they can stop the pipeline to America now!

From Capital News (hat tip: Joanne):

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 6 – Kenya and Somalia have signed an agreement for the voluntary repatriation of about half a million Somali refugees living in Kenya.

The First Secretary at the Embassy of Somalia in Nairobi, Ali Mohammed Sheikh, said that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would facilitate the homecoming of thousands who had fled war and hunger in their country.

He however asked for international solidarity saying it was an enormous task. “This is a procedure and you know before taking people back to their place there are other humanitarian factors to consider,” he expressed. “The enormous task requires international solidarity and burden sharing.”

Sheikh revealed that the latest count at the Dadaab refugee camp – the world’s largest – showed a reduction of 80,000 refugees who had gone back to Somalia.

As of May 31st we have resettled just short of 5,000 Somalis to America this fiscal year! Why?

For new readers: We have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years. See one of the most widely read posts here at RRW. Large numbers went to Minneapolis, and now they are spreading out throughout the state. In three years since 9/11 ( Bush years 2004, 2005, 2006) the number of Somalis arriving topped 10,000 per year. Those refugees then began bringing in the family (chain migration!) until 2008 when shock of shocks! the State Department discovered that as many as 30,000 Somalis had lied about their kinship and weren’t related at all. The State Department then closed the “family reunification” program for Somalis. It has recently been re-opened for new and legit family members, but they have no intention of finding and deporting the liars.

Since 5,000 Somalis have arrived in this fiscal year already, that means (number wise) we are well on our way to rival the Bush years mentioned above.