They are changing America by changing the people
Another short post:
You know I think I have seen more angst by the NGO’s and the UN over the Palestinian friends of Saddam (now refugees) then over the Christian Iraqis suffering at the hands of Muslim extremists. Here is an article about the Palestinians being resettled in Chile. Did you know that Chile has a substantial Palestinian population?
Somali illegal immigrants in Nepal are protesting and say they were tricked by human traffickers. They thought they were being taken to Naples (Italy!) and instead were dropped off in Nepal. Nepal, which has recently managed to get a US promise to take 60,000 Bhutanese off their hands, is trying to figure out what to do with the Somalis. From the BBC:
Somali refugees living in Nepal have been demonstrating in the capital Kathmandu to gain official recognition by the government. [Must be recognition of refugee status.]
They say their lives are miserable because they are not allowed to work and are threatened with heavy fines if they try to leave the country.
Many of the Somalis say they were tricked into coming to Nepal by people traffickers in Mogadishu.
Some say they were told they were being flown to the Italian city of Naples.
The government says it is aware of the refugees and is discussing what to do about them.
Of course, these Somalis would have been illegal immigrants to Italy too, and that country is having its problems with African lawbreakers.
I bet you anything the government of Nepal asks the US to take them. What the heck, 60 or 70 Somalis is nothing slipped in with the 60,000 Bhutanese.
If you think that sounds crazy, just a reminder we have taken Somali illegal aliens from Malta. It is not so farfetched an idea.
So, as I just said in my previous post, North Dakota is looking for more refugees this fiscal year, while Ohio isn’t. Seems a downturn in the economy, and a reduction in state spending for welfare is making Ohio less attractive as a refugee magnet. (But, don’t ask me what North Dakota has to offer in the way of jobs!).
Educated Iraqis are among those going to Ohio, but as we have pointed out on many previous occasions they are not finding jobs that are commensurate with their training. See our Iraqi category for the many posts on unhappy Iraqis. From the Columbus Dispatch:
The flow of refugees being resettled in central Ohio seems to be slowing, and the newest arrivals will include some who are well-educated and speak fluent English.
The class of 2009 includes Iraqis who became political targets in their homelands after helping U.S. forces, perhaps as translators.
One thing remains unchanged: In Ohio, “Franklin County is, by far, the largest county for handling refugees,” said Douglas E. Lumpkin, the county’s human-services director.
But, he noted, “We are seeing a slowdown.”
The U.S. State Department has told Franklin County Job and Family Services to expect 515 refugees between now and September 2009.
That’s less than half of the 1,215 refugees the county was told to expect this year, or the 1,110 anticipated in 2007. Not all those refugees actually showed up, shaping a more-realistic federal estimate for 2009 resettlements.
Ohio didn’t get all the anticipated Africans last year because of the rampant fraud found in the Refugee Resettlement program in Africa.
Paul Fraunholtz, deputy director of the Ohio Job and Family Services family-stability office, keeps an eye on trends in the urban counties that absorb refugees.
Last year at this time, Franklin County was told to expect 1,095 African refugees. With a quarter of the year yet to go, he found that 182 actually showed up.
“What played out was that U.S. government officials started scrutinizing Africans who were being resettled claiming family reunification,” he said. “They’re actually doing DNA testing now” to determine whether they’re really part of the same family.
The new policy slowed the flow that, since 1999, has brought more than 5,200 Somali refugees from Africa to Ohio. Other Somalis have moved here to join friends or relatives after arriving in other parts of the United States.
Yup, and I bet all those Somalis who slipped in before the DNA testing got underway are now registered to vote for Obama!
We’ve been writing about this for months and months, but this week there are fresh threats from Bhutanese Maoists living in refugee camps in Nepal to use violence against fellow refugees who have signed up for resettlement.
The long and short of the issue is that the Maoists want to overthrow the government of Bhutan (Shangri La) and they need numbers. They won’t have numbers if 60,000 refugees head to the US over the next five years.
BELDANGI REFUGEE CAMP (Nepal), Oct 16: In a secluded corner of a refugee camp in southern Nepal, Nirmal Chettri outlines his plans for waging a bloody “people’s war” on the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
With the intense stare of the ideologically fervent, the 26-year-old said his organisation, the Bhutan Communist Party (MarxistLeninist-Maoist), was ready to start killing for its cause.
He also warned that his faction would step up attacks on thousands of Bhutanese refugees who are leaving the camps in Nepal to start new lives abroad.
“There will be a lot of casualties and destruction but we cannot shy away from fighting for justice,” said Chettri, one of around 100,000 Bhutanese of Nepalese origin who were forced to flee Bhutan in the early 1990s.
The refugees have languished in UN camps in southern Nepal for more than 15 years, and now — after the United States of fered to resettle at least 60,000 — many are preparing to leave.
Around 50,000 have signed up for international resettlement, and 5,000 have already left.
But Chettri and his comrades want to stop the exodus, because he believes the refugees have been “brainwashed and hypnotised” and that the resettlement programme reduces his party’s chances of destroying Bhutan’s monarchy ….
For those of you who think this Bhutanese refugee flow to the US is driven purely by humanitarian zeal, think again. The Bush Administration has apparently chosen to save Bhutan from communism by bringing tens of thousands of third worlders to the US. I guess they figure they will have a twofer as well by supplying big businesses, like meatpacking companies, with cheap labor.
The Refugee Resettlement program of the US State Department is used for political reasons. It is aided and abetted by the ‘do-gooder image’ cover it gets in the media and among the volags that make their living resettling refugees.
If you would like to know what we have previously written on this subject, just type “Bhutan” into our search function.
According to this story in the Lexington Clipper-Herald, a job at Tyson is waiting for all the Somalis who would like to come to this welcoming town.
Ismail Ibrahim, treasurer of the Somali Community Center in Lexington, and an interpreter at Tyson said that since the walkouts and firings at the JBS Swift & Co. plants in Grand Island and Greeley, Colo., hundreds of Muslim workers, mostly Somalis who walked off the job alleging they weren’t being allowed to pray and break their daily fast, have traveled to Lexington to apply at Tyson.
“Tyson respects our race and religion,” said Ibrahim.
He said that about 150 people from Swift in Grand Island who have traveled here to apply at the Lexington Tyson plant, are awaiting interviews, and more are on their way.
In case you didn’t get how great Tyson is the first time you read it, the reporter tells us again:
Ibrahim says that right now Muslims are coming every day from other factories in other towns. He says that this is because of the faith-based accommodations Tyson makes.
“Tyson is the best company that respects our religion,” said Ibrahim. “They’re faith friendly, and we appreciate that.”
Lexington, NE is a “welcoming” city:
Mohamed said that there are around 200 people in Lexington right now who are homeless and are staying with others who have been helping the community center with the influx of Somalis. In some cases, he explained, there are more than 10 people in one room.
Mohamed said that Lexington’s Tyson human resources manager has been “extremely helpful” and that he is optimistic that most will find jobs here in Lexington, but transition will be tough.
According to Ibrahim and Mohamed the Somali community in Lexington has not experienced the prejudices that others have seen in other parts of the country, and that so far the community has been very welcoming.
A gold star to the first reader who sends us a link when Lexington turns “unwelcoming.”
And, btw, it would be interesting to know how much taxpayer money is going to the Somali Community Center.
For new readers, here is our archive on the problems experienced by Swift in Greeley, CO and Grand Island, NE that Mr. Ibrahim refers to above.