US says Bhutanese are “intimidated”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I really don’t get it.  Why are we insisting that 60,000 low-skilled people with limited educations come to America from refugee camps in Nepal?    US officials are charging that prospective immigrants are being intimidated by leaders of the camps who want to keep them there presumably to keep up the political pressure on Bhutan and Nepal to accept the return of their native people.  That sounds sensible to me.  All over the world people are returning home after years of exile.  Just the other day we reported that Afghan refugees are heading home.

Why do we feel the need to shift people around the world, to scatter them to the four winds?  Why can’t we do more to pressure the governments there to repatriate their people?   Do we think our culture is superior to theirs and we need to introduce them to the joys of fast food and TV smut?   Or, is this about jobs Americans won’t do?  Or, about keeping the volags in the resettlement business?

Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal are facing “severe intimidation” ever since plans to resettle them in the West were announced, a senior US official says.

I very much would like someone to explain to me the logic of pressuring people to accept resettlement.

Bhutanese refugees headed our way

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Traveling in Asia in the last week, Asst. Sec. of State Ellen Sauerbrey announced that Bhutanese refugees living in United Nations camps in Nepal would soon be resettled in western countries.   The United States will take the largest number—60,000.    The Nepali-speaking Bhutanese were, according to various reports, driven from their homes by “racist” persecution (not by war).

The process for large scale third country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees living in eastern Nepal has begun with the mass information campaign in all the camps, UNHCR today said.

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The campaign is aimed at assisting the refugees to make an informed decision by providing them with accurate information, the UN refugee agency said.

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This follows the decision of the Nepal government to allow those refugees who wish to opt for third country resettlement as an alternative solution to do so on the basis of an informed choice and acceptance by the resettlement country.

We reported way back in July that many of those living in camps did not want to leave, holding onto hope that  they would be allowed to return someday to a country known as the “last Shangri-La”.   The mostly Hindu refugees may be in for a real shock when they are resettled in crime-ridden neighborhoods in America.

I guess the United Nations will convince them that working the 12- hour shift at meat-packing plants or mattress factories dispersed throughout America will be better than the wish of many to stay together in Nepal and wait for the easterly wind to bring the smell of their soil.

The first of thousands are expected to arrive here in January 2008.

Ft. Wayne, IN stretched to the max, no sympathy here

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Ho hum, here we go again.  Fort Wayne, Indiana facing an overload of refugees.   Apparently Allen County has been there, done that before.  Does anyone care?   Schools are overcrowded and a health crisis looms.    But, like so many outside the Washington Beltway they seem to be like sheep, whatever Washington wants, Washington gets?

Allen County may receive up to 800 refugees next year, more than four times the usual number. This year has also seen a dramatic increase with more than 700 refugees.

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Estimated at more than 3,000, Fort Wayne’s Burmese population is already one of the largest in the United States.

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The majority of the incoming refugees are family reunification cases. Catholic Charities, as one of the many organizations nationwide used by the federal government to aid in resettlement, can’t turn any refugees away.

Catholic Charities can’t turn refugees away because they have a federal contract to resettle them somewhere.  But, the citizens of Ft. Wayne and Allen County can insist that the federal government cover the costs of the refugees’ schooling, welfare and health care.   These costs of a federal program should not be borne by the local community.   Or, Ft. Wayne could join other cities and just say NO! 

Oh, and speaking of health care, Allen County is still boo-hooing over the health problems they face.   We heard about this back in September, but it would appear that no one has bothered to complain to their federal elected officials.

About half the refugees are infected with latent tuberculosis, and treating the infection has strained the health department’s resources.

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But it must be done: About 10 percent of people carrying the non-contagious infection develop active, contagious tuberculosis if they are not treated with antibiotics, McMahan said.

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About 10 percent of the refugees also have chronic active hepatitis B, she said.

One more thing, Ft. Wayne, if you continue to jump when Washington tells you, you might want to at least insist that Catholic Charities does its job and finds enough volunteers to care for the refugees’ needs. 

Former refugee, one of Ft. Dix Six pleads guilty

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The first of the Ft. Dix Six will be sentenced in February for his role in the plan to kill soldiers at Ft. Dix, NJ according to this AP story.    Abdullahu is a former refugee who was resettled with his family at Ft. Dix (when it was a refugee receiving center) from Kosovo as a result of the Clinton Administration’s Bosnian war.

A man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to providing weapons to a group of men accused of plotting an attack on a U.S. Army base in New Jersey.

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Agron Abdullahu, 25, faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced Feb. 6.

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Federal prosecutors have portrayed Abdullahu as having the smallest role among the six men arrested earlier this year in the Fort Dix case. While the others are charged with conspiring to kill military personnel – a crime punishable by life in prison – Abdullahu was charged only with weapons offenses.

Check out bloggers Michelle Malkin here, and Iowahawk here for additional background.  Both seem to have followed this case for some time.

Iraqi refugee admissions—falling short already

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just an hour ago, before your kids even got their Halloween candy spread out on the kitchen table to properly  examine the loot, the AP was reporting the end of the month count on Iraqi refugees resettled to America.   You would think they could have waited at least until the official end (about 3 and a half hours from now) of the first month of the new fiscal year to complain.

I can just see the press officers of the multi-million dollar refugee industry organizations madly dialing their press contacts telling AP and others in the mainstream media to nail that dastardly Bush Administration TONIGHT!   [Additional comment on Nov. 1, things are improving in Iraq so now you will be hearing more on the refugee subject because the left needs to continue bashing their boogey man Bush .]

Horrors!  Only 450 Iraqi refugees have arrived this month and advocacy groups were promised 1000 a month for each month of FY 2008.

The slow pace of admissions for members of what is the world’s fastest-growing refugee population has sparked criticism from refugee advocacy groups and lawmakers. They complain that Washington is not doing enough for those who have fled the violence in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

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The blame has been placed on bureaucratic slowdowns — including bickering between the State Department, which is in charge of refugee resettlement, and the Homeland Security Department, which must screen would-be admittees. Another factor was a lack of cooperation from some foreign countries, notably Syria, which hosts the largest number of Iraqi refugees.

The article reminds us that it is the United Nations that is picking the refugees for us.