Tag: AG Jeff Sessions

Attorney General Sessions orders review of Justice Department’s ties to the Southern Poverty Law Center

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The New York Post editorial yesterday is entitled:

The SPLC’s terrible year just got worse

 

It’s been a rough year for the Southern Poverty Law Center — deservedly so. And it just got more difficult, thanks to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The SPLC, formed in 1971 as an aggressive civil-rights nonprofit law firm, has become the left’s go-to arbiter of what constitutes a hate group. Its pronouncements are quoted without challenge by the news media, and it has an endowment of $300 million, enriched by major corporate donors.

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The Leftwing media loves to cite the SPLC.  Here is the SPLC’s hate expert-in-chief, Heidi Beirich, on MSNBC  https://www.splcenter.org/about/staff/heidi-beirich

Yet its overly broad definition of “hate” often goes far beyond truly vile outfits to include people and groups that simply don’t toe a politically correct line. That’s why the SPLC two months ago had to pay $3.4 million and publicly apologize to Maajid Nawaz, whom it had falsely labeled an “anti-Muslim extremist.” (He’s actually a practicing Muslim who opposes extremism.)

But that didn’t stop the Star-Ledger last week from devoting an editorial to denouncing New Jersey’s ICE spokesman, Emilio Dabul, for his “links” (as supplied by the SPLC) to “anti-Muslim fanatics.” This, even though the Star-Ledger admitted that Dabul’s own writings “showed no anti-Muslim bias.” It was all guilt by association — right from the SPLC playbook.

Now Sessions has ordered a review to ensure the Justice Department no longer partners with the SPLC and other groups that “unfairly defame Americans.”

[….]

…Sessions charged, it uses its hate-group designations “as a weapon” to “bully and intimidate” organizations of which it simply doesn’t approve.

[….]

As Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who’s also been smeared by the SPLC as an “anti-Muslim extremist,”*** has noted, the group these days is invested more in “profiting off the anxieties and white guilt of Northern liberals” than in actually upholding civil rights.

Sessions’ review is long overdue, and follows other government agencies that have backed away from the SPLC. It’s time for those who still merely parrot its smears to start taking a closer look.

More here.

If you are looking for something to do, you need to complain to your local paper or TV station any time they use the SPLC as a credible source to define “hate groups.”

 

***The SPLC was forced to remove its now infamous Anti-Muslim Extremist list that included yours truly, see here.

Targeting Refugee Resettlement Watch and anyone questioning refugee resettlement for their towns and cities was initiated by a Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society study in 2013 which explicitly asked that the SPLC investigate us.  Here is a quote from that study (my post is here).  Earlier in the report they mentioned RRW by name.

Conduct Research on Local Anti-Refugee Leaders: The national refugee agencies should partner with groups such as Center for New Community and Southern Poverty Law Center to learn more about individuals and groups leading local efforts to resist resettlement, to determine if they belong to organized anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim organizations or networks.

Remember that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, as one of nine federal resettlement contractors, is dependent on your tax dollars for more than half of the group’s income!

Feds find network bringing Syrians illegally across southern border

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve written many times over the years about how the world (not just Mexicans and Central Americans) is arriving at our southern border to seek asylum (if caught).  I’ve mentioned Somalis and Iraqis on other occasions and now it is Syrians according to a report in the Washington Times (hat tip: Joanne).
You might want to visit a post I wrote in 2011 in which I suggest the illegals know how to use the system and ask for asylum because they were taught the system. I believe there exists a cabal of immigration lawyers working closely with our usual gang of NGOs facilitating the process.
Washington Times:

The Treasury Department slapped sanctions Wednesday on a Syrian man and his criminal syndicate, blaming them for smuggling “hundreds” of illegal immigrants from Syria and Lebanon into Mexico and then helping them to jump the border into the U.S.

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I’m not one of those wishing to oust Attorney General Sessions. This is the kind of work I want him to do.  How we handle immigration is more significant for America’s future then if he was embroiled in the Russian meddling non-issue.

Nasif Barakat and his syndicate, which authorities labeled the Barakat Transnational Criminal Organization, charged about $20,000 to complete the smuggling. The money paid for bribes and for fake documents, including false European passports, to help illegal immigrants hide their identities. The fees also covered transportation from Syria through other Middle Eastern countries to South and Central America, the journey north through Mexico, and final help sneaking into the U.S.

[….]

“The day I was sworn in as attorney general, President Trump sent me an Executive Order to dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Many of these organizations use human smugglers to bring people across our borders with little regard to their safety or our national sovereignty.”

[….]

The Treasury Department said his network would recruit customers from Syria and Lebanon, send them through either Turkey or the United Arab Emirates, where they would catch flights to Brazil, then make their way north through Venezuela, Colombia and Panama, then up through Central America and Mexico.

That turns out to be a common route for people being smuggled from terrorist-connected countries.

Build the wall!

Judge dismisses Tennessee States' Rights case on refugee resettlement

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A Tennessee judge this week moved to dismiss a case that would have, we believe, once and for all, settled the issue of whether the federal government can place refugees in a state and expect state taxpayers to pay for many of their needs.

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So sad. I had such high hopes for AG Sessions. He of all people should have known how significant this case is.

But, as you read the story, remember that the Judge was dismissing the case because the US Justice Department (Jeff Sessions) asked for the case to be dismissed.
We told you back in May that DOJ lawyers were pushing for dismissal.
I find it stunning that AG Jeff Sessions did not see the significance of this Tenth Amendment case for, not just the refugee resettlement program, but for other programs where the feds dump financial responsibility on states that don’t want it! (And, don’t tell me he might not have known what his lawyers were doing!).
Here is Neil Munro writing at Breitbart on Tuesday:

A March 19 federal court decision requiring taxpayers in Tennessee to fund the federal government’s refugee program ignores a 2012 Supreme Court decision, says Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center.

The judge’s 43-page decision on the refugee program “is filled with appealable issues,” Thompson told a Tuesday event hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies. “Our view is that we should appeal it” at no cost to state taxpayers, said Roberts, who is the lead pro-bono lawyer in the case.

tenth amendment

“We would relish that … this case could very well end up in the Supreme Court,” he said.

A Supreme Court majority ruled in 2012 that the federal government cannot force states to fund federal programs, so “the judge basically backed off because it was too controversial and ruled on the basis of standing,” Thompson added.

The case is important for many states because the federal refugee program forces state taxpayers and governments to fund most of the welfare, aid, and education costs of federal government’s policy of dropping refugees and their children in the states, he said. If states balk at paying the costs, the federal government can threaten to cut their share of federal funding for the Medicare program, he said.

In Tennessee, the federal Medicare program funds one-fifth of the state budget, or $7 billion per year.

[….]

The judge did not hold a hearing on the case but relied on written statements from the plaintiffs and defendants.

The judge’s decision shows the political power of the federal program, said Mark Krikorian, director of the center. “A state can check out of the refugee program, but it can never leave,” he said.

More here.
As I understand it, it is now up to the state of Tennessee to decide to take the Thomas More Law Centers‘ offer to appeal the case, free of charge. (Or, will big industry—meatpackers!—prevail on the pols to drop the whole thing so their steady supply of cheap refugee labor continues to flow into the state.)

Uphill battle in Maine to criminalize female genital mutilation

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The vote could still come this week, but faces an uphill challenge as groups like the ACLU oppose attempts to save little girls from torture because it goes against their politics as reported at WGME 13:

The ACLU is against the bill saying it’s “nothing more than an attempt to single out behavior that is commonly attributed to certain religious and ethnic communities.”

Leo Hohmann at WND on Sunday, gives us a full accounting of the situation.  The key takeaway is that AG Jeff Sessions is not turning a blind eye to the barbaric practice as did his immediate predecessors—Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.

Female genital mutilation is a form of human trafficking that Maine legislators are currently choosing to allow in their state, say child advocates.

Lewiston is the epicenter of the Somali community. Catholic Charities is responsible for their arrival in Maine. See my huge Maine archive here: https://refugeeresettlementwatch.org/?s=Maine

Maine will try again on Aug. 2 to become the 25th state to ban the barbaric Third World practice that involves cutting the genitals of young girls.

Liz Yore is an attorney who has served as general counsel to child welfare agencies and a former member of the National Center for Missing and Exploited children. As an international child advocate, she said she never thought she would see such a gruesome practice taking root in America, preying on its defenseless little girls.

Yet, it’s been a struggle to get some lawmakers to see the necessity of passing state bans on the FGM.

The fickle nature of the federal FGM ban, adopted in 1996, was exposed for all to see under President Obama – his Department of Justice under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch simply closed its eyes to female genital mutilation, never prosecuting a single case.

That lack of interest in a form of torture on young girls persisted even though the evidence is now breaking open, thanks to a federal investigation in Detroit launched by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

What Sessions’ staff is discovering is that it’s not just Minnesota and Michigan that are at risk. There’s a secret underground of at least eight states involved.

Maine has been identified as one of the eight “high risk” states, largely because of its large population of Somali refugees. More than 97 percent of women in Somalia have had their genitals mutilated by the time they reach adulthood. The numbers are similar in Egypt, Sudan and Indonesia.

Much more here.

And, on this last point above about where the barbaric practice is carried out, do not believe the lie being spread in many media outlets that it is mostly practiced by an obscure sect in India!

Here is my FGM archive. You will see that FGM hotspots correlate with the top refugee resettlement states.

New refugee ban announced: Yikes! Big news is that the FBI is watching 300 refugees!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

300 refugees living in the US suspected of having Islamic terror connections!
For me, that is the biggest news that came out of the press conference this morning.
Here is the brief story at Breitbart:

Washington (AFP) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating around 300 refugees admitted into the United States for suspected terror-linked activities, US officials said Monday.

Too bad that the Justice Dept (before Sessions got there) dropped the ball and couldn’t answer judge’s questions about refugee terrorist numbers after the first EO.

The officials gave the figure as justification for a just-announced 120-day halt on admitting refugees from any country to review security vetting procedures.

“Today more than 300 people, according to the FBI, who came here as refugees are under an FBI investigation today for potential terrorism-related activities,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

Unnamed spokesman at DHS:

“The salient fact here is that there are 300 individuals admitted and welcomed to the United States in the refugee admissions program who either infiltrated with hostile intent or who radicalized after admission to the United States,” he said.

Full text of the order is here.  I don’t have time to look at it now.
We need to figure out if the 120 days starts when this EO goes in to effect on March 16th, or are they counting the 120 days back to the earlier January date.  If it is the January date, then that stinks because there has been no halt for over a month now.  If you find out let me know!