In the wake of the brutal slaughter in Kenya (don’t open this linkif you have a weak stomach) by Somali Jihadists a little over a week ago, I’m struck by the fact that the mainstream media is running one story after another about America’s growing Somali population, but the word “refugee” never makes it into the telling. I can’t say never, but I just reviewed a bunch of recent stories in The New York Times, The Washington Postand Timemagazine and searched for the “R” word. It was not there!
A seriously wounded girl is carried away from the Westgate mall in Nairobi as Al-Shabaab’s terror reign unfolded.
And, by the way, I still haven’t seen any further report on whether Americans have been officially identified among the killers. Have you?
Do you think the average reader, someone not following immigration issues daily, wonders how a particular group of immigrants ‘found their way’ to America? I think they do, so why does the media rarely mention the legal programs through which the US government is changing America’s demographic make-up?
Below is an example from aNew York Times story entitled, ‘Somali Community in U.S. Fears New Wave of Stigma After Kenya Attack.’
Would this help you know anything about how the Somalis got here, how they in fact became a “community” (through the US State Department’s Refugee Resettlement Program going back three decades)? The “R” word does not appear in the story:
More than 32,000 people of Somali ancestry live in Minnesota, census figures show, and local leaders say the true number is far higher. Some came in the 1990s after fleeing civil war, and others are their children, many of them born in this country. [By the way, the number is way higher than 32,000 in Minnesota, in addition to the tens of thousands in other preferred resettlement states—ed]
They “came….after fleeing civil war.” What! they just got on a plane and said “here we are America,” “let us in,” and then picked Minnesota on a map?
Regular readers of RRW know how it happened (here and here), but do the reporters not know or do they deliberately cover-up the truth about LEGAL immigration programs gone wrong?
By the way, there is a good article (at Powerline, hat tip: Judy) about the problems the media is glossing-over with the Somali “community” in Minnesota, but it too doesn’t use the word refugee. Why is that?
I don’t really want to post this because I have been writing about this for five years and I’m sick of them and sick of the mainstream media that is five years late addressing this serious issue. It takes a blood bath in Kenya for the supposed journalists to get off their duffs.
Abdirizak Bihi testified about youth radicalization at a House Homeland Security hearing in 2011. CAIR has been trying to shut him up!
This is from USA Today and it doesn’t have anything new that we haven’t discussed here ad nauseum. They even brought back Omar Jamal for a cameo appearance.
Long time readers know that we call Jamal the “Somali Jesse Jackson” because he manages to be quoted anytime a Somali gets in trouble anywhere in the US. He originally came to the US illegally, was convicted of immigration fraud, but has simply been movin’ on up!
By the way, I will be reporting the minute we get official confirmation (or at least the minute I hear about it!) that there were or were not American killers (former refugees) in Kenya.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Leaders of the nation’s largest Somali community say some of their young men are still being enticed to join the terror group that has claimed responsibility for the deadly mall attack in Kenya, despite a concentrated effort to shut off what authorities call a “deadly pipeline” of men and money.
Six years have passed since Somali-American fighters began leaving Minnesota to become part of al-Shabab [sometimes spelled al-Shabaab—ed]. Now the Somali community is dismayed over reports that a few of its own might have been involved in the violence at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.
“One thing I know is the fear is growing,” said Abdirizak Bihi, whose nephew was among at least six men from Minnesota who have died in Somalia. More are presumed dead.
Since 2007, at least 22 young men have left Minnesota to join al-Shabab, including two who did so last summer. Unconfirmed reports that two more left earlier this month have deepened concerns.
Here’s Jamal!
Al-Shabab means “The Youth” in Arabic. The group uses a mixture of religion, nationalism and deception to lure young people, said Omar Jamal*, a longtime local activist who now serves as the first secretary for the Somali mission to the United Nations.
Former assistant U.S. attorney states clearly what this is all about—-Jihad is a religious duty—a duty to fight!
Anders Folk was an assistant U.S. attorney in Minneapolis for several years of the recruiting investigation before leaving for private practice. Al-Shabab’s recruiting was at least as effective after the Ethiopians left as before, he said.
“Al Shabab’s recruiting technique was essentially a call to jihad, that this is a religious duty,” Folk said. “It was a call to jihad to come and fight.”
* For more on Omar Jamal type his name into our search function and I bet we have two dozen posts on him, maybe more.
Photo can be found at this reportof the House “radicalization” hearing in March 2011.
Were some of Rep. Keith Ellison’s constituents doing the killing in Kenya on Saturday?
Rep. Keith Ellison swearing in on the Koran as the first Muslim Member of the House of Representatives in 2007. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
This article in the Minneapolis Star Tribunewent unnoticed over the weekend (at least by me!) when the issue of Somalis and Minnesota took center stage in faraway Kenya as Somali terrorists slaughtered dozens of innocent shoppers (see our report here).
We’ve written about Somali deportations previously and noted that the US Supreme Court has already ruled that it is legal to send immigrants back to countries in chaos if they break American laws. But, the ‘human rights gang’ is always agitating against the idea as is the case now in this report.
From the Star Tribune(Minnesota Somalis make up most of the list of those to be sent back):
The federal government is engaging in an aggressive effort to deport Somali immigrants who run afoul of U.S. law, after refraining for years from shipping people back to a country wracked by civil war and lacking a functioning government.
The policy change affects more than 3,100 Somali nationals who have received final orders for removal from the United States since 2001, either because of violations of immigration law or criminal convictions. That includes 435 people who were ordered removed from the immigration court in Bloomington, representing 13 percent of all such Somali cases in the country’s 52 immigration courts.
Until recently, they had been allowed to remain in this country despite the removal orders, living in a legal limbo, wearing ankle bracelets or under requirements to check in periodically with authorities.
Now that’s changed.
Since 2012, 33 Somalis across the United States have been deported to Somalia, including 22 so far this year. Most have come from Minnesota, home to the nation’s largest Somali refugee community.Thirty Somalis remain in custody this month from the St. Paul region of the immigration service, faced with a pending or final deportation order.
Next the Tribunegives us a sob story about how these kids grew up here and don’t know Somalia, some don’t know the language. How about a sob story for the US and Minnesota taxpayers who raised these “kids”—housed, fed and educated them!
This is so backwards! The poor Somali “kids” could become “victims” in Somalia. What about their victims here?
The increased deportations have raised the thorny issue of whether it is proper to send offenders, many with admittedly lengthy criminal rap sheets, to an unstable country they don’t know and where many believe their presence will be tantamount to a death sentence.
What do you do with people who have no legal right to stay here, but nowhere safe to go?
“We still consider Somalia to be extremely unsafe,” said Deepinder Mayell, director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program for the Minneapolis-based Advocates for Human Rights. “Even affiliation with western countries could be a threat. It makes them stick out. …. They could become subject to increased scrutiny or targeted as a victim.”
Rep. Keith Ellison is worried that al-Shabaab will get these poor kids.
I think this morning Ellison has to be sweating until we find out if some of his constituents are actually among the al-Shabaab Islamic terrorists who did the slaughtering in the Kenya mall!
The Tribune story continues:
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, whose district includes a large segment of Minnesota’s Somali community, said he will be requesting a detailed briefing from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice on their guidelines for deportations to areas with potential safety concerns. Despite some gains in Somalia, he said he remains concerned about things such as recent asymmetrical attacks by the terrorist organization Al-Shabab.
“Asymmetrical attacks by the terrorist organization Al-Shabab!” Is that what happened in Kenya?
There is a lot in this article but I don’t have the time this morning, so please read the whole thing here. Lawyers are wondering why the feds have renewed their interest in deporting the Somali criminals. I would like to know that too!
Readers: I’m away from the computer this morning, so if anything interesting happens send me a note at our new address:
Update September 23rd: There is so much coverage of this story I can’t keep up, but here is one from CNN about the fact that refugees living in the US were recruited for Jihad in Africa—this story is FIVE YEARS OLD! What takes the media so long to catch up?
Update: ABC is reportingthat the attacks could have ramifications in the US since so many Somalis left the US to join the Jihadists over the last few years, but they cannot bring themselves to use the “r” word (refugee!) leaving the average readers scratching their heads and wondering how all these Somalis got to the US in the first place.
Update: See photo at Vlad Tepeshere (warning! it is heartbreaking). If the link isn’t opening try Vlad’s home page (here).
Update: There is a report at PJ Media (thanks to all who sent this news) that some of the Somali terrorists are Americans—that would almost have to mean they are also “refugees” (or the children of refugees) resettled in Minnesota, or possibly another of the “preferred” locations for Somali resettlement.
And, I bet most Americans think this is ‘over there’ and has nothing to do with the US. Wrong! We have had (and may still have) the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab in Minnesota and possibly other “welcoming” cities where Somali “refugees” have been resettled.
We began following al-Shabaab (sometimes spelled al-Shabab) since its US Jihadi recruitment activities became known in 2008, here. For ambitious readers, the key words ‘missing Somali youths’ are found in our one-hundred-plus-post archive on the recruitment of mostly young men we raised and educated on the taxpayers’ dime. (I’ll bet there is no one place, other than RRW, for a complete history of the recruitment.)
Photo is from the Investigative Project on Terrorism
Al-Shabaab in 2009: “Beware we are coming!”
Here is a postI wrote in January 2009 where I reported that al-Shabaab spokesmen were caught on tape saying they want to re-establish the Islamic caliphate and eventually control the world. Why is it that we don’t take them at their word?
“Islamic rule from Alaska and Chile to South Africa, and from Japan to Russia. Beware, we are coming.”
[…..]
“Our objectives, by the grace of God, are to see the return of the Islamic Caliphate, the last of which was the Ottoman empire that collapsed in the 1920s. We want to bring that system back and govern the world with God’s law.
In March of 2009, I attended a shameful (even more shameful in retrospect then I viewed it at the time) hearing in the Senate Homeland Security Committee where Senators Lieberman and Collins visibly gave a sigh of relief to hear from US GOVERNMENT TERROR EXPERTS that al-Shabaab was all about defending their homeland from Ethiopian “invaders.”
The Senators were looking for a link to al-Qaeda, and if there wasn’t one they were happy. They didn’t get it then, and most people don’t get it now—Islamists do not have to be formally linked to have the same ideological goals! Of course, subsequently the link to al-Qaeda was definitively determined.
Kenyan mall slaughter
Update: Israeli forces rescuing hostages according to this report. Hat tip: Janet.
Yesterday, al-Shabaab, which most “experts” thought was on the run as the new Somalia government gained strength, has flexed its muscle outside of Somalia to show the world they aren’t done yet. An attack on Obama’s ancestral home is a signal to the world that they are still relevant, and that Obama has not made any peace with the Muslim world.
As of this writing, Sunday morning, CNN is reporting that 59 innocent Saturday shoppers were killed, 175 wounded and the Somali Islamic terrorists still hold 30 hostagesin the most deadly attack in Kenya since the US embassy bombing in 1998.
[And, btw where is Drudge? When I started checking out the breaking news yesterday, I began with Drudge, as I usually do, and as of this minute, I’m not even seeing the terror attack mentioned there!]
Frankly I’m sick of these Somali Islamists and the issue of al-Shabaab recruiters operating in the US. Really! I’m sick of our naive view of Somalis and the goals of Islamists.
So please read our friend Jerry Gordon’s account of what happened. He isn’t tired of making the connection between the goals of Islam and refugees. And, folks, it isn’t just that you should fear your next mall shopping trip, the more important Jihad on-going now is the demographic Jihad (read al Hijra—the Islamic doctrine of Jihad by immigration)!
And, have a look at CNN explaining al-Shabaab to their readers. At least some mainstream outlet is doing it—5 years late—but better late then never (what a joke!).
How many Somalis have been resettled in the US?
More than 100,000 now and those are just the ones who came in through the State Department’s Refugee Program with the help of nine federal contractors***. See our now outdated post here.
But, if you are thinking we have maybe slowed the flow of new Somali refugees, forget it! Fiscal year 2013 ends in eight days.
As of August 31st we have resettled 6,679 additional Somalis this year alone! Go here.
Photo is from this 2010 story at The Investigative Project on Terrorism.
*** I often wonder if one day these “church” leaders will place their heads in their hands and ask themselves—‘God what have I done?’
Addendum: I should have linked this 2011 post (it is being heavily hit today) on why there are so many Somalis in Minnesota—thank Catholic Charities, World Relief and Lutheran Social Service and their sugar-daddy—-The US State Department.
According to one more report on the topic, “community leaders” are trying to counter the recruitment efforts they believe are still on-going in the “Somali community” in Minneapolis. Here is the latest on that film we reported here last month.
American-born Omar Hammami aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki may now be dead, killed by Al-Shabaab leadership who got sick of him.
This is the news at KAAL.TV.com. Give ’em jobs and they won’t go to Africa to kill people!, but the fallacy in that argument is that those who have gone back “home” to join the terrorists were well-educated Somalis with excellent prospects for employment.
Leaders in the Somali community are fighting hard to beat back a ramped up recruitment effort following a sophisticated video. The video depicts men who traveled from Minneapolis to Somalia for jihad and is being used as a recruiting tool.
Community leaders say as many as 40 Somalis have disappeared from Minnesota since 2006. That’s double the estimate reported previously. Many have turned up on battlefields in Somalia.
Headway is being made, though, as community leaders say they are winning over the community and convincing young men to ignore Al Shabaab. However, a high unemployment rate in the Somali community makes the population vulnerable.
As a result, an effort is underway to provide training and job skills to Somalis.
American stuff and American jobs just don’t cut it when Allah calls!
Just ask Omar Hammami aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki (if he is still alive that is!).
I have no interest in re-telling the story of an American-born Muslim (Mom is Christian, Dad is Syrian Muslim) who grew up a normal kid in Alabama and went to Somalia to become a Jihadist. Here is our complete archiveon Hammami.
Rumors of his demise have surfaced several times over previous years, but it looks like he may now be dead for sure—killed by his Al-Shabaab former buddies who aren’t really happy with their recruits from the West. They turn them into handy suicide bombers!
Read Al-Amriki’s story here at TheStar Phoenix. He has been hunted by Al-Shabaab leaders for some time and his fate may have a chilling effect on recruitment in Minneapolis say experts.
For new readers: We should have made a special category for ‘Somali missing youths’ (former refugees) who went to Africa to join the Jihad. Since we didn’t, just type those words into our search function and you will probably get at least 100 posts on the topic going back to 2008.
Also, I used to put this (below) information at the bottom of most of my posts on Somalis, but haven’t recently. I know we have a lot of new readers who probably don’t know the background so here is a place to start:
We have resettled more than 100,000 Somali refugees to cities large and small in the US over the last 25 years (more than 25 now). 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.
